July 27, 2017

STT Global Data Centers to intensify Indian expansion efforts

India’s top growth markets, Mumbai and Delhi, are being targeted as prime data center hotspots.

Google data center

Technology investment group ST Telemedia’s Indian data center division, STT Global Data Centers India (STT GDC), is reportedly stepping up its efforts to expand its data center operations throughout major cities across the Asian country. Primarily in STT GDC’s crosshair are two of India’s largest and fastest growing markets; commercial hub Mumbai and capital city New Delhi. Simultaneously, the company also plans to further develop its capacity and operational footprint in other critical urban areas like IT hive Bengaluru, Pune and Chennai.

STT GDC has been investing heavily in both India and China recently, with the company betting big on the future of data center colocation in these emerging Asian markets. Being backed by an international entity, however, leaves STT GDC vulnerable to stringent cross-border information privacy laws and other bureaucratic red tape. Which is why the company’s partnership with the domestically based global conglomerate Tata in India is pivotal to its long and short term vision for the country.

In 2016, STT GDC entered into a strategic partnership to acquire a 74% majority stake in Tata Communications’ 14 data centers in India and 3 in Singapore. As Tata is based in India, the 14 facilities included in the deal are located across several markets across country. The partnership gives STT GDC access to critical infrastructure resources like centrally located facilities in close proximity to undersea data cable landing stations. At the same time, STT GDC has also been granted permission to leverage the respected Tata brand in order to secure both local and foreign business.

As international IT and enterprise cloud providers continue to hunt for data center space amidst India’s vast congregation of end users, the challenge for STT GDC lies in how quickly it can transition its data center prowess into enterprise ready offerings. Unlike most of its competitors, STT GDC harbors no intention of entering the managed IT services market anytime soon.

The Indian market, in addition to China, is STT GDC’s biggest growth area, and the company says it intends for the country to continue to play a key role in its decision making.