Nxtra, the data centre arm of Bharti Airtel, has commissioned multiple new facilities, including a 200MW capacity in Hyderabad, to double its pan-india capacity to 400 MW over the next two years. The company has has allocated a capex of Rs 5000 crore for the same.
It is also developing centres in Bengaluru and Kolkata. The firm’s current footprint is concentrated between Mumbai, Chennai, and Pune.
The firm, which currently has 12 large centres in India and a network of 120 edge data centres, has also identified AI led solutions as a way to enhance productivity at its facilities.
In the first such effort, it has deployed artificial intelligence (AI) in its data centres to drive operational efficiencies using the smart sense platform by UK-based firm Ecolibrium.
Currently deployed at Nxtra’s Chennai data centre campus, the AI-led solution is expected to drive predictive maintenance, enhanced energy efficiency and automation of operations.
While the use of AI is also affecting workloads at their data centres, Nxtra is also looking at scalable, vendor agnostic AI-led solution of key areas within its operations. For this, it is partnering with AI solution firms/vendors who can deploy the solutions at various Nxtra facilities as and when the need arises. It is also looking for vendors that will customise solutions to the Nxtra footprint needs, the company added.
“I think we are already seeing AI being leveraged for most of the critical part of our operations – energy. We are leveraging AI to improve energy footprint, reduce energy footprint across all our consumption areas. Second biggest part is the capital we are investing. We are leveraging our AI to also optimise our capital investment, and the third is people. I think that is the area where probably going forward, you will see more AI being used (by us), Ashish Arora, chief executive officer, Nxtra told FE.
Through the SmartSense solution, Nxtra aims to achieve 10% increase in asset life, 10% reduction in non-IT power consumption, 15% increase in equipment performance through AI-driven Fault Detection and Diagnostics (FDD) algorithms and preventative maintenance and 25% improvement in productivity with intelligent and proactive insights across all data centre operations over the next 12-18 months, a company spokesperson said.
However, the deployment of said solutions could be slow for now given that some of the solutions may need to be developed specifically for Nxtra’s needs.
For the SmartSense solution, the company undertook extensive development and testing before fully deploying it at the Chennai facility.
Ecolibrium currently has 500 sites worldwide where it’s AI/ML solutions have been deployed. Their products provide real time data driven insights across sectors like real estate and manufacturing.
“In a first-of-its-kind collaboration with Nxtra, we are bringing our 12 years of expertise to revolutionise data centre operations through cutting-edge AI technology. Nxtra has done commendable work in building environmentally friendly digital infrastructure and, by connecting it with our expertise in AI and engineering, we are confident that together we can them maintain high standards of operational and energy efficiency,” Chintan Soni, chief executive officer, Ecolibrium, said.
(The correspondent was in Chennai at the invitation of Nxtra)
