India to become big center of data refinery: Ravi Shankar Prasad

The e-inauguration ceremony of the Yotta Infrastructure NM1 data center was held today. The participants were Dr. Niranjan Hiranandani, Founder Chairman, Hiranandani Group, Darshan Hiranandani, Group CEO, Hiranandani Group, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister, Law and Justice, Electronics and IT, and Communications, Government of India, Uddhav Thackeray, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Subhash Desai, Minister of Industry, Maharashtra, and Sunil Gupta, Managing Partner and CEO, Yotta.

Digital initiatives by youth
Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister, Law and Justice, Electronics and IT, and Communications, Government of India, noted: "The biggest data center has been launched today. There is enough scope to meet the challenges lying ahead. The great quest of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat will also be taken forward. Today, we have created the biggest data center in Asia, and the second biggest in the world. Digital initiatives are always pioneered by the younger generation. Most of the digital companies globally are today present in India. Yotta has set the benchmark."

Digital today is the buzzword. Bridging the digital divide is very important. We also need to bring in digital inclusion. Aadhar is the digital identity. We linked it with the mobile phone. Digital India brings security. On the data part, we have been generating billions of data. We have GSTN. We also have Aayushman Bharat and digital health, UPI, etc., and all are riding on digital. This initiative is commendable, and powerful statement of intent. India's data storage and data capacity will grow hand-in-hand. We also have the data protection law. No data of Indian companies can be taken out without consent.

For the success of Digital India, we must become a big global data refinery - data cleaning, data processing, data innovation and research - and all of this will need to be done keeping in mind data privacy laws. We shall never compromise on the data sovereignty of India. The data economy has a lot of potential and in all its promise – a good data center is the pillar it builds on. We want India to become a big center of data refinery. Data refinery will be the next big thing happening in India. The way we are articulating the digital march of India, we will make that happen. If you drive on a big highway, you drive with caution. Take the necessary precautions!

AI is a new norm and needs to be taken to a larger narrative. Mobile economy is another. India today is home to 260+ mobile factories. The data economy has enough potential. Let India become a good, software product base as well. We need to become an accelerator of the data economy. To succeed, we must have transparency, openness, etc. We have to make India the leader in the data economy.

Data is new norm
Uddhav Thackeray, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, pressed the key to make the Yotta data center go live.

He said: "We are friends with Ravi Shankar Prasad. There is rainfall in Mumbai. There is data and there is cloud. There is also Kalidasa's Meghdoot. We are all working remotely. There are opportunities in every situation. Covid-19 has also presented us with new opportunities.

Telephone used to have a history, connecting us with people. Then came mobile. Now, we have everything on the mobile. We have information and knowledge. We have invited investors to Maharashtra. We have a labour problem for now. We launched the digital MahaJobs recently. There will be new jobs available for people. By evening, some thousands of people had already applied.

Covid-19 has made the digital future into a reality and given us a new perspective on life. The Maharashtra government is inviting investors to come to our state to do business here and we will extend all support and co-operation to them.

We need to learn to live with Covid-19. We need to save digital from the virus. We need to continue trying to do that. We are now doing WFH. We are now spending more time with our family. Data is the new norm. We need data and dataa! We also need to move forward. We have now started doing this in Maharashtra. We are looking at the future. We are talking about the future, today.  WFH has been made possible by a robust digital infrastructure even in the face of a pandemic. The Hiranandanis are enabling work of the future today with Yotta Infrastructure.  The state government will support you in all the endeavours.

Dr. Niranjan Hiranandani, said that Yotta is delighted to receive direction and the though process behind that direction from Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Hyper-scale data centers
Earlier, Dr. Niranjan Hiranandani, Founder Chairman, Hiranandani Group, said that Yotta has built a world-class infrastructure. The Minister talked about the ease of doing business. Yotta will keep up with its commitments. By 15 July 2020, 45,000 students will be undergoing online teaching. Digital infrastructure will help us do all of this. Digital infrastructure today is the saviour of our country. Fulfilling our needs have highlighted the requirements of India. The idea of having a Magnificient Maharashtra has also been fulfilled.

Demand for hyper-scale data centers is on the rise, thanks to the Government’s push for the National E-commerce Policy and proposed policy on Data Center Parks. Also, with the new normal established due to Covid-19, reliance on technology from enterprises and consumers has increased. All these factors together make for a tremendous growth story for data centers in India. What makes the Yotta story unique is our ownership of all key input resources, massive economies of scale with our land banks, captive green energy generation and distribution capabilities and unmatched expertise and experience in data center domain, including design, engineering, construction and operations.

Darshan Hiranandani, Group CEO, Hiranandani Group, said that India has shown incredible courage in these difficult times. This is a center that is online and operational in record time. We are backed by a Government that believes in the future, and the future is digital. Digital services will benefit everyone. Yotta has come online in a record time. We, at Yotta, also support the government.

India had the highest data consumption across the world even during the pre-Covid-19 days. WFH, online gatherings, telemedicine, etc., have become the new normal. We must also innovate. Yotta is a perfect example for innovation and competitiveness. Our ambition is to grow the data center capacity in the coming months. Security, efficiency, and speed are our assurance to the customers. We will also have chilled water at the most affordable cost.

This data center is a global pioneer, not just in terms of capability and price, but also, in terms of its focus on efficiency and sustainability. We provide the most efficient power offering available in the market today – not just the lowest price of power, but also, a Power Usage Efficiency or PUE that is a global benchmark for the tropics. That is only phase zero (0).

Our plan to migrate to renewables and gas-based combined heat and power generation onsite will give us chilled water at the most efficient cost structure possible and will bring our design PUE numbers down to 1.2 – again unheard of in Indian weather conditions. But, we do not plan to stop there. We are building facilities today to ensure that we can be future ready to be 100% run on renewables whether offsite, through solar and wind coupled with onsite hydrogen based co-generation and fuel cells in the future.

The Government of India is taking big steps. With Yotta now coming online, the localization requirements will be met. The time is now that India will be the data storage capital of the world.

Yotta facility
Sunil Gupta, Managing Partner and CEO, Yotta, said that Yotta is all about credibility, agility and scalability. Today, we are launching the largest data center. NM1 is offering a high scalable data infrastructure. It is offering gigabytes of connectivity from telcos. Tier 4 certification is like a vaccine. Once you have it, you are safeguarded for life.

Enterprises of all sizes can expect a fully managed hybrid IT. It is a win-win situation for everyone. This is first of the five buildings coming up in the Yotta data center park.  Besides Navi Mumbai, Yotta is also developing similar sized giant Data Center Parks at Chennai and New Delhi. Each one of these parks will feature more than 20,000 racks, 200 MW plus power and multiple self-owned fiber paths connecting the Park to the main highways.

Yotta envisages to spend about INR 3,500 crores in next 3 years and about INR 15,000 crore over next 7 to 10 years across these Data Center parks.

Yotta NM1 is located in Panvel, 90 minutes away from Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is slated to be India's largest data center with 8.2 lakh sq.ft, 7,200 racks and 50MW power. The 5 DC buildings are spread over 18 acres, with four fibre paths and 1.4 design PUE. It is your gateway to Digital India.