Wipro ties-up with Agnik to offer advanced connected car services

IT major Wipro on Thursdayy said it will collaborate with Agnik to offer advanced connected car information technology services and platforms for the automotive industry.

Agnik is a cloud-based vehicle performance Big Data analytics software company.

The services will be powered by Agnik's Big Data Analytics products, which analyse vehicle and driver performance information along with context data, using a blend of onboard and cloud-based distributed analytics, Wipro said in a release.

Wipro added that advanced Big Data solutions for connected car environments help the automotive industry better understand vehicle performance, automotive business, and connect with customers at a deeper level to improve efficiency and brand-loyalty.

The company said Wipro will use Agnik's analytics products to offer automotive companies a unique solution to enable proactive maintenance of vehicles, encourage safe driving, and present a highly personalised customer experience.

Wipro will integrate and support (IT and BPO) connected vehicle solutions for OEMs (original equipment manufacturer) and automotive suppliers (ODM/Tier1s), it added.

Srinivas Rao, Vice-President and Head of Service Transformation Group within Wipro's Manufacturing & Hi-tech business unit said, "we believe advanced personalised analytics will have a deep game-changing impact in the connected car applications for the automotive industry."

Back in December 2013, Wipro had announced it would be quitting the PC and server manufacturing business, and will instead focus on IT services.

After HCL Infosystems, another homegrown PC maker, Wipro, has decided to quit manufacturing of computers and servers to sharpen its focus on IT solutions and services business.

As the car becomes a connected Internet device, the titans of the tech sector are battling for control of the wheel.

The war is shaping up a lot like the computer sector, with Google, Apple and Microsoft and others fighting to be in control of the vehicle's "operating system" to deliver apps, navigation and other services.

(Also see: Google, Apple and Microsoft set to battle for control of the car)

Some of those battles were played out this week at the Consumer Electronics Show CES in Las Vegas, which included a record nine auto manufacturers and scores of equipment makers, including software and related tech companies.

Written with inputs from PTI