MS Research interested in working with ID project

Microsoft Research India, Microsoft Corp’s research facility, is keen on collaborating with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). Proof of concept for the UIDAI project is expected to be tested in two-three states in the coming months.

P Anandan, MD, Microsoft Research India said the facility is interested in working with the project as a societal challenge. “We are trying to understand the problem. We would like to collaborate in areas like dealing with a large database, multi-lingual capability and user interface,” he said.

Nandan Nilekani, who heads the UIDAI project said some of the main challenges faced in conducting the project was enrolment, cyber security and a lack of infrastructure. Nilekani, speaking at Microsoft Research India’s fifth anniversary celebrations, said the first set of UID numbers would be rolled out between August 2010 and February 2011.

 

“We are working towards developing the capability to process a million or more requests every night. We would look at online authentication of identity in seconds. This is a game-changing project which will bring about massive change,” said Nilekani.

Karnataka would be the first state to come under the UID project that seeks to issue a unique ID number for each citizen. UIDAI will manage a central ID Data Repository (CIDR) which will issue UID numbers, update resident information and authenticate the identity of residents as required.

In its endeavour to connect with researchers and potential research students, Microsoft Research India has launched a computer science community portal called ResearchAndYou.com. The portal looks to serve as a single source of information for resources in different disciplines of computer science and related areas. The India centre is Microsoft’s third basic research facility to be established outside the US.

The facility has over 40 employees in India.