The advent of cloud has changed the way data centres operate. At one time, they consisted of a simple data storage and networking infrastructure – one that relied on just server racks, a small operations team and some management tools to get the job done. Today, businesses are largely internet-dependent, which changes how things function. Today, data centres utilise a vast digital ecosystem that includes applications working together through web and cloud services. This shift has given rise to hyperscale data centres. They also feature computing capabilities that expand and contract based on the current needs of the business. Hyperscale data centres are capable of meeting organisations’ growing data demands. They have the infrastructure needed for large, distributed computing networks, thus eliminating investment in additional servers, cooling, electrical power, or physical space. Considering this, hyperscale data centres prove to be exceptionally agile, with the ability to scale up or down to meet any load.
Market dynamics
The increasing demand for better storage resources in computing environments is a key factor driving the growth of the global hyperscale data centre market. This will likely continue in the coming years because of the rising demand for better networking and memory in software networks. The increasing demand for enhanced cloud computing solutions will also contribute to the overall growth of this market in the forecast period between 2021 and 2031.
According to NASSCOM, India’s data centre market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of approximately 5 per cent till 2025, registering two times faster growth than the global data centre market. Meanwhile, the International Data Corporation forecasts India’s public cloud market to reach $13.5 billion by 2026.
Growth drivers
Consumer-driven growth
The number of active internet users is growing at an exceptional rate. According to a study, by 2025, the active internet user base in India is expected to reach around 900 million. This will be a key factor driving the demand for agile data centres. Moreover, with India aiming at 500 million 5G connections by 2027, hyperscale data centres are poised to play a crucial role. Meanwhile, the increasing number of UPI transactions contributes to the growth of hyperscale data centres in India.
Digitalisation of enterprises
Enterprises in the country are continuously going digital. Around 53 per cent of enterprises have increased their cloud adoption over the last year. In addition, about 84 per cent of large organisations have adopted Software-as-a-service technology. These trends have significantly boosted data generation and hence the need for hyperscale data centres.
Government initiatives
The government is taking active steps towards fostering digitalisation across sectors. It envisions providing internet connectivity to all the villages and far-flung areas by 2025. In addition, it aims to set up 75 digital banking units in 75 districts of the country. These initiatives are expected to increase the rate of data production in the country, providing an impetus to the growth of hyperscale data centres. Moreover, the innovative use of blockchain and new-age technology in the Covid era, digitalisation of land records, etc. have scaled the Digital India mission, which requires a strong data centre infrastructure backbone.
Yotta’s evolving data centre footprint
Yotta Infrastructure offers not just hyperscale data centre solutions in India such as colocation, hybrid multi-cloud, managed IT and security services; it also delivers end-to-end digital transformation solutions through a vast portfolio of as-a-service offerings. The company designs, builds and operates large-scale hyper density data centre parks and edge data centres offering wholesale and retail colocation, along with a host of network, connectivity and managed services. It aims to set up edge data centres across 56 cities by 2027, of which 13 edge data centres are expected to come up by 2024 in Phase I. The identified cities include Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Guwahati, Indore, Jaipur, Kochi, Lucknow, Mangalore, Nagpur, Surat, Varanasi and Visakhapatnam.
The company currently has two live hyperscale data centres – Yotta NM1 at its Navi Mumbai data centre park and Yotta D1 at its Greater Noida data centre park. Yotta’s Navi Mumbai data centre park will expand to five buildings, 30,000 racks and 160 MW capacity, while the Greater Noida data centre park will feature six buildings with 30,000 racks and 160 MW of capacity once fully expanded. The company is also developing a data centre at Gift City in Gujarat, which is expected to go live in 2023. Further, it has commenced the construction of its Chennai-Orragadam data centre park, which will go live with 60 MW and 11,000 rack capacity in 2024. Besides, projects in the pipeline include the Mumbai-Powai data centre park, Mumbai-Thane Belapur data centre park, Pune-Darumbare data centre park, Kolkata-Uttarpara data centre park and Bangladesh-Dhaka data centre park.
Based on a presentation by Rohan Sheth, Head of Colocation and Data Centre Services, Yotta Infrastructure Solutions
