Data centres industry in India set for six-fold growth

Data centres may see Rs 1.50 lakh Cr investments: ICRA

The increased usage of data and the demand for localisation is expected to see a six-fold increase in data centre capacity over the next six years, according to Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency of India (ICRA).

Given this demand for data centres, the investment outlay is expected to be around Rs 1.50 lakh crore with participation from leading domestic and overseas corporates. The capacity addition is expected to be around 5,000 MW.

Anupama Reddy, Vice President and Co-Group Head, Corporate Ratings, ICRA, said: "The key triggers for digital explosion in India are the increasing internet and mobile penetration, the government’s thrust on e-governance/digital India, adoption of new technologies (cloud computing, IoT, 5G etc), growing user base for social media, gaming, ecommerce and OTT platforms.”

According to ICRA, it expects the sector to witness a six-fold increase in capacities in the next six years, with Mumbai, Hyderabad and Delhi-NCR to account for 70-75% of the installed DC capacity. The presence of landing stations, fibre connectivity, uninterrupted power supply, proximity to tenant’s headquarters and a high score on disaster proofing are some of the key parameters a DC operator would look for in a location.

Bain & Company forms alliance with OpenAI

Bain & Company has announced a global services alliance with OpenAI, the research and deployment company behind the AI systems ChatGPT, DALL·E, and Codex.

Over the past year, Bain & Co has embedded OpenAI technologies into its internal knowledge management systems, research, and processes to improve efficiency.

Bain and OpenAI are working together to bring OpenAI’s groundbreaking capabilities to their clients globally. With the alliance, Bain will combine its deep digital implementation capabilities and strategic expertise with OpenAI’s AI tools and platforms, including ChatGPT, to help its clients around the world identify and implement the value of AI to maximise business potential.

The Coca-Cola Company is the first company to engage with the new alliance, Bain also announced.

“AI has reached an inflection point and we foresee a huge wave of change and innovation for our clients across industries," said Manny Maceda, Bain & Company’s Worldwide Managing Partner. "We see this as an industrial revolution for knowledge work, and a moment where all our clients will need to rethink their business architectures and adapt."

Qualcomm unveils new platform to harness IoT data

Qualcomm Technologies has unveiled the Qualcomm Aware Platform, which allows developers and enterprises to harness real-time information and data insights to accelerate their digital transformation programmes.

According to the company, ecosystem fragmentation and system design complexity often prevents IoT deployments from meeting their fullest potential. Qualcomm Aware will offer a set of differentiated services for managing assets that require critical, accurate, and time-sensitive decision-making. Among the critical use cases to be served by Qualcomm Aware are cold chain distribution, utility asset monitoring, cargo shipment tracking, and warehouse and inventory management.

The company noted that the Qualcomm Aware advantage rests upon three key pillars: (1) technology leadership; (2) enablement of an expansive ecosystem of hardware and software partners; and (3) an API-first architecture and developer-friendly tools that enable interoperability with partner clouds and leading enterprise software tools.