Since 2004, CSE Department of S.R.K.R. Engineering College is conducting the annual event called SPURTHI. I am a regular speaker (being alumni of this college) at this event, introducing latest Sun technologies to students. What started as a college level event in 2004 has morphed this year in to a mega event. More than 75% participants are from colleges outside this area, some from as far as 300kms. The event was conducted on 29th and 30th of January. Here is the website for this event.
This year, Sun is the sponsor for the event, as you can see here
and here.
Me and Kishore are speakers from Sun.
In addition, there is a Tech Talk from Charlene (Chia Ling Sung) from
NetEnrich. The event included programs like Technical Paper Contest, C quiz, Programming Contest, Treasure Hunt, etc. About 120+ participants are from outside the Bhimavaram area and all of them unanimously appreciated the hospitality of the college and the town. At any point of time during our tech talks, the attendees are close to about 175, with few more people attending programs that run in parallel. Day1 was busy for me: I am keynote speaker, delivered a talk on
Sun’s Innovations for the Participation Age and spoke to press people. Kishore arrived late on Day1 and delivered an excellent talk on
OpenSolaris on Day2. I assisted him during a 45 minute long Q&A session.
Day1 events started a little late, due to trains to this area being late on that day. We had a very short opening ceremony
and then proceeded to my talk on
Sun’s Innovations for the Participation Age. My presentation covered the following:
While other expert talks are going on, I am asked to meet press (the only press reporter in the college that sends materials to 4 Telugu dailies in this area.) The questions started around the radiation effects of electronic equipment and the impact on consumers. I talked about the social responsibility of innovation companies like Sun and how we help reduce electricity consumption and heat generation using CoolThreads technology in Niagara chips. This technology further reduces the air conditioning needs and in toto, helps conserve the resources we have. This results in a cumulative positive effect on the society and shows the eco responsibility Sun has. We also talked about the fact that as more and more things are connected to the network (like cars) more consumers see the direct benefits of being on the network. Also, the entry level barrier for network access in India is very less (at Rs 10 per hour for Internet usage at kiosks, with no need for owning a computer.) This really helps students and researchers in India to be on par with other countries well known for innovation. This discussion is covered in press (local editions of the major 4 dailies) on the next day. I stayed around during lunch and dinner, to have brief chat sessions with the attendees.
Day2 started with a great presentation by Kishore on OpenSolaris. He left room for a 45 minute discussion hour. Thanks to Sumitha and IEC’s Solaris Team, I brought a bunch of OpenSolaris/NetBeans Combo DVDs and we gave them away to students who asked good questions. There is lot of interest from students on the Solaris technology in general. There were occassional questions on SunRay, Thumper and Blackbox too. I assisted Kishore by pitching in with some answers. This session became very informative and interactive and we enjoyed it very much.
I was there during prize distribution ceremony too. Thanks to Avinash, I could bring some Sun-ware (Sun logo T-Shirts and Caps) that are given out to winners. By that time, the event coordinator got the proceedings of the technical paper contest printed and ready. Good work!
This is a great two day event that helped us reach many students from many colleges in this area. Looking forward to more such events.