Build-to-Suit Data Centre: A Key to India’s Digital Economy | Hyderabad Chapter

The three tailwinds which are fueling the growth of data consumption are -booming data uptake, digitization and localization. India is also on the cusp of data center evolution, its various cities including Hyderabad have emerged as one of the fast-growing markets in the Asia-Pacific region with a capacity of almost 1,100MW of total IT power. Thus to fulfill the demand there has been a shift in the way data centers are viewed as infrastructure, moving from an on-premise  to a co-location model. 

Having said that, now the critical challenge for enterprises is to establish a data centre that is secure, reliable, and scalable that meets their current and future requirements while preventing infrastructure quicksand and high maintenance expenses. 

TechCircle, exclusive boardroom — "Build-to-Suit Data Centers: A Key to India’s Digital Economy," in association with CapitaLand, constituted on March 10 in Hyderabad is the answer to the same. The sole purpose was to discuss, assess, and chart trends, innovations, challenges, and new imperatives shaping the future of data centres and digital infrastructure management across various industries in India and why they are shifting towards build-to-suit data centres.

Surajit Chatterjee, Managing Director, Data Centre, India, CapitaLand Investment, chaired the event with Shalil Gupta, CBO, Mosaic Digital & Mint, An HT Media Group company, who kick started the session. The boardroom was a pool of knowledge understanding the concept of build-to-suit data centres and their importance in India's digital economy; assessing the challenges and strategies to mitigate them, and most importantly, how CapitaLand is bringing speed, agility, and operational resilience & helping businesses to transform.

Shalil Gupta started the discussion by highlighting that data centres now play such a central role in operations, that every business requires the data center under the mercy of IT infrastructure. With continuous infrastructure uphauling and the unpredictable pace at which technology is transitioning, it is high time organizations free themselves from quicksand thereby controlling data centre maintenance costs instead of infrastructure costs.

Continuing the discussion, Surajit Chatterjee highlighted that companies need to have a firm hand if they wish to lower their data development expenses because data construction is increasing every year.

Besides cost, the leaders also reiterated the gaps and challenges in India’s current data centre landscape. Though they believed that the markets such as Hyderabad, Chennai, and Delhi are doubling or tripling the estimated market capacities but there still lies some infrastructure and other disparities. These include:

• Expansion- as companies need massive capacities to meet the future needs
• Operational efficiencies- the demand for custom data center designs and specifications
• Complex procedures: land acquisition; design and construction; regulatory approvals; machinery procurement; and performing the desired Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE)

Echoing these sentiments, one leader stressed the importance of data localization and the criticality of security so that the data is stored and processed within our country’s borders for the protection of the personal and financial information of the company and its customers.

Upon this, Surajit Chatterjee suggested that a "build-to-suit data center" approach could be the solution that is cost-effective in operations with a model tailored to meet their needs - now and in the future. It would leverage innovative infrastructure hardware, software, and process technologies to enhance and continually refine their experiences at the colocation facility. These centres help in creating a robust and scalable architecture that supports their evolving business needs while ensuring the security and availability of their critical data.

Moving to the next topic, Shalil Gupta raised a pertinent question as to how well a build-to-suit data centre ensures the capacity-building required to convert large Capex into manageable cost. Surajit Chatterjee responded that scaling on as-needed basis is much easier and more practical than trying to build to scale. When growth is essential, it requires the agility and flexibility to invest in an infrastructure which is compatible as per the demand. Where the solution of co-location facility is just perfect to solve this issue.

Then the trending question came in: How do we generate enough power and resources to extract data without causing more harm to our environment? The answer lies in adopting a sustainable and green data center—and more specifically, one that uses intelligent energy management systems, solar panels, and highly efficient cooling systems. Surajit Chatterjee concurred that CapitaLand’s sustainable core competencies in data centre design, development and operations will enable organizations to seize ESG opportunities.

Summarizing the discussion, Shalil Gupta said that the future of data architecture lies in “build to suit” not in “build to scale”. As data growth will continue to skyrocket, the resultant demand for infrastructure will bolster the growth of colocation on-demand data centers. This concept will be a game-changer for businesses in achieving greater efficiency, speed, connectivity, and resilience.

Brand Solutions is a marketing initiative for sponsored posts. No TechCircle journalist was involved in the creation of this content.