Zone24x7 Pvt Ltd announced the opening of a research lab at the University of Moratuwa in collaboration with the Department of Electronic and Telecommunication Engineering of the university. The research lab was declared open by His Excellency Robert Blake, the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives at the inauguration ceremony held on Thursday 06th September, amidst a gathering including Deshanmanya Vidyajothi Raywatha Wijeywardane, the Chancellor of the university, academia, and prominent industry personalities. The facility is a state-of-the-art lab for cutting-edge research into advanced technology that could realize more ambitious business objectives. The Lab will comprise of a dedicated team of researchers from the University of Moratuwa and Zone24x7, assisted by the academic research community and renowned research organizations worldwide.

The research partnership brings together diverse participants in multidisciplinary areas, and provides extended means of interaction for Research Engineers, academia and students working in the field of advanced electronic and device technologies. The lab will provide consistency in realizing the vision and driving innovation towards the next generation technology. The main emphasis is to develop the research competencies of the students while focusing on research work that will enable future advancements.

Speaking at the ceremony, Llavan Fernando, Chief Executive Officer of Zone24x7 said,
“Bringing the technology of the US Silicon Valley will greatly benefit and help Sri-Lanka. While Sri Lanka cannot compete in numbers with large countries like India or China we can come up with ways that will revolutionize the high technology industry”.

“I hold very high regards for the University of Moratuwa and am very enthused about our new partnership as many UOM alumni are excelling in their careers at Zone24x7. We do not know where we are going, but we know that Zone24x7 and University of Moratuwa are going to come up with something great”, he added.

World class research with a commitment to diversity

University of Moratuwa is a widely recognized institute in Sri Lanka for the outstanding resource talent they produce. In the latest international rankings the University of Moratuwa was ranked first among the universities in Sri Lanka, and ranked eleventh among all the universities in the Indian region.

“The Department of Electronic & Telecommunication Engineering had been able to pool the best talent in engineering research and product design and what we lacked was the direct reach to the international markets. We are confident that this collaboration will enable us to achieve due international recognition for the true Sri Lankan design talent” said Kithsiri Samarasinghe, Head of the Department.

“The tremendous synergy of technology and innovation has been proved over and over
at these two entities and it showed us great teaming potential to contribute to the
research world”, said Manjula Dissanayake, General Manager of Zone24x7. “This will be an eminent entity in both the technological and academic arenas,” he added.

The joint lab research will enable the students and researchers involved to lead the next generation of innovation in diversified business domains.

Sankalpa Gamwarige, a senior researcher and Head of the Hardware Group at Zone24x7 said, the Lab will be the home for researchers and engineers who would have the opportunity to work with the experts and world class partnerships from well recognized technology organizations and institutes. “This will be the forefront for new ideas in research and we believe this will have a major impact on the future of IT industry in Sri Lanka”, he added.

About Zone24x7

Zone24x7 is a leading provider of global technology innovation services with world class partnerships. Since its inception in 2003, Zone24x7 benchmarks the finest technological capabilities and delivering innovation with profound industry and business process expertise. Headquartered in San Jose, USA, Zone24x7 operates in the USA and Sri Lanka providing technology solutions to leading clients around the world. Zone24x7 is trusted by industry leaders including Federated Department Stores, Symbol Technologies, Motorola Inc, Posiflex Inc, ID Tech in the USA and RDM Corporation in Canada. Zone24x7 was recognized as a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner in Mobility Solutions, Custom Development Solutions and Data Management Solutions and also a Microsoft Gold Partner in Embedded Solutions. Zone24x7 prides itself in having the vision, leadership and a world class team to drive creativity and innovation.

About the Department of Electronic & Telecommunication Engineering, University of Moratuwa.

Continuing developments in the Electronics & Telecommunication field worldwide make it one of the most fast-changing and challenging specializations of Engineering. The department conducts a B.Sc. Engineering degree course, two Postgraduate Diploma/Master of Engineering Courses and a full time Postgraduate Research program. It is well known for the quality of the graduates it produces and as such there is a heavy demand from the industry for its graduates. Consequently, challenging and lucrative career opportunities have become available to Electronic & Telecommunication Engineers produced by the department. The prevailing competitive environment in the electronics, telecommunications and IT industries has induced a rapid deployment of advanced technologies in the industry. Therefore the department is continuing to forge strong links with the industry in order to promote collaborative research and product development work.