Small data centres with limited compute capacity, will take care of SME needs: Kayzad Hiramanek, COO, Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance

India is becoming an important market for data center services. A majority of India’s economy thrives on service oriented industries with a niche experience in Information Technology (IT) services. And, with the growing population and increased focus on IT services, India’s need for more data centers has increased exponentially. Several data centers have been established or are being planned to be opened soon in the state of Maharashtra. The Government of Maharashtra even plans to make Mumbai and Navi Mumbai as a data center hub.

Express Computer had an opportunity to interact with Kayzad Hiramanek, COO, Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance, who spoke about India’s importance as a market for data centers, the future of data centers and data center growth around small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

Hiramanek says, “India is blessed in terms of its topography and geography. Most of our country does not lie on seismic plates which helps in the establishment of data centers. In addition, India being the largest and fastest growing economy in the world, it is expected that our economy is expected to grow by 10 trillion dollars in the next ten years, suggesting that the number of people who are going to interact with businesses and trade is going to triple in the next ten years. So the kind of data that will be generated through each of these interactions is going to be enormous.”

He adds by saying, “While Indians are quite open about sharing their data and leaving a footprint in the public domain, as a result of the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, laws regarding people’s data and their footprint is getting stricter; we are going to see a huge revolution with respect to how data is being shared, used by various service providers, and customers’ ability to protect their data from undue use- so the future of the data centre industry is extremely bright. With the kind of data that is being currently generated, businesses are going to need more capacities, they will need more processing capabilities to understand trends.”

Hiramanek believes that the real growth engine of the economy will be small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). “These are the type of businesses that will not be able to afford space in data centers or co-locate or co-host over there. So that being said, these small data centers with limited compute capacity are going to be the future in terms of developing this business model for those smaller enterprises to deepen their impact on the economy,” he points out.

Reminding that the electrification of India is practically done, and lot has been achieved in terms of rail and road connectivity, he mentions, “We have added 70 new airports in the last ten years, so with that kind of connectivity and commerce booming, the need for SMEs is going to be a lot larger. These data centers will have a huge contribution to make in India’s future and also help these businesses to grow by understanding their customers.”