The Datacenter market has been growing in India. This growth has further been driven by the rapid adoption of cloud and data-led changes, says Anil Nama, CIO, Cloud4C, who in interaction with CIO Axis, shares the latest trends for the Data Center market in India.
Q1. What are the future trends in the datacenter sector?
Datacenters in India are poised for rapid growth. It is expected to increase by 300% (ET Report: from existing 590 MW to 1450 MW by 2022). The Datacenter services itself are under undergoing changes with high-density racks, technologies like liquid cooling, the concept for core and edge Datacenters. This growth is being multiplied by the rapid adoption of cloud and data-led changes being evidenced in post COVID era. AWS has announced USD 1.2 Billion in Hyderabad Expansions, Indian players including Hiranandani are investing in tripling their capacity. We at CtrlS after having one of the largest footprints are multiplying our capacity with the additional campus at Mumbai and Hyderabad.
India today has become a true hub for Datacenter and data growth. Already we are home to 4 of the largest SI, Back office for 700+ fortune 5000 companies. It is a natural transition for migrating data and the factors contributing to the growth are the availability of surplus power, conducive geographical conditions, availability of technical resources, governmental focus, increase in digital adoption and innovative startup culture. Green options for renewable energy for the sector for reducing carbon footprint is an added advantage (ET Report – India only needs to use 10% of its wastelands for Solar for a 100% carbon neutral green energy.
All these development points that more there is digital growth, the more will be Datacenter growth in the coming years and the sector will maintain a healthy CAGR for the next decade.
Q2. What are your proposals to accelerate the digital transformation of companies and return to a new post-pandemic normal?
The 3 step programme to accelerate digital transformation in the post COVID normal could be:
- Creation of AI-enabled data lakes for employees and managers to enable faster and right decisions
- Investment in reskilling and investing in employees
- Revamping Security for IAM and Threat Detection in the post COVID scenario
3. Can you please share some of the unique lessons learned from Covid-19?
Here are some of the lessons learnt during a pandemic:
(a) Collaboration tools such as Zoom and MS teams enhance productivity
(b) Work from home increases productivity
(c) Employee stress management and reskilling are key to success
(d) SAAS applications provide a much faster go-live date but lower customisation
(e) Data and Ai supported dashboards are powerful tools for business alignment
(f) Existing security tools for IAM and Threat Detection need to be revamped when the employee is logging from the Internet
(g) Structured data storage as per organisation (SharePoint or Object Oriented) usage for storing and dissemination of information as opposed to attachments not only reduces the data storage needs but also provides a method to implement DLP controls for group/Org or universal data sharing
(h) DLP Tools for WFH are a must
4. What technologies and trends will your organization be focusing on next year?
Edge Datacenters, investment in security and new innovations in handling data & AI are key trends currently being focussed upon.
5. How will the cybersecurity sector look in a post-COVID-19 world? What do you expect to be different when it comes to cybersecurity and hiring in a post-COVID-19 world?
Post-COVID, WFH scenario has changed the realm for security. Users who were physically identified by their desk position and NAC controls in offices are suddenly coming over the internet. This has led to a change in IAM with impersonation and lateral attacks of Ransomware on the supply chain (previously sacrosanct in secure locations and networks) being increasingly vulnerable to the current working environment. Security has moved from just being the buzzword in post-COVID to be the single most important factor for enterprises to provide resilience in the new normal. Hiring for security experts has been robust and new security specialisation like threat hunting experts, SOAR, DLP and GRC is the way forward.