40 top technology honchos joined UIDAI

By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 23 September 2010, 20:03 IST   |    1 Comments
Printer Print Email Email
Bangalore: Nandan Nilekani's Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) project has now been christened and has succeeded in attracting some of the best and brightest that the IT world can offer, both from within India and from overseas. Many who were once instrumental in incubating successful technology ventures or were part of large entities like IBM, HP or Intel. They have now joined UIDAI as volunteers. 40 technology honchos, most of whom were settled in the U.S. with high-paying salaries have joined Nilekani. While a few of them joined the technology wing as sabbatical resources, most of the senior people are volunteers. UIDAI's technology centre in Bengaluru now houses around 70 people. A team of software professionals from MindTree, which is building the software application for the project, are also stationed here. The list includes: Bala Parthasarathy, Co-founder of Online Photo Service Company Snapfish (later acquired by HP); Sanjay Swamy, who was the CEO of mobile-based payment service firm mChek; and Pramod Varma, formerly VP-Research & Chief Technology Architect of B2B service provider Sterling Commerce (now a part of IBM). The IT folks, who have joined us, are very committed and consider this a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It has given them a chance to give back to their homeland by participating in a nation-building activity," said Nadhamuni, who Heads UIDAI's Technical Development and Technology Centre in Bengaluru.

siliconindia