An IIT Madras-incubated firm has developed an indigenous mobile operating system called BharOS which is being provided to organisations that have stringent privacy and security requirements and where users handle sensitive information.
BharOS, a play on Bharat Operating System, is an indigenous OS that can be installed in commercial off-the-shelf handsets and is touted by IIT to be a contribution towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat. It provides access to apps that meet certain security and privacy standards of organisations.
The software is developed by JandK Operations Pvt. Ltd. which has been incubated by IIT Madras Pravartak Technologies Foundation, funded by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, under its national mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems.
“BharOS focuses on providing users more freedom, control and flexibility to choose and use the apps that fit their needs,” said V. Kamakoti, director, IIT Madras. IIT was eager to collaborate with government agencies, telecom service providers and the private sector to propagate the use of BharOS in the country.
The software comes with No Default Apps, meaning that users are not forced to use apps they don’t trust allowing them to have more control over the apps and permissions they require. “BharOS offers Native Over The Air (NOTA) updates that are automatically downloaded and installed ensuring that the software is up-to-date with security and bug fixes,” said Karthik Ayyar, director, JandK Operations.
