The colocation data center industry in India is experiencing a remarkable surge as the country witnesses unprecedented growth in data consumption and generation. One can attribute this surge to the widespread availability of pocket-friendly rates for mobile internet, which has prompted a significant increase in internet penetration, surpassing 30% and continuing to grow quite quickly. According to a study conducted by Ericsson, data traffic per month is projected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 23% from 4.6 exabytes in 2018 to a staggering 16 exabytes in 2024. This surge in data traffic equates to an estimated 18 GB of data being generated per user per month, predominantly fueled by the consumption of rich video content.
Various industries, including but not limited to financial services, telecommunications, online food delivery services, e-commerce, and manufacturing, have sought to undertake major transformations. This along with the government’sdigitisation initiatives like the Smart Cities and Digital India campaigns, have led to major data explosion in India.
The use of public clouds is bringing about massive changes to the conventional methods of data management and storage. In fact, IDC had shown that the leading four cloud platformswill house 50% of the nation’s workloads by the year 2023. Additionally, as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML) are more deeply incorporated into company processes, there is a growing need for data centers, which puts extra strain on infrastructure and applications.
As the volume of generated data continues to soar, enterprises, over-the-top (OTT) content providers, and cloud players must possess a robust backend infrastructure capable of effectively catering to user demands. The timeless tenets of availability, scalability, and reliability remain crucial, but their significance has been magnified by the current circumstances.
Adding to the demand for data centers is the regulatory requirement of data localisation, which mandates that companies should store critical data of Indian users within national boundaries. This requirement ensures better data management, access, and sovereignty. However, it also necessitates partnerships between OTT players, cloud service providers, social media platforms, e-commerce companies, global offshore centers, search engine operators, and Indian data center service providers to meet their infrastructure needs.
The rise in need for dependable and secure data storage and management solutions is another factor driving the expansion of colocation data centers in India. The need for colocation services has increased as businesses and organisations in India adopt digital technology and data-driven decision-making processes. Enhanced security measures, backup power and cooling systems, and access to high-speed internet connectivity are just a few benefits that colocation data centres offer. They are a desirable alternative for companies wishing to outsource their data centre infrastructure while keeping control of their data for these reasons.
The necessity to solve the issues of constrained physical space and power availability in urban locations is a major factor in the expansion of colocation data centers in India. Traditional on-premises data centers frequently experience space and power infrastructure limitations, which can limit their capacity to scale and satisfy growing corporate demands. By offering shared infrastructure resources, colocation data centers help businesses overcome these obstacles and expand their operations without having to make large capital expenditures for the construction and upkeep of their own data centers.
Furthermore, the growth of colocation data centers in Mumbai and other cities has been accelerated by the emergence of cloud computing and hybrid IT systems. To achieve flexibility, scalability, and cost-effectiveness, many firms are switching to a hybrid strategy that combines on-premises infrastructure with cloud services. Colocation data centers provide the connection and interconnectivity choices required for enterprises to effortlessly integrate their on-premises infrastructure with public and private cloud platforms, acting as the perfect middle ground.
The explosion of data is not unique to India; it is a global phenomenon that shows no signs of slowing down in the near future. Consequently, scalability has become an absolute necessity for data infrastructure. Hyperscale data centers have gained significant popularity worldwide.
In the current scenario, existing players in the market are primarily responding to demands by adding capacity, both in terms of space and power, when the need arises, rather than strategically building purposeful hyperscale data center parks.
As India goes through a complete digital transformation across the private and public sectors, with internet users growing at astaggering pace, the majority of this growth will be closely linked to hyperscale data centers. These data centers will play a critical role in accommodating and processing the vast volumes of data being generated andenabling innovation.
In conclusion, factors such as the exponential increase in data consumption, various digital transformation initiatives, the mass acceptance of cloud services, and the demand for scalable and secure data storage solutions are behind the expansion of colocation data centers in India. Colocation data centers will be essential to sustaining India’s digital economy and enabling companies to prosper in a world that is becoming more linked as the data landscape continues to change.
