From Data Centers to AI-Driven Platforms: Piyush Somani, CEO, ESDS on Scaling Up and Innovating in a Changing Cloud Landscape

With four state-of-the-art data centers across India, ESDS is on a steady path to expanding its footprint, eyeing new sectors and geographies. In this interaction, Piyush Somani – Founder, CMD and CEO, ESDS, delves into the company’s ambitious growth strategy and the innovations that differentiate ESDS in a highly competitive market

Some edited excerpts:

ESDS has established itself as a key player in the cloud services sector. Can you elaborate on your plans for market expansion, particularly your focus on entering new sectors or geographies in the near future?

Today, the data center market in India is estimated to grow from $4.35 billion in 2021 to $10.09 billion by 2027, with a CAGR of 15.07% from 2022 to 2027. This explains the importance of a data center in India’s digital economy. ESDS has established itself as a one-stop shop for all IT services, offering a complete suite of Cloud, Managed, and IT security services. We significantly help businesses focus on growth as we manage all their critical IT infrastructure.

ESDS has built 4 advanced data centers across India and is now steadily expanding in all key cities: Delhi, Indore, Kolkata, and Chennai. The cloud computing market has grown from $24.63 billion in 2010 to $156.4 billion in 2020 and is expected to be over $1 trillion by 2028. This tremendous growth indicates that dependence on cloud solutions is growing worldwide. ESDS also offers scalable solutions for businesses of all sizes with its portfolio offerings. This includes disaster recovery, AI-powered automation, and security operations, ensuring their scope meets the industry’s growing demands. Our strategy for market expansion includes protecting all BFSI enterprises and government institutions by increasing geographical presence in India and across the globe. ESDS also focuses on AI/ML, increasing operational efficiency and enhancing analytics-based inputs into business decision-making.

ESDS has developed several in-house technologies that have contributed to both top-line and bottom-line growth. Can you explain how these innovations are helping to differentiate ESDS in a highly competitive market?

ESDS stands out in a competitive marketplace, with in-house technologies significantly contributing to top-line and bottom-line growth. Our flagship eNlight Cloud offers a triple-patented auto vertical scalable technology and pay-per-consumption model, making it one of the most reliable cloud solutions. We optimize business operations by ensuring seamless resource management, high availability, and secure cloud environments through over 25,000 VMs managed via eNlight 360°.

eNlight 360° monitors more than 85,000 devices for its clients, efficiently integrating public and private clouds and simplifying IT management by removing all forms of complexity. AI-Driven Innovations: Our strength lies here. More than 1,000,000 websites have been scanned through VTM Scan, which found vulnerabilities in more than 766,744 web pages to secure the digital assets of the respective business enterprises.
Moreover, the project management solution that we have had for the iPAS has touched the lives of 154,000 Indian citizens, monitored more than 9,000 projects, and checked over 1,000 works in a month. It brings accountability and high standards. These technologies provide our clients with cost-effective, robust solutions to drive business growth and operational excellence

How is ESDS managing to balance its ambitious growth plans while maintaining a strong commitment to sustainability and responsible business practices?
At ESDS, we focus on growth through innovation while maintaining a strong commitment to sustainability. We are scaling our solutions with innovative products like the AI-powered autonomous cloud platform, which improves infrastructure management and reduces resource consumption. As demand for cloud and data center services grows, we are enhancing our data center capabilities to meet these needs while adhering to strict environmental guidelines.

Our 177-member R&D team ensures we stay ahead of technological advancements, addressing emerging challenges and delivering innovative solutions for the cloud industry.

Sustainability is a core value at ESDS. By utilizing energy-efficient technologies and operating green data centers, we minimize our environmental impact while maintaining performance. Our focus on renewable energy and advanced cooling systems has resulted in a reduction of 850-890 kWh for every 500 older servers by upgrading to blade servers. This provides the same performance with 40% less energy and space, enhancing both sustainability and efficiency.

ESDS is developing an AI-powered autonomous cloud platform aimed at revolutionizing cloud infrastructure management. Could you shed some light on how this platform will impact both your customers and the broader cloud industry?

ESDS’s AI-powered autonomous cloud platform has the potential to bring a revolution in cloud infrastructure management. It will offer better automation, productivity, and scalability. This platform will make cloud operations easier for customers. It already uses smart workload management, real-time optimization, and predictive analytics. This allows customers to concentrate on their main business instead of IT complexities. This platform can able to fix itself, which means less downtime, lower costs, and quicker problem-solving. This will boost overall productivity and make customers satisfied.

Looking at the bigger picture, this new idea will move the cloud industry into a new age of smart infrastructure. It sets new standards for self-running operations. By cutting down on human involvement in cloud management, ESDS is creating safer, more effective, and greener cloud environments. The AI-powered platform not only makes operations more productive but also fits with the worldwide shift to digital. This puts ESDS at the front of the next wave of cloud infrastructure management.

The cloud services landscape is evolving rapidly. What is your long-term vision for ESDS, and how do you plan to adapt to and shape the future of cloud services, especially with the rise of AI and automation?

Our long-term vision for ESDS is to enhance India’s digital landscape through innovative, up-to-date cloud services. We are working towards ensuring that businesses can quickly get solutions that would further digital growth, with India’s vision to grow its digital economy by up to $1 trillion by 2025.

We will move towards a 100% green data center within the next 1.5 years. This will mark another industry benchmark, setting aside environmental responsibility. With growing demand for cloud services, we are rapidly increasing our footprint of data centers across India. This will ensure robust solutions with the desired scale to suit the growing needs of our customers.

Recognizing the transformative potential of AI, we are embedding AI-driven capabilities into our offerings to augment service delivery and further streamline operations to drive intelligent business solution creation that drives business value.