Monthly Archives: March 2020

The internet revolution has pushed the IT infrastructure to the edge. Today the line between digital and physical business is getting blurred, fueling unprecedented data consumption. The sheer scale and growing magnitude of data is fueling the need for exponential computing power almost real-time. And this need is better served with localized computing competency. This is what is defined as edge computing – solutions that facilitate data processing at or near the source of data generation.

The demand for localized computing is prompting many organizations to move IT infrastructure to specifically designed edge datacenters nearer to end-users. Edge datacenter complement existing public cloud or colocation deployments and add speed, agility and easy scalability with distributed infrastructure. Currently only 10% enterprise-generated data is created and processed outside a traditional centralized data center or cloud but by 2025, Gartner predicts this figure will reach 75%.

Edge datacenters are defined by their ability to support high bandwidth applications, quick or real-time response requirements and latency-sensitive platforms. Here are three reasons why content heavy platforms and IoT led enterprises are increasingly warming up to edge datacenters:

Edge on Technology
Advanced IoT, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and increasing use cases on Artificial Intelligence across businesses are putting pressure on computing capabilities. These new age technologies are largely user driven and require faster processing of information. Edge datacenters with their near-user locations provide the right support that the growing digital businesses need.

Edge on Performance
The growing appetite for streaming content and increasing consumption of video on demand has made speed a mandatory requirement. Often data travelling from core datacenters creates latency due to congestion in the system. Edge datacenters are largely connected through a private, easy to scale, high bandwidth network to the core or colocation datacenters. The speed is thus assured and lower or no latency leads to greater reliability for mission critical applications.

Edge on Localization
There is growing stress on data sovereignty and localization across the globe. Enterprises are exploring ways to cater to newer regulations while meeting their IT requirements. This has prompted rise of new locations for edge datacenters, the tier 2 and 3 cities where data consumption is growing. Shrinking land bank and increasing pressure on power supply is making large cities a difficult proposition to build and maintain datacenters. The tier 2 and 3 cities are thus attractive destinations to host edge datacenters, bringing computing nearer to the source of data.

CtrlS Edge
CtrlS is among the early movers to build edge datacenters in india, catering to the demand from its existing and prospective customers. We have identified 23 tier 2 and 3 cities across India based on density of network strength of Telcom operators. These centers are being built in close proximity POP locations for ease of connectivity for our customers. These datacenters will be tier 3 rated 1 MW modules with dedicated carrier neutral infrastructure, offering speed, security, reliability and scalability to meet evolving business requirements. Some of the key features of our proposed datacenters include:

• 200 racks per module with 4-6 KW / rack
• DX based/ chiller-based cooling systems
• Cold aisle containment
• Early fire warning systems
• Automatic fire suppression systems
• 2 hours fire resistant container
• Peripheral CCTV surveillance with video analytics
• Integration to centralized BMS
• 4 – 1.5 design PU

There is more data than stars in the observable universe. *
We are swarmed with data all around us. The air we breathe has more data than oxygen, someone wittingly said. And, it may not be too off. World Economic Forum says by 2025 an estimated 463 exabytes of data will be created each day globally – equivalent of 21.2 million DVDs per day!

Who owns and commands this data? There are numerous sources and platforms, but the big digital businesses, the global content platforms and ecommerce giants – the hyperscalers are at the forefront of this data explosion.

More data means more datacenters. And the more the hyperscalers scale, the need for more sophisticated datacenters will grow. Already, as per a report by Cisco, by the next year datacenter network traffic commanded by hyperscalers is expected to reach 55%, covering 50% of all installed datacenter servers. Hyperscalers spent $185 bn on datacenters between 2015 -2018 and the spending is growing almost at 20%. The exponential surge is making it imperative for them to seek out datacenters to match their pace, without compromising on security.

India is the nerve center of data consumption.
While data surge is a global phenomenon, India is emerging as a nerve center of data consumption. An Indian smartphone user consumes about 9.8 GB of data every month and with the lure of on demand video, immersive gaming and ease of shopping online, the data consumption is expected to almost double in next five years. And, if you thought metro cities were driving this growth, think again. Internet has opened the world to the tier 2 and tier 3 city dwellers. Better network and affordable tariffs have made them devour the online world, becoming engaged netizens. The hyperscalers as well as local enterprises are creating more and more vernacular content to sustain interest of this new wave of netizens.

Further, the Indian government with the Data Protection Bill 2019, now mandates data localization, implying that data or a copy of it should be hosted on local servers. This makes it imperative for hyperscalers to host their data within the country. Data localization also elevates end user experience by reducing latency and improving speed of access to their favorite content.

With the stage set for hyperscalers hosting their data in India, the question is what should be their criteria to find the right datacenters in the country.

Here are the 5 key determinants for a competent and trustworthy datacenter infrastructure:
1) Location and Design
Datacenter location is key. Datacenters must be strategically located in non-flood zone areas, designed to withstand seismic level of the geographical region. Design is another key criterion driving the choice of datacenters. Optimal usage of space with strategically designed racks and unistruct ceilings gives not just cost advantage but a better scope for scale. The datacenters with flexible design and easy customizability to suit hyperscalers need would definitely be added bonus.

2) Easy Scalability
The datacenters are not as much about space as about scalability. Hyperscalers go through seasonal upswing and plateauing demanding datacenters that can perform flawlessly at scale. For instance, the festive seasons see huge traffic to online shopping sites, almost 5 to 10 times higher than usual. Or, during the IPL season more netizens consume live stream of matches on their smartphone, making huge demand on datacenters to provide clear bandwidth, with minimal latency. Datacenters that are not geared to scale to such massive influx will fail to support hyperscalers.

3) Security Infrastructure
Data security is of paramount concern for hyperscalers. The sheer magnitude of data makes it imperative to have fool proof safety and security infrastructure. A secure and safe facility with 24/7 surveillance, top rated fire safety and automated alarms assures hyperscalers. Data resilience with proper backup and redundancy planning is also necessary. Further, interconnected datacenters boost security by acting as mutual Disaster Recovery (DR) sites.

4) Sustainable Practices
The growing pressure on natural resources mandates that the datacenters adopt sustainable practices to bring down their power consumption and reduce carbon footprint. Solar, wind and other renewable energy options are fueling the new wave of datacenters and hyperscalers should choose a partner with a strong commitment to sustainable practices.

5) Mature Partner
Datacenter as a business is on a growth path in India, and as such there are a multitude of players offering hosting facilities. Hyperscalers must go beyond looking for a vendor and seek a reliable and mature partner. A seasoned partner will bring in experience, expertise and trust – essential for a successful collaboration.

CtrlS is the partner of choice for Hyperscalers.
CtrlS partners with 60 of Fortune 500 multinationals and has the trust of 3 of 6 hyperscalers. We are the first rated 4 datacenter in Asia, and have the track record of building 16 MW hyperscale set up in just 120 days. We set a record of sorts by building 70-meter-high a G+11 floor datacenter facility in 140 days. Besides speed and agility, we have set benchmarks in sustainable practices by building India’s largest solar paneled façade for our Mumbai datacenter, reducing 70% operational cost with zero waste and zero pollution. We are the first datacenter in the world to be LEED Platinum certified.

We are scaling to meet the datacenter requirement with 6 mn sq ft of technologically advanced facilities including Edge datacenters in 20 plus tier 2 and 3 cities in next few years. CtrlS is thus, the natural choice for hyperscalers.

Note: * World Economic Forum

There is no shortcut to operational excellence. Not when you are the custodian of zettabytes of sensitive data. The cost of keeping the world connected is high, and datacenters are tasked to maintain security, safety and availability of the constant stream of data round the clock. Given the magnitude of data generated every moment and rising cost of infrastructure, datacenters must optimize every resource to perform optimally.

How can datacenters keep performing at peak, affording zero downtime, zero loss and healthy PUE? Skilled people, well defined processes and effective leverage of technology deliver efficient operations and improved productivity. Here are the six key factors that define operational efficiency in datacenters:

1. Safety First Approach
Safety and security at datacenters are non-negotiable. However, maintaining strict safety and security protocols require a behavioral shift. A culture of safety-first approach must be built grounds up and mandated from the top to ensure easy adoption. Change management thus becomes critical to adapt to and adopt new processes.

2) Optimized Processes, Skilled Workforce
There can be no room for redundancy in processes for a datacenter to work efficiently. Each process needs to be assessed and validated periodically with efficient benchmarking. The proven frameworks and best practices developed over the years contribute to accelerate performance of key systems. Agile incident management and quick problem resolution for the basis of efficient process management. The holistic approach to value delivery mandates regular datacenter audits.

Datacenters represent heterogeneous IT environment and require a battery of skilled workforce operating cohesively. Subject Matter Expertise, dedicated projected management teams and a healthy bench strength ensure quick ramp up to meet increased demand without impacting business as usual. The teams need to be on constantly updated mandating certified and OEM trainings.

3) Automated Maintenance Management
Datacenter operations hugely depend on various functions and systems working in collaboration. Managing the heterogeneous environment and keeping track of each and every activity is a mammoth challenge. The mission critical applications and core systems hosted in datacenters require regular maintenance and upkeep. There can be no room for human error. One way to keep the maintenance schedules on track is to put in place a CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) to automate maintenance schedules down to task level aligned to each shift for workers.

4) Proactive Issue Resolution and Early Risk Mitigation
Datacenters cannot afford downtime. Every second counts. An outage of even a few minutes can disrupt business continuity, resulting in millions of dollars in revenue loss. It thus becomes imperative that processes are monitored and issues are proactively detected for quick resolution. Efficient datacenters maintain stringent SLAs following ticketing system to log and resolve complaints.

Robust risk management processes are essential for healthy operations. Thorough risk assessment and mitigation plan is necessary to avoid SPOF (Single Point of Failure) that can impact availability or reliability of systems or applications.

5) Quality Assurance and Compliance
Quality is an inherent factor for efficient functioning of any system. At datacenters quality is interwoven in each and every aspect of operations. Strict compliance standards and certified processes are the foundation of trust and credibility. Organizations across verticals trust datacenters that meet both the geographic and industry compliance standards.

6) Continuous Innovation for Sustainable Operations
Infinite stream of data is pushing datacenters to scale at unprecedented pace. The scale, criticality and complexity of data management requires continuous innovation. Operation systems, methodologies and processes need to be constantly validated and improved to meet the ever-evolving requirements. Datacenters consume nearly 10% of electricity globally. With the ever-expanding data inflow, there will be increasing pressure on infrastructure. Datacenters thus are increasingly adopting sustainable practices and moving to renewable energy sources. The onus to keep the world connected 24/7 with minimal impact on environment lies on responsible operations of datacenters – challenge that requires continuous innovation.

CtrlS runs responsible datacenters, pioneering sustainable practices. We are the first United States Green Building Council (USGBC) ‘LEED Platinum’ certified datacenter in the world. Our solar powered datacenter are 70% cost efficient with zero emission, zero loss and zero pollution. We have been able to set industry benchmark with 1.32 PUE and are continually bridging the gap with sustainable and efficient operations.

Risk of Downtime Can Interrupt Business As Usual
“If there’s one thing that’s certain in business, it’s uncertainty,” claims the bestselling author Stephen Covey. The businesses, however, have learnt to deal with uncertainties and thrive on their resilience. Keeping the businesses moving in the face of adversities, manmade or natural, is the biggest concern of every enterprise, more so if the organization heavily relies on data. Every minute of downtime can cause you huge revenue loss, not to mention the loss of trust of the customers and adverse impact on your brand. As per Gartner study in 2014, average cost of downtime was $5,600 per minute, which climbed up to $9,000 per minute as per a study by Ponemon Institute in 2016. And, the of cost impact of downtime is rising every passing day. The organizations thus cannot take a chance and must ensure that vulnerability is removed from the equation.

How do you keep your data flowing even during a disaster, or in the face of power outage? Is your datacenter equipped to keep your data safe and available at all times? Your businesses require your mission critical applications running flawlessly. How do you ensure that?

Inadequate Backup Leads to Systems Vulnerability
Power outages, failure of back-up systems such as UPS or generators, malfunctioning of cooling systems and other infrastructure issues can impact your applications. Most datacenters have some back up mechanism, but it may not cover all the applications. For instance N+1 redundancy provides for only one backup component for the original number of components. Thus, in the event of a power outage, for instance only a secondary back up is available for some of the racks. This makes your data vulnerable and you run risk on business continuity.

Build Resilience to Overcome Uncertainties
Resilient systems withstand adverse environment and continue to deliver despite challenges. Now, to keep the data safe and available datacenters must ensure availability of backup for every component, that is N+N redundancy. This provides for a comprehensive approach that goes beyond power failure and cooling issues to maintain alternate telecommunication paths, protecting against any line cuts or outage. Rated 4 datacnters maintain 99.95% uptime, allowing for only 28 minutes of downtime in a year, and this cannot be achieved without N+N redundancy.

Further, since two parallel power sources are available all the time, proactive maintenance can be carried out for applications and servers, with practically no downtime. This improves health of your infrastructure and contributes to longevity of your systems.

CtrlS Keeps Your Data Safe and Available All the Time
Your data never stops flowing. Businesses do not sleep. To keep you going, you need datacenters that can withstand crises and keep your applications safe and performing at all times. With N+N redundancy datacenters, you can be assured. However, not everyone can build and maintain such high performing architecture. Maintaining N+N redundancy is a complex and skill intensive exercise, that requires maturity and experience. CtrlS has built Asia’s first rated 4 datacenter that gives you complete assurance on data availability in the face of human made or natural disasters.The failsafe environment has every component backed up with mirrored systems. The fully automated systems ensure smooth shift between power sources in the event of the failure of primary source, with zero loss or latency.

India On the Verge Of Data Revolution
Indians are the largest consumer of mobile data in the world. As per Ericsson Mobility Report, every smartphone user in the country consumes an average 9.8 GB data per month, and driven by video content, this is expected to nearly double in the next 4 years to 18 GB. India will have 1.25 bn mobile subscribers by 2024, while mobile data traffic per month will cross 16 exabytes, growing at 23% CGAR.

There is growing appetite for video content and live streaming. Applications with rich user interface and live or near real-time interactions are wooing even the data novice. You will find almost every smartphone user subscribing to a host of apps and games. The density of usage of these apps and systems can create congestion and lead to latency. Subscribers demand live connect and any delay in accessing the content of their choice frustrates them.

The demand reaches its zenith during sporting seasons with large populace consuming the content live over the internet, moving beyond the traditional broadcast on TVs.

Smart lifestyle, wearables, connected homes with embedded devices and intelligent buildings are making IoT mainstream. Increased usage of RFID, beacons and SCADA devices in industrial IoT has made India claim 5% of global IoT market, amounting to 15 bn $ by end of the current year.

More Data Require More Datacenters
The data explosion is further fueled by government impetus on digitalization. New smart cities and larger adoption of cloud across functions has created a thriving ecosystem for growth. More data require more datacenters. The largest platform players across the globe are increasing their subscriber base in India. There is substantial rise in digital payments, online purchases and transactions. Global ecommerce giants are growing their business even in tier 2 and 3 cities. The sheer spread of digital universe in the country makes it the most attractive destination of datacenters.

Infrastructure Meets Talent
Infrastructure required to build, operate and maintain datacenters is critical. The penetration of internet, increasing density of telecom operators in almost all regions and stable power supply are other advantages for datacenters in India. The country is home to some of the most sought-after technology talent. Technology skills and domain expertise are in short supply globally. But India with its young population and higher tech literacy is able to bridge the skill gap.

CtrlS Advantage
CtrlS is the trusted partner of 60 Fortune 500 multinationals delivering 100% uptime consistently for over 11 years. Our datacenters are strategically located in non-flood zone area, designed to withstand seismic level of the geographical area. We have delivered industry best PUE at 1.32 with World’s Largest Tier4 hyperscale datacentre.

Our Mumbai datacentre has the honour to be the largest solar façade, optimizing 70% cost with zero loss, zero pollution and zero waste.

To know more on how we ensure high performance of mission critical applications, get in touch now.