India is challenged by a lack of a IT hardware industry that is driven by an almost non-existent skill base in hardware. This has led to a strategic issue where Indian IT infrastructure is susceptible to subversion by elements that are not in control of the Indian government.
Therefore it is imperative that India quickly develops its IT hardware industry, alongwith the relevant software components. The three primary drivers for the urgency of developing the IT hardware industry are (a) Strategic imperatives, (b) Need for a sustainable IT industry that will require a robust IT hardware industry and (c) need for human resources with appropriate IT skills.
Need for an India Microprocessor
The key technology required to kickstart an IT hardware industry that will be capable of supporting India's strategic IT requirements, is the Microprocessor technology.
There has been many demands for having an India Microprocessor which is often discussed in the Indian press.
Microprocessors are required in not only personal computers, laptops and servers used for telecom networks, nuclear simulations and space programs but also in products of daily usage such as automobile, washing machines, air-conditioners, scooters, televisions, IPTV etc. Microprocessors are also required in embedded systems such as routers in networks, missile guidance systems, satellites etc.
Most importantly, Microprocessors are a key enabler of social infrastructure such as telehealth, education, irrigation, micro-finance and energy. If we explore say the tele-health technology, it is imperative to have a set of transducers for monitoring a patient's vital parameters such a blood pressure, temperature and for diagnostics such as ECG, Ultrasound and X-Ray, that can be sent back to experts sitting remotely, in order to provide a credible and scalable health service in rural areas in order to reduce IMR and MMR.
As of now, all these microprocessors are imported from foreign entities and are integrated into larger systems such as telecom networks by largely foreign entities.
Impact and Outcomes
The key outcome would be to develop IT systems for social infrastructure that includes a tele-health solution that costs Rs 15,000 for a set, a tele-education setup, a smart irrigation system, an end-to-end system for microfinance for an amortized cost of Rs 500 per person covered and a Rs 500 mobile phone.
It normally takes decades to develop a microprocessor from the scratch. The microprocessor technology is a zealously guarded technology and governments like Government of China has been trying to “extract” this technology from western firms.
However, in March 2006, the then fastest chip available that was designed by Sun Microsystems was open sourced by Sun Microsystems. Subsequently, a more advanced 64 bit CMT microprocessor, UltraSparc T2 was also open sourced and is now available under GPL license. This implies that all the design codes and the testing tools are now freely available.
China, European Union and many other countries have grabbed this opportunity to trigger their local microprocessor industry. China has in particular put in a very aggressive policy and is investing heavily to absorb this technology.
India has a unique opportunity to absorb the OpenSparc Microprocessor technology with the help of Sun's engineering team and then build an entire open source stack of technology, from microprocessor to applications, including operating systems, databases (MySQL) and even ERP (OpenBravo, Compiere etc).