 Arun
N Netravalli, who was honoured with the Presidentship
of the prestigious Bell Laboratories of the
United States, is the first Indian to be honoured
with this coveted position. Arun came to India to receive
the prestigious national civilian award Padmabhushan,
from the Government of India on the occasion of Republic
Day 2001 celebrations. He also visited Hyderabad on
the inauguration of Bell Labs centre in the City in the
second week of February. Osmania University Hyderabad
took this opportunity to honour Netravalli with the Doctor
of Science.
Arun N Netravalli, the President of Bell Laboratories
of the USA, the hi-tech research and development arm of
telecommunications equipment maker Lucent Technologies,
was conferred with Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa)
by Osmania University for his outstanding achievements
and scientific contributions. The Governor of Andhra Pradesh
and the Chancellor of the university
Dr C Rangarajan, conferred the doctorate on Dr Netravalli
at a special convocation held on 8th February, 2001. The
Vice-chancellor
Prof D C Reddy read out the citation presented in
his honour on the occasion. The Vice-chancellor in his
citation said, "In honouring Dr Netravalli, who
has the unique distinction of being the first Indian to
head the Bell Labs, which is at the heart of today's communication
revolution, OU is honouring an outstanding scientist.
He is an institution builder and an illustrious son of
India, who made significant contributions in the fields
of communications and information technology."
An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT),
Mumbai,
Dr Netravalli holds Masters and Doctorate degrees in Electrical
Engineering from Rice University, Houston (US)
and has more than 150 research papers to his credit.
He is the first Indian to become the president of the
Bell Labs, the largest R & D organisation with about
30,000 employees spread across 30 countries.
 After
receiving the honour, speaking on the emerging IT scenario,
Dr Netravalli in his address said, "Today's Internet
provides simple connectivity and a uniform way of accessing
information. But, there are still different networks.
Tomorrow, these networks would metamorphose into a
Hi-IQNet and do everything much more naturally. The
mega network of networks would respond to spoken commands
without any regard to languages or accent." He
added, "The Hi-IQNet will be able to find the
information and services you want, even if you only have
a vague idea of what you are looking for. The Hi-IQNet
will be much faster than today's Internet because there
will be caches everywhere so frequently sought information
can be stored near the user."
Forecasting the future IT trends, he said, "The
world will soon see a mega network of networks that enfolds
the earth in a communications 'skin' with ubiquitous connectivity
and enormous bandwidth. The 'skin' will consist not only
of the network of networks but also of countless sensors
and other devices connected to it. If my flight is delayed
at Delhi, I don't want to waste my time waiting. I'll
be able to consult anyone I want on the wireless communication,
no matter where they are, just by taking the network with
me."
He said that in the emerging IT scenario, Indians would
continue to play a prominent role. According to him, "Indians
account for 38% of doctors and 15% of scientists in the
US. Approximately 1000 CEOs of Internet companies
are Indians."
 A
member of the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum and
the NRI Advisory Committee on Telecom, constituted
by the Government of India, Dr Netravalli who made the
nation proud by his outstanding scientific contributions
lauded the vision of the Chief Minister of AP
Mr N Chandrababu Naidu and Union Information Technology
Minister Mr Pramod Mahajan about the emerging communications
and information technologies. He appreciated the initiatives
taken by the Chief Minister in launching the innovative
programme of linking all government offices and professional
colleges by KU band by optical fibres using satellites. |
