Nitin Jain, vice president, 5G and data centre, VVDN Technologies

VVDN Technologies, a global provider of engineering, manufacturing, and digital services and solutions, is focused on designing and manufacturing electronic products to support next-generation technologies. In an interview with tele.net, Nitin Jain, vice president, 5G and data centre, VVDN Technologies, talks about the evolving 5G and data centre landscape, the company’s initiatives in these segments and its future strategies…

What are your thoughts on India’s evolving 5G landscape? What initiatives has VVDN taken to leverage opportunities in this domain?

Since last year, operators have been rolling out 5G very well. 5G coverage and handsets are widely available. Multiple use cas­es and applications are also emerging, such as Industry 4.0. The device eco­system has ev­o­l­ved and products such as 5G customer pr­­e­mises equipment (CPE) for homes, fix­ed wireless access CPEs, 5G cameras and 5G-based Android tablets are now available.

VVDN is focused on offering 5G end-to-end solutions. We are working on designing, developing and manufacturing radios for our customers worldwide, which will be deployed by operators globally. We have made a private 5G end-to-end solution for enterprise customers. We have also introduced 5G lab kit solutions for industry and academia. Further, we have developed 5G FWA CPEs for indoor/outdoor usage, homes and enterprises. VVDN has worked on such devices for original equipment manufacturers, telcos and system integrators so that we are able to at least create an ecosystem. We have also developed expertise in the testing and manufacturing of these devices. Moreover, we have in-house surface-mount techno­logies (SMTs), plastics, die casting and sheet metal fabrication for manufacturing.

What are the key trends in the Indian data centre market? How do you see this market growing in the future?

The Indian data centre market is growing rapidly and witnessing multiple trends. Fir­st, the over-the-top (OTT) vertical is growing very fast. OTT applications re­quire a lot of data, which needs to be stored, pushing the de­ma­nd for data centres. Seco­nd, the Indian go­vern­ment is coming out with more privacy rules resembling the Gene­ral Data Protec­tion Regu­la­­ti­on in the European Un­i­on. Th­e­se rules require the storage of all data within the country. Third, with the expansion of 5G, a lot of edge devices are coming up. With this, multiple edge data centres will also come up. Many operators and hyperscalers are working on this front.

What initiatives is VVDN taking to leverage the government’s Make in India initiative? What are the challenges in this regard?

VVDN is the front runner, or it has taken the baton, in leading the Make in India initiative. That is how we have established all our manufacturing facilities in India. We are not only doing final product ass­embly, but are also focusing on SMTs, plastics and sheet metals. We are completely backward integrated, which gives VVDN better productivity as well as operational efficiency, leading to a better customer experience. We should create an ecosystem that focuses on the design as well as manufacturing of products in India. Today, VVDN has more than 10,000 em­ployees. Of these, almost 5,000 are in R&D and the other 5,000 are focused on ma­nufacturing. We are doing our bit in creating this ecosystem.

We are working with the government. We are already a participant in the production-linked incentive scheme. We are working to increase locally manufactured content as much as we can. We have defined a roadmap for this, and we want other industry players, end-customers, en­ter­prises and operators to also work on creating an eco­system. They should also push for more made-in-India products within their networks and offices, to support the Make in India initiative.

What are the company’s future plans/strategies for the Indian market?

VVDN is working towards scaling its engineering and manufacturing capabilities and capacities even further. Backward integration has been our strategy, and we are al­ready on the fast track to  expand our manufacturing facilities across the country. We are continuously upgrading our facilities for scalability and quality. We are trying to localise every piece in the manufacturing value chain, year on year. We are already working out plans for setting up printed circuit board (PCB) fabrication in India, which will meet the demands of VVDN’s existing customers while opening up the option of providing PCB fabs for domestic as well as export purposes. With regard to the Indian market, we are always looking to add new portfolios. In addition to our existing portfolios in telecom, data centres, networking and Wi-Fi, IoT, automotives, security and surveillance and semiconductors, we are looking at aerospace and medical technology for our next step.