IBM opens centres of excellence

Updated on: Monday, August 10, 2009

Mumbai: IBM today, announced new and extended collaborations with six engineering and technology colleges across the state of Maharashtra to provide a platform for development of software skills among the students. The collaboration has brought the establishment of a series of IBM Centres of Excellence (COE), creating a unique opportunity for students to learn new skill sets on the IBM software products - DB2, WebSphere, Lotus, Rational and Tivoli - as well as develop world class solutions.

The COEs were launched at Singahad Institute of Technology (Pune), Walchand College of Engineering (Sangli), International Institute of Information Mgmt (I2IT, Pune), Maharashtra Academy of Engineering (Pune), Sardar Patel Institute of Technology (Mumbai), and Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management and Engineering, and NMIMS University (Mumbai).

Anil Menon, VP Channel, Marketing and Ecosystem IBM India/ South Asia, said, “The world of information technology is extremely competitive and dynamic. This calls for constant upgrading of skills - high-value skills beyond simple programming or system administration. Students need to be trained not only on next generation technologies but also be prepared to be able to drive innovation. Through the Centres of Excellence, IBM
works closely with the educational institutions in India to give students the opportunity to put skills to test and allows innovation to take centrestage. We are confident that the COEs will enable skill set development among students for years to come.”

IBM will follow a two-pronged approach, providing the colleges with access to technologies relevant to the market and with training faculty to ensure that right skills are taught. The students can gain firsthand experience of the software products that are installed at the campus. Through this initiative, IBM will work closely with the colleges in the state of Maharashtra, leveraging the selected institutes as centres of learning.

The colleges will provide infrastructure and high end systems while IBM is providing the entire software suite free of charge.

Dr Vijay Bhatkar, Director and Chief Mentor, I2IT, said, “Innovation and R&D plays a strategic role in the business. There is a need for the industry and academia to collaborate to create a multi-cultural ecosystem that stimulates young minds, acclimatising them to a culture of innovation on one hand, and exposing them to new and emerging technologies on the other. We look forward to joint collaboration with IBM, which will give students an opportunity to partner with some of the best minds across the world, to further refine
these technologies by taking it to the next level.”

The COE is an outgrowth of IBM’s Academic Initiative, which covers 2000 colleges and universities around the world - a global model committed to drive evolving open standards-based IT skills. Under the initiative, IBM partners closely with the local government and academia to create an enabling environment by allowing access to IBM software, course materials, training and curriculum development, helping India become an innovators’ nation by investing in skills development and technology enablement, empowering future workers with the right skills to be able to compete in the larger global workforce.

IBM opens centres of excellence

More Education news