How IBM is transforming India's president house into a smart township

IBM is giving the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the sprawling residence and office of India's President, a digital makeover through its smart city solutions. The company will focus on helping the estate manage its existing infrastructure and utilities, especially waste, energy, water and security, more efficiently.

Spread across 330 acres, the Rashtrapati Bhavan is one of the largest residences of a head of state in the world. Inaugurated in 1929, the palatial 340-room complex was the home of the British Viceroy of India until 1947. Today, besides the Indian president, it has 5,000-odd residents and 1,500 apartments.

Designed by British architect Edwin Lutyens, it is considered to be an architectural masterpiece but has lagged behind in technology until now.

Credit: MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP/Getty Images

"The self-sustained Presidential Estate is adopting IBM’s technology and solutions to become future ready," IBM said in a statement.

IBM has set up a new Intelligent Operations Centre (IOC) and a mobile to transform the estate into a smart township. The centre collects, analyses and comprehends the data streaming in from multiple locations within the estate to make its services more efficient. 

For instance, to reduce the estate's current electricity consumption, the IOC has been been integrated with the electrical billing system to monitor consumption patterns and optimise energy management. In addition, the Rashtrapati Bhavan is also installing eco-friendly LED and solar powered lamps for street lighting.

Instead of manually managing the estate's water supply, IBM has mapped all its water resources, including underground reservoirs, pumps, pipes and tube wells, to quickly resolve water-related issues and track complaints in real-time.

The model will soon be replicated in other parts of the country as well. "The smart presidential estate is a replicable model which can be replicated in other parts of the country through citizen’s engagement, public and private sector participation and deployment of intensive technologies," India's President Pranab Mukherjee said in a statement. "We are in the process of replicating our Rashtrapati Bhavan experience of smart town-ship by applying and transferring our knowledge and expertise to five villages in an adjoining state.”

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