Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Microsoft India have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop a regulated sector focused cloud offering to empower customers with advanced cloud computing and infrastructure services. In line with emerging regulations, L&T and Microsoft will co-engage with a defined set of large customers in regulated sectors to develop architecture and roadmaps to modernise their traditional data centres to potentially hybrid models and advance their digital transformation goals. The two industry leaders will set up a joint governance group to define future platform designs, investments, and commercial/business models to service the regulated sectors’ emerging technology requirements.

SN Subrahmanyan, CEO & MD of Larsen & Toubro, said, “Our partnership with Microsoft aims to accelerate hybrid cloud transition for large customers in regulated sectors, while maintaining the highest benchmarks of compliance, security, and governance. As enablers of India’s digital transformation vision, our ambition is to support organisations in their journey to become digital natives and future ready businesses.”

AI tools to study production of fuel from biomass

IIT Madras researchers are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to study the processes involved in conversion of biomass to gaseous fuel. Gaining such understanding through hands-on experiments is time-consuming and expensive. Computer simulations and modelling studies can provide quicker insights that can be used to build the processes and plants for biomass processing. With increasing environmental concerns associated with petroleum derived fuels, biomass is a practical solution as a source of energy-dense fuel.

The research was led by Himanshu Goyal, assistant professor, department of chemical engineering, IIT Madras, and Niket S Kaisare, professor, department of chemical engineering, IIT Madras. Goyal said, “Understanding the complex mechanisms involved in the conversion of raw biomass into fuel is important for designing the processes and optimising reactors for the purpose. There is an urgent need to train the next generation of engineers on high-performance computing and machine learning skills so that they can address some of the biggest challenges before