Microsoft to set up Centre of Excellence in AP, work with T-Hub: Nadella

Microsoft has reached an understanding with the Andhra Pradesh government to partner in fields of education, citizen services and agriculture

Andra Pradesh Chief minister Chandrababu Naidu felicitates Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in Hyderabad on Monday. (PTI)

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella promised to set up a Centre of Excellence in Visakhapatnam and vowed to work with Telangana government's startup incubator T-Hub during his visit to Hyderabad on Monday.

The software giant signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Andhra Pradesh government for deployment and use of information and communications technologies to offer better citizen services in the state, an official release said.

The decision was taken at a breakfast meeting hosted by state chief minister Chandrababu Naidu at his residence. During the 80-minute meeting Nadella assured the state government of "total cooperation" in using cloud data to improve citizen services.

Later, while visiting T-Hub, Nadella told budding entrepreneurs that Microsoft would like to work with the country's largest technology incubator in developing accelerators and startups.

"Indian talent in the area is dramatically growing and we can see their dominance in the field," he said, adding that Microsoft's goal was to empower local entrepreneurs to solve last mile connectivity.

Microsoft already has a big campus in Hyderabad, the current joint capital which will go to Telangana as part of the bifurcation plan. Nadella was born in Hyderabad, but his family hails from Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh.

According to the MoU with Andhra, the state government will use technical knowledge from Microsoft India, which will support building of up to three proof-of-concept solutions to apply Microsoft Azure Machine Learning and Advanced Visualisation in education, agriculture and e-citizen services.

"These POC solutions will be built and deployed to address specific problems within each of the fields to achieve better outcome for the state." the release said.

Microsoft India also said it will continue to engage and train the government's key IT executives on technologies such as cloud, mobility and the Microsoft technology stack, which includes tools for developers and enterprises.

Nadella is on a low-key "personal visit" to the city. During his previous trip in September last year, both AP and Telangana vied for Microsoft investment but no commitments were announced.