W.Media Returns to Mumbai for Cloud & Datacenter Convention and Awards

This November, gear up for the fourth edition of W.Media’s Mumbai Cloud & Datacenter Convention and Awards 2024. The day-long Convention will see participation from over 1500 industry experts and thought leaders, including C-level executives, digital infra- structure professionals including architects, engineers and consul- tants (AECs), key buyers, decision makers, data center owners and operators. 

It will be held at Hotel Sahara Star on November 22, and will culminate in a glittering awards ceremony where W.Media will honour excellence and expertise of data center providers and industry professionals from South Asia across three key areas: People, Planet and Projects. This year, the Mumbai Cloud & Datacenter Convention (CDC) will also see a special breakaway session titled CenterStage that will be held in the Expo Hall.

Before we delve into what else is planned for Mumbai CDC, let’s take a look at India’s data center landscape and Mumbai’s special place in it.

India’s data center market at a glance

Every industry watcher has their eye on India. Earlier this year, Cushman & Wakefield, in its report titled Asia Pacific Data Center Update H2 2023 revealed that India’s data center market capacity had finally touched the 1 GW mark. It went on to dub Mumbai as a “Powerhouse Market”. More recently, in its report titled Is India Building Enough to Power its Digital Transformation, finds that by 2028, India will have 3 times the installed capacity, with a total IT load of 3.29 GW.

Along similar lines, Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency (ICRA), an affiliate of Moody’s, expects India’s operational data center capacity to more than double to 2,000-2,100 MW by FY2027. ICRA estimates that this would involve investment worth Rs. 50,000-55,000 crore (~US$ 5.9 – 6.5 billion).

As the Indian data center market grows, Mumbai retains a lion’s share of the market accounting for around 50 percent of the market. According to Mordor Intelligence, Mumbai’s data center market is expected to register a Compounded Average Growth Rate (CAGR) of 13.44 percent between 2024-2030. It further explains Mumbai’s special pull saying, “Mumbai is the most preferred destination for cloud players, with a 60 percent share of the occupied space due to its excellent infrastructure support. The city’s strong demand is led by BFSI, media, and IT/ITes enterprises, resulting in high occupancy levels of 95 percent, for which the state has granted various incentives for establishing integrated data center parks.”

“Mumbai has established itself as a pivotal hub for data centers due to its strategic location, robust infrastructure, and exceptional connectivity,” says Surajit Chatterjee, Managing Director, Data Centre India, CapitaLand Investment. “Serving as India's gateway to the world, Mumbai offers unparalleled access to a vast and dynamic market, positioning itself as a critical node in the global data network. The city's resilience and continuous technological advancements make it an ideal destination for data center investments,” he says. Chatterjee will be one of the key speakers at the plenary session, and will also moderate a panel at CenterStage.

Vinod Javur, COO, Digital Edge DC concurs, saying, “Mumbai continues to be India’s biggest data center hub and this standing is reflected in the vibrancy of the Mumbai CDC event.” Javur will also be a special guest and speaker at the event. “I am looking forward to attending and connecting with peers to discuss ways the industry is evolving in the era of AI, ensuring Mumbai, and India more widely, is recognized as leading player in Asia’s data center landscape,” he adds.

Today, Mumbai, alongside the adjacent sister cities like Thane and Navi Mumbai, and especially the industrial belts such as Bhiwandi and Taloja, are home to data centers by national and internal players such as Amazon Web Services, AdaniConnex, Colt Data Centers, CtrlS Datacenters, Equinix, Nxtra by Airtel, NTT, Reliance, Sify, STT Global Data Centers, WebWerks, Yotta, among others.

What to expect at Mumbai CDC

The Convention will include several power-packed panel discussions, where the best and brightest minds in the industry will share their ideas on important subjects such as the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI), role of automation, future of Edge data centers and much more.

Our speakers include Surajit Chatterjee (MD, CapitaLand Investment, Data Centre Group), Sharad Agarwal (CEO, Sify Infinit Spaces Ltd.), Bimal Khandelwal (CEO, ST Telemedia Global Data Centers India), Sanjay Bhutani (CBO, AdaniConneX), Vinod Javur (COO, Digital Edge DC), Vipin Shirsat (MD – India, PDG), Marc Betz (MD - APAC, RED), Brahmareddy Kasu (President - Datacenter Infrastructure, CTRLs Datacenters), Roy Samuels (APAC Director- Technical, CBRE), Andrew Green (Regional Data Centre Practice Lead APAC, JLL) and many more.

Apart from these panel discussions that will take place in the plenary hall, W.Media will also host a special breakaway session titled CenterStage in the Expo Hall. CenterStage, that debuted at W.Media’s Singapore Cloud & Datacenter Convention in July this year, is a series of technology presentations, fireside chats and discussions where industry experts come together as friends and fellow professionals to examine the myriad challenges facing the industry today. CenterStage takes place in a more relaxed environment to enable the free flow of innovative solutions and out-of-the-box ideas.

“For Indian organisations, the huge growth in capacity by service providers in India is going to mean more choice and increased flexibility in infrastructure choices to accommodate requirements such as data residency challenges, optimal workload and data location, and of course, the burgeoning demand for AI projects as organisations begin to experiment to identify where the most impact will be realised,” says Simon Lockington, Senior Director, Global Technical Sales – APAC, Equinix. Lockington will take part in a discussion on the role of hyperscalers in India at CenterStage. “Equinix is excited about the opportunity to connect both Indian and global organisations with these new India based services and beyond,” he says.

“The explosive growth of the data centre market in India is unprecedented. Whilst this is most definitely an exciting time for the industry, we’re also in the very early stages of deploying liquid cooling solutions at scale,” says Mark Roberts, Data Center Market Development Director – APAC, bp. “I’m looking forward to engaging with attendees to hear their experiences to date, concerns and hopes for what this technology will bring them; and at the same time share what we see happening in other regions as well,” says Roberts who will be participating in a discussion on hybrid cooling at CenterStage. bp is also sponsoring the closing networking drinks.

“Sustainability has been a part of Indian tradition, with Indians adopting the reuse-recycle-reduce mantra centuries before it became a marketing catch phrase,” say Gaurav Dixit, Service Delivery Manager, Strategic Alliances, Lefdal Mine Datacenter. “I'm therefore intrigued to examine how India's data center industry is innovating and incorporating more sustainable practices, not only when it comes to use of renewable energy sources, but also in the planning stage itself, so it reflects in the design and build of facilities, and is evident in the day-to-day operations.” Dixit will be moderating a discussion on India’s green data center roadmap.