Intel selects India for third Asia data centre

Intel selects India for third Asia data centre
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU

MUMBAI, MAY 10: After Videsh Sanchar Nigam and Satyam Infoway, it is now Intel's turn to start data centres in India. The billion dollar corporation which entered the data centre business as recently as September last in the United States, announced it would enter the Indian market with a full-fledged data centre in two months. It is recently announced two other data centres in Asia, at Japan and Korea.

At a press conference addressed by Intel president of online services Michael A Aymar on Wednesday, the company said e-commerce growth in India would overshoot projections. "I think these projections are very conservative," Aymar said about the $ 1.3 billion e-commerce market projected by International Data Corporation (IDC) for India by 2003. According to IDC, India also has the fastest internet user growth in Asia. The number of internet users is projected to reach 6.6 million by 2003.

The proposed data centre will house hundreds of servers and be scaled to thousands of servers depending on the demand, Aymar said. He did not reveal the location of the data centre or the size of the investment Intel was making. On hosting charges, he said it would be competitive and driven by market. "Our pricing in any geography is driven by the market there," he said. In the US, its rates for first generation hosting range from $ 1,000 to $ 1,500 per rack.

First generation hosting provides basic services like space for servers and redundant robust networks and power. Second generation hosting, which is one level higher, will introduced in India in the next three to five quarters.

Globally, Intel plans to have over 10 data centres at US, Europe, Asia and Latin America by the year end. According to Robert Kidd, Asia Pacific regional manager for online services, the company has been witnessing customer growth of 350 per cent every quarter so far. The firm plans to beat data centre company Exodus Communications to the top slot by 2001 end, Aymar added, articulating Intel's big ambitions in this space.