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