5 ms·

The biggest tech hub in India is in Bangalore, but both AWS and GCP chose Mumbai. Because of proximity to international data cables?

tantalor 9y ago
Yes: 12 cables land here SEACOM SEA-ME-WE-4 SEA-ME-WE 3 EIG I-ME-WE FLAG Europe Asia (FEA) FLAG Alcatel-Lucent Optical Network (FALCON) Gulf Bridge International BBG (Bay of Bengal Gateway) SEA-ME-WE-5 MENA AAE-1 (Asia Africa Europe) https://www.cablemap.info/ https://www.cablemap.info/
AndrewMock 9y ago
Datacenter staffing in the cloud is fairly easy; only about 6 or so are needed on-prem for HVAC and hands-on. The rest are remote. Many cloud datacenters are able to be located in extremely obscure locations because of this.
- augustz 9y ago
  GCP and AWS do not use 6 people per region. With AWS a region has more than one availability zone. aws ec2 describe-availability-zones --region ap-south-1 for example shows two datacenters in mumbai. Across physical site security, to power to network to just hard drive and system decommissioning, more than 6 staff. I wonder if this is partly why AWS has done so well. I've used colo and hosted providers who do seem to have basically no one actually on site.
  - matt_wulfeck 9y ago
    Maybe double that number, or triple it. The point stands that you don’t need a large pool of local talent to operate a data center.
    - ptman 9y ago
      The Google data center in Hamina, Finland, statedly employs about 300. It's a mix of technical, security, catering and cleaning/facilities. Source (in Finnish): http://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/google-ei-aio-laajentaa-datakeskustaan-haminassa-kl-hyoty-430-miljoonan-investoinnista-meni-ulkomaille-6643373 http://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/google-ei-aio-laajentaa-da...
rb808 9y ago
The datacenters should be where the users are, not where the developers are.
- nimchimpsky 9y ago
  No not really.
- dgemm 9y ago
  By locating them at major internet exchange points they are doing exactly that, being closer to more users.
- sudhirj 9y ago
  The users are in every building all over the country and the world - which makes the datacenters best positioned at the junctions and interchanges of global wiring.
Abishek_Muthian 9y ago
Also power, yes Tamilnadu does lead the country with power generation but Maharashtra comes close second with better power distribution backed by top private sectors in the industry.
- JumpCrisscross 9y ago
  Source?
  - lmnop7 9y ago
    Enron -- Dabhol Power Company
    - JumpCrisscross 9y ago
      >> Tamilnadu does lead the country with power generation but Maharashtra comes close second with better power distribution As of November 2015, Maharashtra had 38 Gigawatts of generation to Tamil Nadu's 23 [1]. Maharashtra and Gujarat jointly produce a quarter of India's 100 GW; Tamil Nadu 8%. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_of_India_by_installed_power_capacity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_of_India_by_installed_p...
sudhirj 9y ago
Mumbai and Chennai are coastal cities with cable landings, but Mumbai is the finance and media capital - it has the stock exchange and Bollywood, both of whom I imagine will be big customers. And a bigger population as well.
- blocked_again 9y ago
  Who exactly are big customers from Bollywood?
  - signal11 9y ago
    Not exactly Bollywood, but VFX outsourcing is big in India. From low-cost animation (think animation for kids' TV) to top TV drama like Game of Thrones to Hollywood blockbusters like Interstellar and Doctor Strange -- they all use outsourcing and most of these companies are in Bombay.

tantalor 9y ago

Yes: 12 cables land here SEACOM SEA-ME-WE-4 SEA-ME-WE 3 EIG I-ME-WE FLAG Europe Asia (FEA) FLAG Alcatel-Lucent Optical Network (FALCON) Gulf Bridge International BBG (Bay of Bengal Gateway) SEA-ME-WE-5 MENA AAE-1 (Asia Africa Europe) https://www.cablemap.info/ https://www.cablemap.info/

AndrewMock 9y ago

Datacenter staffing in the cloud is fairly easy; only about 6 or so are needed on-prem for HVAC and hands-on. The rest are remote. Many cloud datacenters are able to be located in extremely obscure locations because of this.

augustz 9y ago
GCP and AWS do not use 6 people per region. With AWS a region has more than one availability zone. aws ec2 describe-availability-zones --region ap-south-1 for example shows two datacenters in mumbai. Across physical site security, to power to network to just hard drive and system decommissioning, more than 6 staff. I wonder if this is partly why AWS has done so well. I've used colo and hosted providers who do seem to have basically no one actually on site.
- matt_wulfeck 9y ago
  Maybe double that number, or triple it. The point stands that you don’t need a large pool of local talent to operate a data center.
  - ptman 9y ago
    The Google data center in Hamina, Finland, statedly employs about 300. It's a mix of technical, security, catering and cleaning/facilities. Source (in Finnish): http://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/google-ei-aio-laajentaa-datakeskustaan-haminassa-kl-hyoty-430-miljoonan-investoinnista-meni-ulkomaille-6643373 http://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/google-ei-aio-laajentaa-da...

rb808 9y ago

The datacenters should be where the users are, not where the developers are.

nimchimpsky 9y ago
No not really.
dgemm 9y ago
By locating them at major internet exchange points they are doing exactly that, being closer to more users.
sudhirj 9y ago
The users are in every building all over the country and the world - which makes the datacenters best positioned at the junctions and interchanges of global wiring.

Abishek_Muthian 9y ago

Also power, yes Tamilnadu does lead the country with power generation but Maharashtra comes close second with better power distribution backed by top private sectors in the industry.

JumpCrisscross 9y ago
Source?
- lmnop7 9y ago
  Enron -- Dabhol Power Company
  - JumpCrisscross 9y ago
    >> Tamilnadu does lead the country with power generation but Maharashtra comes close second with better power distribution As of November 2015, Maharashtra had 38 Gigawatts of generation to Tamil Nadu's 23 [1]. Maharashtra and Gujarat jointly produce a quarter of India's 100 GW; Tamil Nadu 8%. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_of_India_by_installed_power_capacity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_of_India_by_installed_p...

sudhirj 9y ago

Mumbai and Chennai are coastal cities with cable landings, but Mumbai is the finance and media capital - it has the stock exchange and Bollywood, both of whom I imagine will be big customers. And a bigger population as well.

blocked_again 9y ago
Who exactly are big customers from Bollywood?
- signal11 9y ago
  Not exactly Bollywood, but VFX outsourcing is big in India. From low-cost animation (think animation for kids' TV) to top TV drama like Game of Thrones to Hollywood blockbusters like Interstellar and Doctor Strange -- they all use outsourcing and most of these companies are in Bombay.