Hyperscalers and micro data centers will make a substantial contribution to India’s data center market: Sanjay Motwani, Legrand Data Center Solutions

Legrand, a leader in electrical and digital building infrastructure recently announced the launch of a new entity, Legrand Data Center Solutions (LDCS) which brings together a portfolio of global brands including Legrand, Numeric, Raritan & Server Technology under one specialist team. LDCS aims to address all sizes of data centers, ranging from hyperscale to micro data centers. Sanjay Motwani, Vice President – APAC, Business Head – Legrand Data Center Solutions, spoke to Express Computer, on what the new positioning means for his company in a highly competitive data center market.

Some edited excerpts:

The Indian data center market is witnessing huge growth. How is Legrand Data Center Solutions positioning itself to take advantage of this market opportunity?

Legrand has been in the data center space for many years now, through various organizations such as Legrand itself, Raritan, Servertech and Numeric that were operating as separate entities, but approaching the same set of customers. We realized that there was a gap and to offer customers integrated and modular solutions, we introduced Legrand Data Center Solutions, wherein it becomes a single window for us to offer our products & services.

The concept of Legrand Data Center Solutions is to build a team that has one identity, one positioning, and one strategy working towards providing best solution to our customers. While there are multiple brands, the portfolio is positioned as one suite of integrated and modular solutions. When customers get in touch with us, they see one person who has the ability to handle multiple brands in multiple product categories.

Recently, Legrand Data Center Solutions was announced as a new entity. How has the addressable market size increased for the company, and how does this differentiate your company from the competition?

For us, market size remains the same but what has increased is the value we offer to the industry and how the customers benefit from us. Through this single window of communication, customers are able to choose the products and services that are most compatible with each other, providing greater efficiency and performance. This has led them to buying more products from us. Let’s take the example of UPS, structured cabling, or PDUs. Earlier, a customer might have bought the products from different providers, but today they are able to buy them from a single entity, optimizing costs and data center performance. This has reflected strongly on our revenue, and we expect to see double digit growth and wider industry traction.

What is the kind of growth you are witnessing in the hyperscale and microdata centers in India?

The Indian data center market size is expected to witness investments of USD 8 billion by 2026. Hyperscale data centers are essential to handle the large volumes of data being generated each day. Hyperscalers have recognized the potential and size of the data center market in India, given the population, growing broadband connections, increasing focus on digital transformation, and businesses getting on the data center bandwagon. Many hyperscale providers have been present in India such as Amazon, Google and are further expanding by either setting up more data centers or scaling up the racks in existing ones.

India has also become an attraction for new players such as Tencent, Alibaba, etc. who are foraying in the region. We are also witnessing greater investments by colocation data center providers who are not only increasing footprint in the market but also facilitating the growing requirements of Hyperscalers.

India is a large country and has a population that is well dispersed. For a business to reach the customers or the target audience in various parts of the country, they need to be able to have an infrastructure which supports this – here micro data centers come into the picture. These are particularly helpful to easily access a wide audience effectively and offer better services, be it healthcare, retail, or FSI sector.

In the next 3-5 years, India’s data center market will see massive growth and hyperscalers and micro data centers will have a substantial contribution to the market size.

Can you share your perspective on the business prospects and outlook for 2021?

For us, there is a huge potential for growth. Where the market is growing anywhere between 7-8%, we are expecting growth in double digits, which means we are set to acquire more market share. Our performance in 2021 H1 has been significant, and we anticipate a continued double digital growth in H2 as well.

We are constantly working to innovate and offer enhanced and optimized solutions to our customers. The focus is definitely on the hyperscalers and colocation data center segment. In terms of sectors, BFSI, Government, IT/ITes have always been primary targets for us. Now sectors such healthcare, education, media, etc. have also become focus areas for us, opening huge business possibilities.