In an exclusive interview with TimesTech, Sudhir Tangri, Vice President of Asia Pacific Sales at Keysight Technologies, shares insights into the company’s strategic focus and growth plans for the Indian market. He discusses Keysight’s pioneering efforts in 5G and 6G technologies, AI-driven innovation, and the challenges facing the Test & Measurement industry, highlighting Keysight’s role in driving technological advancements across multiple sectors in India.
Read the full interview here:
TimesTech: Can you elaborate on Keysight Technologies’ strategic focus and growth plans for the Indian market?
Sudhir: Keysight has a global presence and a robust portfolio in the communications and electronic industrial sectors. We have enabled our customers to advance 5G technologies in India and are pioneering research in 6G. As leading suppliers, we offer semiconductor and high-speed digital interface testing up to 1.6THz and our wireline test solutions enable infrastructure and data center developments. We also help secure networks and determine their security posture with our cybersecurity and visibility solutions. In addition, we provide essential test solutions for space and defense projects in India ensuring test consistency and accuracy. Furthermore, Keysight’s state-of-the-art EV test solutions for R&D and manufacturing have also been one of the major contributors to green energy projects. Our automation framework has been a key enabler in the majority of segments that we operate in, and we help our customers automate their tests across design and test workflow which shortens product development time.
Our operations encompass a diverse range of segments including communications, semiconductor, automotive, electronics, healthcare, aerospace & defense. The Indian market has seen rapid growth over the past decade, particularly in the wireless and semiconductor sectors. Keysight’s test solutions help in scalability testing, which is a key requirement for India considering population density, increasing data consumption, large scale adoption of social media and OTT services as well as speed and reliability requirements for the BFSI industry.
The roadmap of Keysight aligns with the Indian government’s Make in India initiative, DLI and PLI schemes aiming to capitalize on opportunities across major sectors in the electronics and IT industry. We have a team of test and automation experts and Keysight is committed to supporting its customers both directly and with our extended arm of channel partners across India. Moreover, our service and calibration center is one of the best in the private sector in India and it is helping our customers with upkeep and timely support of instruments, which is critical to their success in the businesses they operate in.
TimesTech: What advancements in AI applications is Keysight currently working on, and how are these impacting your product offerings?
Sudhir: AI is fast becoming ubiquitous and is fueling multiple eco-systems across the entire technology landscape. We are actively engaged across the entire eco-system to provide enabling solutions for faster AI adoption.
Keysight is using AI in various ways. We provide test tools specifically designed for markets that are rapidly growing due to AI. We also apply AI in our test solutions to improve customer productivity. Moreover, considering our line of high technology business, Keysight is leveraging AI to increase productivity internally for our R&D and manufacturing teams. These advancements are having a profound impact on Keysight’s product offerings. By incorporating AI, Keysight can deliver more sophisticated, reliable, and efficient solutions that meet the evolving needs of its customers.
Our adoption of AI is deep rooted in the entire product development lifecycle as well as in the optimization of customer use cases with AI augmented test automation – which significantly improves customer productivity by streamlining the testing process and reducing manual intervention.
TimesTech: Can you share insights on the latest innovations in network testing methodologies at Keysight?
Sudhir: There are several important things that are driving innovations in network testing: Technology evolution, AI/ML and digitalization and our quest for sustainable energy. Keysight Technologies is leading the charge in all these innovations with our sophisticated scientific instrumentation helping our customers not just in testing but by elevating their confidence in the products that they make. The major areas of technology evolution in communication networks includes connectivity, edge & cloud, digital twins and AI/ML, where Keysight is front runners in providing design and test solutions. Our EDA design tools allow designing analog circuits and antennas in millimeter wave range. They also have strong and scalable design capabilities in high-speed digital and quantum circuits. We have test tools to test software and create digital twins which allows for the creation of virtual replicas of physical network environments. This technology enables comprehensive testing of AI integration within communication systems, ensuring high accuracy and efficiency in network performance evaluation.
Our network testing methodologies have several innovative advancements, particularly through the integration of AI. One of the major requirements in networks is continuous testing to adapt to the evolving standards and additional product features. The majority of our network test products support CI/CD/CT methodology to ensure that our customers can test their product enhancements and features ahead of time and improve their time to market. Moreover, AI augmented testing is another major innovation in network testing which Keysight’s test solutions support to reduce the customer’s test time.
TimesTech: You are known for your effective change management strategies and high growth results. Can you provide examples of how you’ve implemented these strategies at Keysight?
Sudhir: Our close engagement with customers’ right from the time of conceptualization through to end testing and the manufacturing of products is key to Keysight’s success in India. We work with customers throughout every aspect, and we collaborate at R&D level to ensure our product roadmaps are aligned. Our sales and management teams consult on customers’ projects and programs to guide them on the adoption of the most optimal test solutions. Therefore, we can capitalize on the growing Indian market, while still winning our customer’s confidence with testing solutions that meet their needs.
We have been able to scale our organization in India with the right motions to stay ahead of curve, ensuring we continue to support our customers at every level of complexity in their test cycle. We have highly motivated sales team and the industry’s best team of experts to support our customers, along with chain of partners to cover customers throughout the country and across all the segments we operate in. Together, with our partners we deliver a rich technology experience that supports our customers in the region.
TimesTech: How is Keysight leveraging its expertise in 5G/6G, AI/ML, automotive, and aerospace sectors to stay ahead of technological trends?
Sudhir: We have been leading the 5G market, collaborating with chipset vendors, network equipment manufacturers, service providers, and security experts to support the entire 5G ecosystem. As 5G rolls out, serving high data demands and low latency, we are completely ready to help our customers advancing research in 6G with special use cases like holography and sensing. Our partnerships with top tier academic institutes and government R&D centers helps keep India at the forefront of 6G adoption. We are helping them to develop testbeds and platforms to explore 6G and terahertz technologies for India specific applications in education, healthcare and agriculture.
In AI and ML, we are integrating AI throughout our product development and R&D processes, enhancing automation and accelerating innovation. This approach ensures our solutions remain cutting-edge and effective. Our entry into the automotive sector has been strengthened by strategic acquisitions, enabling us to offer advanced testing solutions for electric and autonomous vehicles. In aerospace and defense, we work with government agencies and private players, using our advanced testing methods to support defense privatization, meet high performance and security standards. industry.
TimesTech: What are the main challenges facing the Test & Measurement industry today, and how is Keysight addressing them to drive market gains and disruptions?
Sudhir: The fundamental challenges for designers today are increasing design complexity and reduced time to market. The stretch has been so accentuated that it’s becoming difficult to have standard test processes make winning products.
This encourages developers to handle majority of the expected issues during the design stage itself. This concept of “shift-left” is making “simulation” a critical and necessary tool during product development process. A better simulated design also seeks optimized test plans and test automation to handle regression use-cases.
Keysight, thru its evolving and revolutionary test solutions is enabling the entire process starting from simulation all the way to test automation and final testing.
On the other hand, we have technological inflections such as 6G, AI, and quantum computing, which require new testing methodologies and equipment.
At Keysight, we continue to address and evolve with these challenges through a combination of strategic planning and acquisitions, technological innovation, and a focus on customer needs. By staying ahead of the curve and adapting to changing market conditions, Keysight will continue to play a vital role in driving technological progress.
