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Tag: Cloud

  • Reliance joins hands with Google Cloud to put India’s AI future on steroids

    Reliance joins hands with Google Cloud to put India’s AI future on steroids

    MUMBAI: Reliance Industries has never done things by halves. On 29 August, India’s largest private company unfurled its latest grand project: a sweeping expansion of its alliance with Google Cloud, centred on a new, dedicated AI-first cloud region in Jamnagar, Gujarat. The ambition is as audacious as it is familiar. Having once upended India’s telecoms industry with Reliance Jio and cheap data, Mukesh Ambani is now training his firepower on artificial intelligence, promising to democratise access to computing muscle for the world’s most populous country.

    The project is being pitched as India’s “AI leapfrog moment.” Reliance will design, build, and power state-of-the-art cloud facilities, all running on renewable energy and plugged into Jio’s sprawling fibre and digital network. Google will provide the brains: its AI hyper computer, a secure and integrated generative AI stack, and the know-how to run workloads of breath taking intensity. The facility, Reliance says, will meet global service-level standards and support the most demanding AI use cases—from training large models to building next-generation applications for consumers and enterprises.

    Why Jamnagar? The coastal city is already the beating heart of Reliance’s refining and petrochemicals empire. It is also becoming a symbol of the company’s reinvention: its green energy giga factory is rising there, and now the AI cloud campus will sit alongside it. Running on renewable power, the project ticks boxes for sustainability even as it scales to hyper speed. Jio, meanwhile, will string high-capacity fibre links connecting Jamnagar to metros like Mumbai and Delhi, effectively wiring India’s AI ambitions to its business and political capitals.

    Mukesh Ambani cast the partnership in almost civilisational terms: “Just as Jio and Google came together to democratise the internet for every Indian, we will now democratise intelligence for every Indian,” he declared. The subtext was clear: Reliance does not want to merely be a customer of AI; it wants to be the platform on which India builds its AI future.

    For Google, the tie-up is equally strategic. The American giant has long struggled to monetise India at scale, despite Android’s dominance. Its alliance with Reliance, first forged through a $4.5bn investment in Jio Platforms in 2020, has been its best bet. Sundar Pichai, Google’s boss, was almost wistful: “Our work together over the last decade has helped bring affordable internet access to millions. And now, we are building on this to help shape the next leap with AI. This is only the beginning.”

    The beginning it may be, but the context is fiercer. Microsoft has partnered with the Adani group to push Azure into Indian enterprises. Amazon Web Services (AWS) has invested heavily in local data centres. By anchoring Google Cloud in Reliance’s infrastructure, Ambani is offering it the biggest distribution muscle in the country—from India’s biggest retailer to its mightiest mobile operator.

    Reliance has always built moats around scale and integration. Hydrocarbons fed petrochemicals; petrochemicals funded telecoms; telecoms birthed digital platforms; retail wrapped around them. Now AI is being woven into every strand. Reliance’s retail arm, one of the world’s fastest-growing, will be powered by predictive analytics and AI-first services. Its digital platforms can churn out generative-AI-powered customer tools. Even its energy and refining business can tap AI for predictive maintenance, efficiency, and emissions management.

    The bet is as much about geopolitics as economics. AI compute has become a strategic resource, akin to oil in the 20th century. By hosting a dedicated, hyperscale AI cloud region in India, Reliance and Google are hedging against global bottlenecks in semiconductors and compute availability. They are also offering Indian enterprises and the government a “sovereign-flavoured” cloud alternative to relying wholly on Western or Chinese platforms.

    The entire project will be underpinned by Reliance’s push into renewable power. The AI data centres, notorious for their energy hunger, will be fed through Reliance’s green energy parks and hydrogen initiatives. Jio’s high-capacity fibre, spanning metros and regions, adds the digital sinew to match the green muscle. The combination allows Reliance to brand the initiative not merely as profitable, but as sustainable—a key card to play with regulators, policymakers, and global investors.

    For India, the stakes are towering. Domestic enterprises, startups, and public sector organisations often face prohibitive costs in accessing cutting-edge AI compute. By pooling Reliance’s infrastructure with Google’s stack, the hope is to lower barriers and accelerate adoption. Small businesses may soon have access to AI tools that were once the preserve of Silicon Valley. Universities and research institutes could run high-performance AI models without prohibitive cost. And the government could scale citizen-facing AI services in health, education, and agriculture.

    But challenges remain. Building AI facilities is one thing; ensuring India has the talent, regulation, and guardrails to use them responsibly is another. AI also raises thorny issues of bias, surveillance, and security. Reliance’s ambition to become India’s AI backbone will inevitably attract scrutiny—whether from privacy hawks, antitrust watchdogs, or foreign competitors.

    Yet, if history is a guide, Reliance has a knack for bending markets to its will. When Jio entered telecoms in 2016, it offered free calls and dirt-cheap data, triggering a brutal price war that wiped out rivals and left India with the world’s cheapest mobile internet. Now, Ambani appears ready to repeat the trick with AI: offer access at scale, bundle services across Reliance’s ecosystem, and set the floor so low that competitors struggle to keep up.

    The Jamnagar AI cloud, then, is not just about servers and software. It is about a new architecture of power: technological, economic, and political. If it works, Reliance and Google may indeed make India a global leader in artificial intelligence. If it fails, it could end up as another white elephant in the deserts of Jamnagar.
    For now, though, one thing is certain. India’s AI race has just been given a jolt of steroids—and Mukesh Ambani is holding the syringe.

    (The picture featured above is representational of two businessmen joining hands and there is no intention to insinuate that it  resembles either Mukesh Ambani or Sunder Pichai. It is an AI generated image)

  • “Data orchestration is the priority for many customers, but AI-driven pipelines are rapidly becoming a competitive advantage” – Dell Technologies’ Alex Timbs

    “Data orchestration is the priority for many customers, but AI-driven pipelines are rapidly becoming a competitive advantage” – Dell Technologies’ Alex Timbs

    Alex Timbs is not your regular business executive from Dell Technologies. The Ozzie Brisbane-based gent  takes a keen interest in everything right from sport to tech when he is not in his day job at Dell Technologies as a media industry expert.

    He likes to tinker around with almost every new tech that comes up, apart from having a creative bent of mind. He spent a good decade and a half at an animation studio working on some of the well-known animation and VFX franchises like Matrix and HappyFeet before switching to the vendor side at Dell. 

    Because of his understanding of both sides of the coin, Alex’s clients more often than not call on him to help him find some workflow solutions and not just about storage which he is an expert in. A courtesy he extends every time. And these are relationships which have seen emerge as amongst the top executives in the storage vertical at Dell.

    Indiantelevision.com’s founder, chairman and editor in chief Anil Wanvari got in touch with the affable gentlemen over several zoom calls to distil down whatever he had to say about the the transformative impact of AI on content creation and the evolving landscape of media storage solutions. Excerpts from the various conversations with Alex. This one is only part one of the interview; the second part will follow mid-this week.  

    On what were the workflows for animation and post-prod when he started out.

    I spent nearly 16 years at Animal Logic, and the transformation I witnessed was remarkable. . I vividly remember my early days at Animal Logic, where we were working on Matrix 2 using film scanners. The workflow seems almost archaic now – we’d send work out for overnight printing. Even during Happy Feet, our dailies process involved sending work out to be printed overnight. The next morning, everyone would gather in the theatre to review footage on actual film, Our technology backbone consisted of SGI boxes, with one particular suite costing around 1.5 million Australian dollars. Individual machines were running between 30,000 to 50,000 dollars each.
    Then came this revolutionary shift towards personal computers. It was transformative – suddenly we had access to incredibly powerful technology for just 5,000 to 10,000 dollars. This technological deflation has continued throughout my career and is accelerating with AI and generative technologies. Each year, we see the capability-to-cost ratio improving exponentially. What’s fascinating is how this democratisation of technology has fundamentally changed the way we approach content creation.

    This technological deflation has continued throughout my career and is accelerating with AI and generative AI. It’s been fascinating to watch this snowball effect, enabling us to do exponentially more with less.

    On his transition from a major animation studio to Dell Technologies

    I’ll be completely honest – I was incredibly skeptical about joining what I perceived as a sales company. I didn’t think I’d last more than 12 months, assuming I’d be bored out of my mind. But here I am, over five years later, and it’s been an extraordinary journey. Dell has a massive media and entertainment focus that many people don’t realize. We have a team of subject matter experts from various backgrounds – broadcasters, film studios, game studios – with over 100 years of combined industry experience.
    I actually had a relationship with Dell’s technology before joining them. Back in 2006-2007, I purchased an Isilon system (now PowerScale) to replace 14 individual storage silos. We went from needing two people working shifts to manage data movement to requiring just a quarter of one person’s time. That experience showed me the real impact technology could have on production workflows.

    On the major challenges media companies are facing today
    The biggest challenge we’re seeing is data management – and it’s not what people might expect. When we go to major trade shows, everyone assumes AI will dominate the conversation. But in reality, most customers want to discuss data orchestration. They’re grappling with questions like: How do I support globally distributed workflows? How do I enable freelance artists working from home? How do I manage this tsunami of data being created by automation and new tools?
    Many media companies are dealing with hundreds of millions, if not billions of files. They need help regaining control of their data. This includes automated solutions for deprecating or deleting data efficiently. It’s becoming a critical issue, especially as generative AI tools create even more data at an exponential rate.
    All of this is happening against a backdrop of global economic uncertainty. Companies are making more utilitarian decisions, seeking certainty in their investments. They want to know exactly what return they’ll get, whether that’s efficiency gains or cost control. Agility is also crucial – the ability to shift where data lives and how it’s accessed has become fundamental to modern workflows.

    Alex TimbsOn how  companies are  implementing AI in their production pipelines
    We’re seeing AI adoption across every scale of production. Whether it’s an individual working from home or a team of 1,000 artists, most customers are starting their AI journey. They’re gravitating towards validated solutions and partners who understand the unique infrastructure needs of this technology.
    The fascinating thing about generative AI in media production is its diverse application. While it doesn’t handle true 3D environments well yet – it’s more ‘2.5D’ with depth mapping – we’re seeing it used for face replacement, frame blending, character development, and environmental creation. But the implementation varies significantly, what we call the ‘T-shirt size’ approach.
    “A small ‘T-shirt size’ might be an individual or small workgroup doing exploratory work using local SSD storage. As projects evolve and more people start collaborating, you need shared flash storage – even for small teams of 30-40 people working with just 30 terabytes of data. The largest enterprises might invest in Nvidia superpods or specialized AI servers with large VRAM-capable GPUs for distributed AI use cases.”

    On his perspective on cloud storage in media production
    We’re seeing a significant shift in cloud strategy. The future is definitely hybrid, but cloud-first isn’t the right approach for many customers. In fact, we’re seeing considerable repatriation from the cloud. The reality is that sustained workloads in the cloud can be very expensive.
    That said, certain workflows make perfect sense in the cloud. Broadcasters who need to scale dynamically for specific events and then scale down – it would be foolish to buy infrastructure that sits idle most of the time. But there’s been a recent rationalization of strategy. Customers are becoming more sophisticated in their understanding of when cloud makes sense and when it doesn’t.

    On his perspective on the key trends in media technology that one should keep an eye on. 
    The industry is at a fascinating inflection point. We’re seeing the convergence of real-time workflows, often driven by game engines, with AI tools. This combination is radically speeding up the creation process. At the same time, there’s a growing focus on operational efficiency – automating repetitive tasks, improving asset management, and making more informed decisions about data lifecycle.
    The key is finding the right balance between innovation and practicality. Success isn’t about rushing to adopt every new technology; it’s about understanding your specific needs and implementing solutions that deliver measurable value while protecting your creative assets and IP.
     

  • 2025: Will it be the year of cloud repatriation?

    2025: Will it be the year of cloud repatriation?

    MUMBAI: After less than two decades of buzz around the cloud and the one way transitions, the return journey has commenced !!

    One can debate and contest this statement but cloud repatriation is surely going to be the consideration in 2025 extending the era of technological reforms!

    Analysing the cloud-environment based designs, consistently catalysed by consultants and evangelists of the board room, I had always been an edge professional wondering and unconvinced towards fitment of it for all solutions.

    Having said that, I do believe that the proposition, ever since public cloud came into our lives, was the driver for many innovations and initiatives no doubt (SaasS, PaaS, IaaS etc are terms given birth by cloud tech).

    However, after dominating the infrastructure design principles over a period,  the public cloud has found as its competition, the traditional on-premise environment that can safely be called private cloud that it always was.

    My simple analysis goes onto conclude that pubic cloud certainly is the solve for a business with dynamic workload and for big data compute environment; additionally, it helps business for faster go to market (GTM)  goal besides not worrying about managing tech talent.

    However, the much significant parameter of costs does get a beating if we compare that with on prem/private cloud operations. The pronounced plus of public cloud being ‘pay per use’ promise is limited just for compute services but bigger overheads, 

    particularly ingress and  egress costs, more relevant for media industry, simply make an on-prem solution the big winner.

    This aspect practically locks the customer to a specific cloud too unfairly. On this the on-prem models come out with edge (pun intended :-)) over public cloud models.

    The other aspects of data security and  control and finiteness of costs and capacity besides latency/performance issues, add to the relative merit points in favour of the on prem cloud model.

    So, as we step into yet another exciting year, technocrats and businesses would actively adopt the hybrid approach with a mix of cloud plusses and  on-prem benefits,  working with the balance of scalability and flexibility at cloud while keeping critical and  heavy data (video media industry) and bespoke applications in their own infrastructure.

    This said, cloud repatriation is a phenomenon that is indeed live and would weigh in more and more in the days to come …  unless the big public cloud providers revisit their commercial model with yet another innovation.

    Wishing all a tech-citing and glorious year 2025 !!

    (The article has been reprinted from Rajat Nigam’s post on Linkedin after informing him. He is the  transition CTO of JioStar. The views expressed here are entirely his own and have nothing to do with his organisation – JioStar= where he works as a professional. Also indiantelevision.com need not subscribe to these views )
     

  • India excels in Cloud, AI, and ML: 85 per cent of Indian businesses use cloud providers for analytics: Experian Study

    India excels in Cloud, AI, and ML: 85 per cent of Indian businesses use cloud providers for analytics: Experian Study

    Mumbai: India demonstrates remarkable resilience in the face of a challenging global landscape, according to the World Bank. Robust domestic demand, public infrastructure investments and the strengthening of the financial sector collectively contribute to India’s performance. As a testament to this resilience, a staggering 77 per cent of business leaders surveyed maintain a positive outlook for the upcoming year. These findings emerge from a comprehensive study conducted by forrester consulting commissioned by Experian, a global information services leader. The study also explores the profound impact of AI on analytics, risk assessment and customer experience. Notably, India demonstrates impressive AI and Machine Learning (ML), adoption rates, reaching 49 per cent in customer service and 40 per cent in identity verification.

    The study highlights India’s leadership in the EMEA and APAC regions, with 85 per cent of surveyed Indian businesses using external cloud providers for analytics. India’s adoption outpaces countries like Germany (66 per cent), New Zealand (per cent), and Spain (58 per cent), solidifying its position as a front-runner in cloud, AI, and ML utilisation.

    Role of AI in mitigating top risks:

    The report delves into the transformative potential of AI, the biggest risk priorities, and underscores how AI plays a pivotal role in fortifying resilience. Data privacy (59 per cent) and cybersecurity (53 per cent) emerge as the top risk concerns for the upcoming year, followed by ESG risk (47 per cent) and credit risk (41 per cent).

    Effectively mitigating these risks depends on improving the predictiveness of models and unlocking value from a wide variety of data sources. In this regard AI, particularly ML stands out as an instrumental tool with immense potential.

    Data integration and cloud investments drive AI success:

    Achieving AI success requires large volumes of data and the right data infrastructure. Despite an increase in new data sources, the biggest data-related challenge (for 48 per cent of respondents) pertains to the difficulty in effectively sharing data at a large scale while ensuring trust and security. As a result, 86 per cent of business leaders are prioritising investments in new data sources to better understand risk and affordability.

    The research shows that the biggest analytics-related challenge for nearly half of respondents (55 per cent) is the ability to seamlessly connect different data assets in a data warehouse that can adequately support AI/ML use cases. To address this issue, 86 per cent are prioritising investments in cloud technology for seamless data integration with 63 per cent agreeing that externally hosted cloud services are the best way to avoid data silos and aggregate data sources.

    Unlocking AI’s potential: productivity and efficiency enhancements:

    There are multiple ways in which AI can improve productivity, efficiency, and service delivery. Many organisations are actively exploring AI use cases, with a diverse range of possibilities, including enhanced underwriting with ML-based models, proactive and early identification of vulnerable customers, improved fraud prevention and faster customer service. More than half (65 per cent) of those already using AI find that their productivity gains have offset the initial cost – a clear indication of positive ROI from AI adoption.

    Experian managing director Saikrishnan said, “AI is currently leading the way in identifying innovative approaches to unlock the power of data, revolutionising business operations and elevating customer experience. As businesses engage with increasingly intricate decisions, AI plays a pivotal role in optimising the efficiency and effectiveness of business processes. Embracing the enduring role of AI becomes imperative, providing unparalleled insights for precise decision-making, particularly in critical areas such as risk management and fraud prevention. Simultaneously, it ushers in a new era of operational efficiency through automation, ultimately elevating the customer experience to new heights.”

    “AI/ML has increasingly emerged as a pivotal catalyst in combating new fraud challenges, automating credit risk processes, and leverage alternative data. AI is rapidly transitioning from a choice to a necessity, driving improved business performance and fostering inclusive financial growth,” he further added.

    Adding to it, Experian CEO, EMEA & APAC Malin Holmberg said, “While AI is driving innovation and enhancing analytical performance, it is critical to ensure this technology is used in a responsible and ethical way. It is reassuring that 61 per cent of our respondents have a comprehensive AI risk management program in place and are actively addressing unintentional bias through fully transparent and explainable AI. Businesses that embrace this technology will find themselves at an advantage as they unlock new growth opportunities through process efficiency and greater automation,”

  • Endorphins Entertainment bags PR Mandate for ZStack International in India

    Endorphins Entertainment bags PR Mandate for ZStack International in India

    Mumbai: Endorphins Entertainment, an integrated communications agency headquartered in New Delhi, on Wednesday announced that it has won the PR mandate for ZStack International. It is a cloud computing technology vendor specialising in the research and development of cloud computing software and hardware. The mandate was won following a multi-agency pitch.

    Endorphins Entertainment will closely work with ZStack International to deliver a media outreach programme in India. The brief includes providing a comprehensive communications strategy to help ZStack International with brand image building and accelerating the go-to-market strategy.

    ZStack International executive managing director Keith Poon said, “We are excited to offer our cloud solution services and the values they bring to help leverage the market potential for our technology, as well as accelerate our India go-to-market strategies. For the arrangement of PR activities, we decided to work with Endorphins Entertainment, a digital marketing and creative solutions-based company specialising in providing solutions to meet corporate as well as social needs. They provide result-oriented services, skillfully crafted by a global team of experts. I strongly believe that they would help ZStack discover unique and engaging ways to capture the attention of the audience. The multi-billion dollar cloud services market in India is expected to grow further stronger, with a significant part of the enterprise workload finding its way to the cloud. ZStack International is ready to proactively deliver our cloud solution services to empower every enterprise to have its own cloud in India.”

    “We are elated to be trusted by ZStack International for a critically important role of helping them to build their business in India through strategic public relations. With our expertise, we will be able to position the brand as the industry leader in providing cloud solutions services to enterprises at a competitive price. We will also help the brand to regularly engage with the key audiences in the country,” said Endorphins Entertainment CEO and creative head Manish Bhatia.

  • Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to step down on 5 July

    Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to step down on 5 July

    KOLKATA: The announcement had been made in February this year: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos would vacate his post, handing over the reins to the company’s top cloud executive Andy Jassy. Bezos would transition to chairman of Amazon’s executive board. No date was revealed at that time. Now we know when he will follow through on that announcement. Speaking at the company shareholders’ annual general  meeting (AGM),  Bezos revealed that 5 July will be his last official working day as CEO, and Bassy’s first day as head honcho of Amazon.  

    Under Bezos leadership has transformed from being a bookseller to ecommerce pioneer to cloud computing pioneer to entertainment trail blazer.

    “I’m very excited to move into the [executive] chair role, where I’ll focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives,” Bezos stated at the AGM. “We chose that date because it’s sentimental for me, the day Amazon was incorporated in 1994, exactly 27 years ago,” he added further.

    Jassy is currently heading Amazon Web Services, who will be replaced by Tableau CEO Adam Selipsky after he takes over his new position. Considerably, the cloud segment is now the company’s most profitable segment.

    Bezos shared his confidence in Jassy saying: “He has the highest of high standards and I guarantee that Andy will never let the universe make us typical. He has the energy needed to keep alive in us what has made us special.”

    While Bezos will still be involved in major corporate decisions, he will focus more on other ventures like Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin and The Washington Post.

  • Times Network’s English Entertainment channels transitions to Planetcast Cloud

    Times Network’s English Entertainment channels transitions to Planetcast Cloud

    Kolkata: Planetcast Media Services, a key player in cloud-based technology for the television broadcast industry announced that Times Network has successfully implemented the transition of its English Entertainment channels and Zoom to  it’s cloud platform – Cloud. X.

    The turnkey solution includes end-to-end management of broadcast operations including satellite uplinking of Times Network’s channels.

    Cloud X, a state-of-the-art cloud infrastructure, which offers an advanced platform along with flexibility for cloud-based operations is deployed to Times Network’s English Entertainment channels – Movies Now SD, Movies Now HD, Romedy Now SD, Romedy Now HD, MNX SD, MNX HD, MN+, and Zoom.

    The services are hosted at Planetcast’s advanced cloud data center based out of Noida. As part of the long-term engagement, PMSL also re-distributes the channels to various digital platforms across India.

    Times Network Corporate Strategy and Digital Transformation EVP and head Jignesh Kenia said the transition to Cloud was a strategic step in the digital transformation of its broadcast operations. “We are committed to adopting technological and digital solutions that enhance our business expertise through state-of-the-art infrastructure facilities, and we are delighted to partner with Planet cast for this critical part of our operations. I am confident that we can enhance our audience reach by delivering a reliable and world-class TV viewing experience.”

    According to Planetcast founder-director M N Vyas cloud adoption will drive business recovery from the pandemic across media and entertainment industry. “Our engagement will not only reduce their operational cost but will also streamline broadcast operations across Times Network’s entertainment and news channels. We are on a mission to drive business recovery from the pandemic through cloud adoption,” added Vyas.

  • Airtel-AWS partner to offer cloud services to M&E firms

    Airtel-AWS partner to offer cloud services to M&E firms

    MUMBAI: It’s hoping to take Indian companies further into the cloud. Telco Bharati Airtel has signed a multi-year, strategic collaborateon agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS.) to deliver a comprehensive set of innovative cloud solutions to large enterprise and small and medium enterprise (SME) customers in India. The duo will offer industry-specific solutions to customers across different sectors including banking and financial services, manufacturing, IT/ITeS, and media and entertainment.

    Airtel serves over 2500 large enterprises and more than a million emerging businesses and companies with an integrated product portfolio, including Airtel Cloud, a multi-cloud product and solutions business.

    Airtel Cloud will build an AWS Cloud Practice supported by AWS Professional Services, as well as develop differentiated Airtel Cloud products and capabilities leveraging AWS services, Airtel’s data center capabilities and its network and telecom offerings. Airtel customers will benefit from an integrated sales, consulting, and support approach from both companies and improved security, scalability, and cloud management capabilities.

    Airtel Cloud will offer customers a range of AWS services including Windows on AWS, SAP on AWS, VMware Cloud on AWS, database migration, and security and risk governance solutions. In addition, it  will leverage AWS’s innovation and transformation services across analytics, data warehousing, internet of things (IoT), and machine learning (ML) to help customers adopt new services and migrate to the cloud from legacy infrastructures.

    “At Airtel, our endeavour is to enable enterprise customers to stay focused on their core businesses while we drive end-to-end digital transformation for them. As part of their cloud adoption journey, enterprises are looking for agility, faster migration from legacy systems, and want to work with trusted partners who have the experience and depth in doing this. This collaboration brings AWS, the world’s leading cloud platform, together with Airtel’s deep reach and proven expertise in handling network, data centers, security, and cloud as an intergrated solution,” said Bharti Airtel CIO & head-cloud and security business Harmeen Mehta.

    Additionally, Airtel leverages AWS services for development of its digital applications. Airtel is also an AWS Direct Connect Delivery Partner. AWS Direct Connect is a cloud service solution that makes it easy to establish a dedicated network connection from a customer’s premises to AWS, providing customers with increased bandwidth throughput, consistent network performance, and private connectivity.

    “I am delighted with the expansion of our relationship with Airtel. Indian companies are using the cloud to innovate, and in order to operate at an increased scale and speed. Many need partners like irtel, with deep cloud expertise and an industry-focused approach to support them,” said Amazon Internet Services president commercial business, India & south Asia Puneet Chandok. “This collaboration gives customers a single point of contact when dealing with complex migrations or custom-built solutions. Airtel has demonstrated a strong commitment to our shared customers, and we look forward to continue working with them to bring innovative solutions to market.”

  • DE-CIX India’s cloud exchange service to benefit M&E industry

    DE-CIX India’s cloud exchange service to benefit M&E industry

    MUMBAI: While cloud computing practices are taking on the online ecosystem, neutral internet exchange operator DE-CIX India launched its DirectCloud Exchange service in the country recently.  It is looking forward to go beyond peering and aims to bring its customers more value for the service.

    In an interaction with Indiantelevision.com, DE-CIX India vice-president and national head Sudhir Kunder spoke on the new cloud exchange service along with other industry-related issues.

    Edited excerpts:

    Which is your target market for the new service?

    Geographically, four locations across India: Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi and Bombay being the hub. As for the target audience it would typically be the higher level of SMBs, SMEs and enterprises because this is where the cost optimisation is going to come. Once you have a larger picture emerging when companies would want to optimise their costs, you will see a lot of adoption in that category and if you see the kind of growth as India is concerned and the requirement of the enterprise to be on multi-cloud the solution we are probably going to catch up soon on the global trends where at least 22 per cent of the enterprises are already on a multi-cloud adoption.

    Are you looking at the M&E sector?

    What we intend to do going forward is to look at the enterprise from a verticalised standpoint. Create a use-case scenario for vertical saying how I am relevant to each vertically because, by being in the ICT space, one is aware of the kind of consumption models that you have across verticals. So there will be a proposition for BSFI, manufacturing and distribution, media and entertainment, etc. In media and entertainment, you will have the entire ISP and OTT segments.

    How are you doing your service promotion?

    When we are referring to the cloud business, what typically happens is the outreach to a minuscule extent will be through the existing ISP because some of them have a huge customer base already in the SMB and enterprise segment. They might not be the primary service providers, but from a redundancy factor, a lot of them are already entrenched in those accounts. So for them, it is already a plug and play kind of an affair, where with the right kind of digital marketing and outreach program, we will be in a position to reach out to the right decision-makers and he just has to know. Since he's already on my access port, all that he needs to do is an order for anything between as small as 10 Mb to as big as one gig or 10 gigs of cloud-connected. We have already generated a base, which is entrenched in the enterprise segment. So what that does for me is these organisations themselves have the reach. All we are trying to be doing with them is to help them monetise their relationship within the existing accountabilities that they have. And we will probably have one of the most lucrative distributions, margin setups and the entire programme; from an ecosystem point of view that the industry would have seen in terms of how much do they put in and what is it the work they get in response. Miniscule amount of inputs from their side is going to lead to a lot of direct and collateral benefits. So if you have to make it a very simplistic channel, which I call from our terminology point of view as a distribution model, that’s the way to go in terms of b2b distribution for cloud service.

    How did you cope with the sudden spike during the Covid2019 period?

    I don't know whether I should call it foresight or whatever but in January, we started looking at our traffic and our network in a microscopic manner. I would do complete slicing and dicing of anybody who's consuming more than 75 per cent of the subscribed port services. I knew what was happening as a real time basis, and this would get me into a review mode. So we already had a program going on whereby there was an outreach happening to my customer saying that, "Hey, guys, you know what you are at 80 per cent and this is what your current consumption is." During Covid2019, it was like a battlefield environment , initially, the fear was very high. Today, the capacity between data centre to data centre right at the onset of Covid2019, has been increased to a capacity level of about 400 odd gigs which can travel from any data centre to any data centre in the bar. This, along with the customer outreach program helped me to ensure that I was able to serve the traffic surge that I saw on my platform. So just to give you some numbers – for OTT traffic we have seen about 258 per cent growth since February, CDN traffic saw 54 per cent growth and gaming traffic increased by 150 per cent.

  • Eros Now partners Microsoft to build next gen online video platform by leveraging Azure

    Eros Now partners Microsoft to build next gen online video platform by leveraging Azure

    MUMBAI: Eros Now, the digital arm of Eros International Plc announced a collaboration with Microsoft  to build a next generation online video platform on Microsoft Azure targeted at better consumer experience. The partnership will also help the latter to expand in the Indian market as it is one of Microsoft’s first forays into India’s crowded digital video space.

    “India is one of the fastest-growing digital entertainment and media markets worldwide, driven by the growth in online video content.  AI and intelligent cloud tools will be the next drivers of the media business and will impact everything from content creation to consumer experience.  We are very excited to work with Eros Now to redefine the online video watching experience for consumers,” Microsoft India president Anant Maheshwari said.

    Using Microsoft Azure and Azure Media Services, Eros will develop a new, intuitive online video platform. The new platform will provide seamless delivery of content for its consumers across geographies and languages, supported by a robust infrastructure including Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN).

    Eros will work to create new interactive voice offerings for consumers, powered by Azure AI tools, including OTT app video search experiences and voice search for video content across 10 Indian languages.

    “The online video market has brought a paradigm shift in the way technology is used and will be used to enhance the customer journey and user experience. We at Eros Now have been the earliest movers in the adoption of technology which is a core strength of the brand. The objective and the goal of this collaboration is to ensure we become the primary innovators for the video business and a gold standard for the others to follow. We have immense respect for Microsoft as a company to help us innovate and pave the path for the next generation of online video,” Eros Digital CEO Rishika Lulla Singh said.

    To increase consumer satisfaction and loyalty, Eros will create an engine to deliver personalised content recommendations for consumers by leveraging its own user data, combined with Azure AI, analytics, Cloud Data Warehousing solutions and Azure Media Services.

    Microsoft, Corp said, “As an innovator in on-demand video, Eros Now has been transforming the way millions of people access and consume content. By using our combined expertise across technology and media, we have an opportunity to build on that foundation and re-imagine entertainment for the rapidly growing audience of digitally-connected consumers in India," Rishika Lulla Singh executive vice president Peggy Johnson said.