“Reach The Unreached” is a quote that keeps Wing Commander S Somasundaram (Retd) FIE, Director and Co-Founder, CyPhySignals India ready for hustle every day.
India’s Pathankot Air Force Base Terrorist Attack ignited Wing Commander S Somasundaram (Retd) FIE to develop an infallible and comprehensive Command Control Application when India imported the same from Israel, Sweden, USA etc.
He Co-founded CyPhySignals sourcing the name as an acronym with Cy for Cyber, Phy for Physical security and Signals for Tethered Drones. Their brand embodied their vision of a self-reliant India as they went on to develop a complete solution in record time.
The 2017 founded company met the need of the hour for India with an end-to-end solution protecting India’s defence campuses, vital installations like defence labs, nuclear installations, and airports from both cyber and physical attacks.
In Security IOT, (i-Rakshan©) the requirement was for a solution that would be able to “Detect, Analyse and Respond 24 x 7” which has become CyPhySignals India’s USP. Equipped with a robust command control application that can be used both in the homeland security domain as well as in the smart city domain. The solution has three layers, namely:
· Detection layer: Where various sensors and systems have been integrated.
· Analysis layer: An Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) based engine which would analyse the data received from various sensors and remove all false alarms and raise an alert on the Command Control Application both visually and audibly
· Response layer: It comprises Tethered Drones which would help track intruders, dispatcher systems using LTE or TETTRA as medium to alert QRT.
The same layers can be expanded to smart city projects with the integration of various other sensors related to smart city keeping the analysis and response layers the same.
In Industrial IoT, (Indus 4©), they integrate various machines (digital as well as Analog) in a production line and help improve productivity, quality, reliability & compliance for a manufacturing firm. It would improve operational efficiency (OEE) and utilisation
The only Tethered drone (Dhumbi©) manufacturers in India, CyPhySignals supplied drones to the Indian Armed forces through BEL, Bangalore.
CyPhySignals went on to mark its spot in various platforms including the 2018 Indian Navy RFP floated to find a similar solution to theirs. They joined hands with BEL, the HLS division assisting them to win a contract providing a comprehensive and integrated Command Control Application and Tethered Drones. They integrated various sensors and systems and showcased the solution as a part of Field Evaluation Trials and helped BEL qualify technically and further win the contract in record time.
Continuing the tradition with RFPs floated by the Indian Army in 2018-19 for a comprehensive security solution, today, many Army campuses are equipped with CyPhySignals India solutions. They were highly appreciated for unique solutions by CISF, DGCA, AND BCAS by Bangalore International Airport tender.
In year 2020 during pandemic, they worked remotely to Build a “Boat Tracking System” for Fisheries Department of Govt of Tamilnadu, which helps to track all fishing boats in the sea. The project was deployed successfully during the pandemic, as it was a critical project and was funded by world Bank. The location of the boats which are on sea is displayed on a video wall. This helps the Govt to monitor the boats so that they do not sway away from the borders and also alert the fishermen on any change in environment.
In the year 2020, they adopted a new vertical in Industrial IoT. With automation, the efficiency has reduced with lack of monitoring of the complete process to identify the shortcomings, holdups, maintenance issues, prediction of faults or repairs etc. They developed an end-to-end solution that monitors the complete activity, collects data, analyses and predicts the issues well in advance and ensures that the line or production efficiency is increased. The solution enables PQRC (Productivity, Quality, Reliability and Compliance) for a manufacturing firm.
As a start-up, receiving funding is a challenge in India as investors would prefer a brand that has developed a product that is ready for the market or has shown positive sales.
The nature of our company forces us to showcase products to government agencies and PSUs with “No Commitment and No Cost (NC-NC) trials”.These cost us heavily without guaranteeing any sales as most of the time they did not get converted into a tender.
Not getting loans is another challenge as Indian Banks do not offer loans to start-ups as they cannot show revenues or cannot give collaterals. Even CGTMSE loans are limited to 20% of our revenue.
PSUs and Govt Agencies do not give any advance for the delivery of product which should be given to help and encourage start-ups as they would not have any other source of funds.
Striking a phenomenal sales revenue of 7.6 Crore Rupees in the year 2020-21, the brand’s outlook revolves around changing, adapting to the new challenges, and finding “out of the box solutions” to create a product line suiting the present problems and requirements.
“Personally, whenever I reach the unreached, I feel successful. As a company, success is when we can achieve customer delight. The complete credit goes to My Team Cyphy including my wife, whatever we are today it is because of them,” answered Wg Cdr Soma.
The pandemic has put stress on our brains and has been challenging us to come out with new solutions. We need to rework all our strategies and contingency plans to keep going. It has given us a big challenge, where we may have to tread our paths in the future without many of our planned resources.
CyPhySignals believes in creating a unique work environment that is celebrated like a holiday while their team dashboard says that “We are On Holiday while on work”. Wg Cdr Soma shares, “Give your team challenges which are new to them, so that you can get the best out of them. Normal is Boring!” Witnessing the successful transition of their dreams into reality from developing it to seeing it function successfully along with clientele’s appreciation is an achievement.
While taking the product beyond the border to mark their presence as an Indian company in this domain is the next strategy for growth and expansion at CyPhySignals, their product is their biggest contribution to society.
Along with CyPhySignals India’s product that protects the vital installations of the society, the man behind the brand aims to rearrange the roles in the traditional IT industry by bringing in opportunities for the young talent to make decisions.
“I want to help younger brains to keep their thinking hats always ON rather than getting their brains to do the normal activities. I want to expand and create more job opportunities for a lesser skilled or unskilled human resource rather than skilled resource who have plenty of opportunities,” shared WgCdr Soma.
He summed up the article with a quote by Wg Cdr Soma, “Keep Moving, Anything Which Is Standstill Will Perish.”
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