Why digital connectivity is key to Making Indonesia 4.0

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Why digital connectivity is key to Making Indonesia 4.0

Reinventing a national economy with more than 270 million people is a huge challenge. Yet the Making Indonesia 4.0 initiative aims to do just that. The vision? To put Indonesia in the world’s top 10 economies by 2030. There are five priority sectors for this. They are food and beverage, textile and apparel, automotive, chemicals, and electronics. Together, they are the targets for new world-class industry value chains.

The tech that drives the change

Digital transformation is a big part of meeting this goal. Key digital technologies include artificial intelligence (AI) and human-machine interfaces. Others are the Internet of Things (IoT), robotic and sensor technology, and 3D printing. Software apps and data turn this tech into business value. To do so, they need the right compute and storage infrastructure. Colocation and cloud can be fast, cost-effective ways to meet these needs.

Good connections are vital

Robust, high speed digital connectivity is also a must. Indonesian enterprises will need to send data to their AI and analytics apps for business insights. They will rely on good networks. Low latency is mandatory. This allows programs and the data they receive to always be in sync. Capacity must be high. There will be large amounts of data in real time from IoT devices. Making Indonesia 4.0 will also attract organizations from abroad. Good connectivity to and from Indonesia is vital for them and for export.

Plan for now and the future

Connectivity has multiple facets in Indonesia as in other countries. Data centers must ensure that all the parameters are properly addressed. For example, links that are fast but often break down are not good enough. Neither are connections that cannot scale as digital transformation yields more network traffic. Data centers must plan their networks to handle both today’s and tomorrow’s needs.

Where connectivity design starts

What is the starting point for design and operation? It is the current connectivity landscape in Indonesia. Mobile communications have already grown rapidly. Now, there is also a rise in fixed line links. Fiber optic cables are being put in place across the country. Urban development and road construction projects are chances to cost-effectively install higher volumes of fiber. The fiber that is not used immediately (“dark fiber”) can serve for redundant routing. It is also backup for future growth.

Challenges in links uptime

Fiber links already meet many criteria such as speed and capacity. But network resilience is also essential. As cities in Indonesia grow, so too does congestion, both on roads and in cable ducts. Accidental damage to network links from building and road works happens more often. Downtime and costs increase.

Location location location

Smart connectivity planning for a data center must therefore include a location for the best performance and reliability. For this reason, SpaceDC data centers in Jakarta are on the west side of the city, instead of the more congested east side. This innovative decision favors safer, high-speed land links. It offers good dark fiber connectivity. It also means that the SpaceDC data centers are close to strategic subsea cables as well as the international airport.

Network? Have it your way!

Choice for customers is also important. A data center that is not tied to any one network operator (carrier-neutral) can offer customers such choice. This means access to a range of telecoms, cloud service, and internet service providers. Organizations can then define and customize their network solutions. They can balance cost and performance. At the same time, they have the flexibility to adapt to new needs.

Links inside the data center

Inside data centers, connectivity is equally important. This includes links between servers and other IT equipment, and to network service provider access points. Many connections inside data centers may be changed or added daily. Links and power distribution for those links must work and be error-free. This can be handled by expert teams in the data center using management and automation tools.

Building in the network uptime

Resilience of connectivity should also be designed into data centers from the beginning. On its data center campus to the west of Jakarta, SpaceDC has built in better connectivity uptime in several ways. For example, servers can connect to multiple ISPs via separate “Meet Me Rooms”. This avoids single points of failure. There are multiple network entry points to the data centers on the SpaceDC campus for the same reason.

Fast, robust and green

Likewise, diverse underground cable pathways on campus make resilience higher. SpaceDC uses these within and between its data centers. Customers can use the high speed links for mirroring systems and data across the SpaceDC campus. Robust power and backup systems make sure that each data center and its connectivity are always protected. They are also designed to be sustainable. SpaceDC power systems achieve one of the lowest power usage efficiency (PUE) ratings in the industry.

Connect from all over the world

SpaceDC also continues to enhance connectivity for customers in other ways. A recent example is the agreement with Console Connect and its network. This lets users access SpaceDC’s data center facilities in Jakarta from more than 50 countries. The Console Connect network is low-latency and fully redundant. It means end-to-end link quality for users all the way to their SpaceDC hosted systems.

Making Indonesia 4.0 on the way to success

World class data center connectivity lets data flow freely and securely. It helps power the digital technologies at the heart of economic change. With performance, resilience, and flexibility, it brings new capabilities to enterprises. It brings them possibilities they cannot get from their own business location. And it scales to accompany them as they grow into their Making Indonesia 4.0 roles.

» Download our Connectivity & Resiliency white paper for more information and business insights.

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The rise of India as a global power for the cloud and data center market

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Milestones and updates.

The rise of India as a global power for the cloud and data center market

The rise of India as a global power may not be a new conversation, but it is certainly becoming more pronounced as the global markets evolve during these interesting times. Not only are global cloud players increasingly setting up shop and pouring capital in the country, but local players are also stepping up to the plate and demonstrating that they can do everything global players can and better.

With more and more local businesses turning to Cloud and leveraging data to chart their next phase of growth, India might just emerge as the next big playground for cloud unicorns. We take a closer look at the drivers of this growth, and what hurdles Indian players will need to address in growing their cloud market.

Setting the stage for Cloud success

India is ripe for “Cloud” growth, with digital transformation and the move to cloud being a no regret decision for local businesses. According to a report by BCG, India is one of the largest and fastest-growing public cloud markets in the APAC region, projected to chart trifold growth from US$2.6 billion to US$8 billion between 2018 and 2023.

More than ever, businesses are realizing the potential of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain in automating processes, reshaping personalized experiences, and sparking new innovations. Their enthusiasm to go all in on digital is expected to grow cloud spending by 49% in 2023.

Powering intense competition in the business landscape are global cloud hyperscalers like Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud who have already made inroads in the country through hiring top tech talent and are setting their sights on building new availability zones and demonstrating their commitment to align with local security and compliance regulations.

Apart from the fierce adoption of cloud and emerging technologies amongst local businesses, strong support from India’s government has been critical in setting up the stage for its Cloud success. Programs such as Digital India, which aims to transform India into a digitally empowered society and supporting initiatives such as GI Cloud to optimize ICT spending are kindling both businesses and consumers’ digital readiness and embrace of cloud technologies, services, and experiences.

 

Making the climb to a new normal

COVID-19 has been a catalyst in ramping up the demand for cloud as private and public organizations increasingly turned to digital channels. This pivot to digital is also here to stay, as more businesses of all sizes and stripes are looking at leveraging intelligent solutions to tackle business-critical issues such as business continuity, resilience, and productivity. Over 60% of Indian companies have said that they’re planning to leverage cloud for digital innovation.

But perhaps what is more important is that businesses are looking at long term cloud infrastructure investments to build for their future, beyond plug and play cloud tools. With cloud as the new backbone of sustainable growth, businesses will not only be able to scale their services but also deliver innovative services and customer experiences.

Much like how Indonesia grew its digital economy with e-commerce players and unicorns, India is now home to promising cloud computing companies who are providing a range of SaaS, security and cloud business management solutions and looking at ways to cater to new demand and trends.

As the cloud ecosystem in India matures, we’re likely to see a new generation of local players that are “born in the cloud” emerge and grow to compete with mainstay cloud providers. To date, there is already a growing string of startups, with a valuation of over a billion dollars, joining the unicorn club including InMobi, Paytm and Ola.

 

Addressing local challenges to pull ahead of global counterparts

However, these efforts would be futile if India doesn’t address key challenges in its digital infrastructure and data governance, against the impacts of external forces such as an ongoing pandemic and increased competition from other markets with established cloud players

For example, the physical connectivity infrastructure or lack thereof in India is a key challenge. Without basic routers, fiber optic links and servers to provide access to technologies, there is a growing digital divide between India’s urban and rural populace which is slowing India down in its digital sprint. To resolve this issue, data center operators need to work with multiple telecommunication providers to explore best options to set up good WAN links, from making sure the infrastructure set up remains resilient, adaptable to change and capable of supporting the distribution of users, workloads and different demands of cities. This increased connectivity will also give rise to potentially new data centres, which will further support India’s growing Cloud market.

Robust data policies will be key in positioning India as an attractive and trusted location for global companies to invest in for their cloud needs.

Lastly, with transformation boiling down to not only technology but also talent, one more consideration for India would be to equip their existing pool of IT professionals with the relevant skill sets for cloud and improve their data management strategies.

India stands a real chance at rewriting history as the next big cloud player, with all the right conditions for its growth already in place, including a strong adoption of cloud technologies in its business ecosystem. To make its next big leap in becoming a global cloud player, it will just have to address local challenges in its digital infrastructure and data governance and provide an innovation sandbox for local players to unlock the full potential of Cloud.

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