India is currently undergoing a transformation on multiple fronts, including converting itself into a digitized society. There is a growing list of companies who are investing in setting up innovation centers in the country, which is being aided by a changing education sector for computing and engineering disciplines, and also the emergence of a growing e-commerce segment. The IT sector alone will expand to 3 times it’s current revenue by 2025, and public cloud services are expected to grow at 30% on an yearly basis. Prem Rodrigues, Director of Sales & Marketing, Middle-East, India, and SAARC, for Siemon, explains India’s ‘green’ transformation in data center and intelligent buildings and the role Siemon plays in the country.
– With reference to Siemon’s core capabilities, how does the company see itself fitting into Indian market specific demands?
Siemon considers India a strategic market due to the country’s cost competitiveness in providing IT services and growing number of IT firms setting up innovation centers. The Indian education sector also is experiencing significant demand for IT to support growing engineering and computer science programs of study. The India IT sector is expected to triple its current annual revenue by 2025 and the country’s public cloud services are expected to grow by 30% each year. The rapid emergence of e-commerce is also driving the growth of Data Centers in the region which are supported by Siemon’s wide range of WheelHouse Advanced Data Center Solutions. This includes the fiber and copper cabling infrastructure, cabinets, power distribution, cooling and comprehensive Data Centre design services to help Indian customers ensure high-performance, scalable and cost-effective green Data Centers.
At the same time, demand for intelligent buildings is growing in India as more companies are working to make their campuses and facilities world class while saving money and responding to government’s smart building initiatives. Siemon has long been an advocate of intelligent buildings that converge multiple applications on a single cabling infrastructure to enable previously disparate building system to integrate and communicate with one another. Siemon’s Converge IT Cabling Solutions for Intelligent Buildings combines Siemon’s proven quality with advanced copper and fibre cabling technology to create the structured cabling system that supports this convergence.
– As India gets to embrace a more digitized future, and perhaps even a wireless one, how and where would Siemon play a role in the scenario?
India, today is at the cross roads of being transformed into a digital society. Digitization is touching every aspect of the life of an Indian, and simultaneously government initiatives are continuing to work towards digital empowerment and transforming India into a knowledge society. These changes are happening more quickly due to recent demonetization regulations and digital payment capabilities. This is driving the implementation of objectives like the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Aadhaar initiative to collect and store information on all residents and issue unique 12-digit identity numbers to each resident.
With digitization, we are already seeing growing demand for green data centers and building automation in India. According to industry estimates, the Data Center market in India will double by 2018 and India will be the 2nd largest Data Center market in Asia by 2020. While the overall mind-set in India is changing, the issue is whether or not India has the IT Infrastructure in place to support such huge demand and rapid digital growth, as well as future applications. This is where Siemon comes into the picture. We deliver world class infrastructure solutions for Data Centers and Intelligent Building Infrastructure space, which will not only support current requirements but also support future technologies as well. Along with technologically advanced products and solutions, Siemon also brings superior service, technical expertise and strategic partnerships from around the world. These are also being successfully replicated in India to give the local customers an assurance that they are receiving the best quality solutions and infrastructure enabling them to be future ready.
– Which industries do you see as the key growth drivers of the company in India, and why?
We are seeing verticals like BFSI, IT & ITES, Healthcare, Education, Industrial, Manufacturing and Real Estate play a role in fuelling the growth of Data Centres and Intelligent Buildings in India. Major MNCs like Microsoft, Amazon, Google and NTT are investing heavily in developing their IT infrastructure here. The increased adoption of cloud services is also one of the major reasons for growth in data centres and related services in India. In the banking industry, we see major strides being taken in shifting from cash transactions to a digital payment methodology, which is only possible with safe and secure IT infrastructure.
Healthcare and education are also two sectors that will see huge growth in increased spending on IT. Digitization, remote access, centralized control, accessibility and affordability are some of the key factors driving these two sectors to increase use of IT.
We also see increased demand for intelligent building solutions growing in these sectors, as more and more companies increasingly try to make their campuses and facilities world class, economical and environment friendly. As the need for IT infrastructure grows, the India market will also need green and more sustainable technologies to reduce carbon footprints. As such, demand for more efficient and eco-friendly products will be the trend.
– The current state of the economy, both India and outside, has not been the most conducive for the tech industry growth in general. Considering that, how does Siemon plan on growing?
Despite a slower economy, the tech industry continues to grow and Siemon looks at India as a bright spot within the world economy. We see growth in IT infrastructure driven by evolving needs in both Data Centres and Intelligent Buildings, for which Siemon is well positioned with a wide range of advanced solutions. The increased demand for cloud and co-location services and building automation are ideal drivers for Siemon to grow its footprint in India. India’s rapid emergence of e-commerce is also driving the continued growth of hosting and co-location data centres. In addition to these, various government initiatives like Digital India, 100 smart cities, Start-up India campaign and ease of doing business will help in sustaining the growth. However, significant spending on infrastructure will be needed to support green data centres and intelligent buildings. This will help continue to fuel Siemon’s growth and optimism in India.
In fact, we have renewed our growth targets to higher level than previous years, and we are leveraging our existing global partnerships with companies like Cisco and CBRE to expand these relationships in India. Through our groundbreaking products, expertise and partnerships, we are confident that we will take a thought leadership position in India’s green data centre and intelligent building market while playing an important role in India’s digital growth. Looking at the potential which India has, this is just the beginning.