You are here: Home » Cloud computing » Sify to invest $100m in data centres over next two years

Sify to invest $100m in data centres over next two years

Tony Chan | August 3, 2009 | 0 Comments

NASDAQ-listed Indian ISP Sify Technologies says it will likely spend up to US$100 million in data centre infrastructure over the next two years to supplement its four existing centres in Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai.

The company revealed its investment strategy at an awards ceremony for its latest data centre at Airoli, Mumbai, which took home the “Best Telecom Data Center” award at the INFOCOM CMAI National Telecoms 2009. As expected, the 100,000-square feet Airoli facility is built according to a host of industry standards, including the TIA-942 standard for structural design, network, cabling, etc. and the IS 1893:1984 standard for earthquake resistance. There are also multiple power backup systems, including a power sub-station located within the extended site premise, multiple power feeds, N+1 UPS and dedicated diesel generation sets.

For cooling, the Airoli centre still relied on air conditioners, but is designed using some advanced tools. The air flow is optimised using Computational Fluid Dynamic tools to maximise effectiveness of the air conditioners in the hot aisle, cold aisle rack layout. At the same time, the air conditioners are integrated into the monitoring system and installed in a modular design for future expansion.

“Sify launched India’s first Level 3 data center at Vashi, Mumbai, in September 2000. Since then the company has continually pioneered the standards, facilities and services in the data center space in the country. Over the last 8 years, Sify has invested in centers in Chennai and Bangalore with increasing levels of sophistication and capability,” the company said.

While the Airoli Data Center entailed an investment of about $36 million, Sify’s total investment in data centers over the next two years is likely to be about $100 million, according to a company statement. “Sify is also developing cutting-edge “green” initiatives for its data centres.”

“The Airoli data centre is a key facet of our strategy to develop the most sophisticated network and data centre infrastructure in the country to facilitate the evolution and demand for highly dependable and secure services for ecommerce, online banking, mission critical applications for enterprises such as ERPs, media and entertainment content, stock trading, unified communications and disaster recovery,” said Raju Vegasna, CEO and managing director of Sify.