Bharti Airtel’s data center division, Nxtra, has doubled its pan-India capacity to 400 MW over the next two years by commissioning a number of new facilities, including a 200 MW facility in Hyderabad. For the same, the corporation has set aside Rs 5000 crore in capital expenditures.
Additionally, it is creating centers in Kolkata and Bengaluru. Currently, Mumbai, Chennai, and Pune account for the majority of the company’s footprint.
The company, which presently operates a network of 120 edge data centers and 12 sizable centers in India, has also recognized AI-led solutions as a means of increasing facility productivity.
In the first attempt, it has used the smart sense platform from UK-based company Ecolibrium to implement artificial intelligence (AI) in its data centers in order to increase operational efficiencies.
The AI-led solution, which is now in place at Nxtra’s data center complex in Chennai, is anticipated to promote predictive maintenance, increased energy efficiency, and operational automation.
Workloads at their data centers are also being impacted by AI use, but Nxtra is also considering scalable, vendor-neutral AI-led solutions for important operational areas. It is doing this by collaborating with AI solution providers who can set up the solutions at different Nxtra locations as needed. According to the corporation, it is also searching for suppliers who can tailor their products to meet the needs of the Nxtra footprint.
“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 and reduce energy footprint across all our consumption areas. The second biggest part is the capital we are investing. We are leveraging our AI to also optimize 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),” said Ashish Arora, chief executive officer of Nxtra.
Over the next 12 to 18 months, Nxtra hopes to increase asset life by 10%, reduce non-IT power consumption by 10%, improve equipment performance by 15% using AI-driven Fault Detection and Diagnostics (FDD) algorithms and preventative maintenance, and increase productivity by 25% using proactive and intelligent insights across all data center operations, according to a company spokesperson.
However, because some of the solutions might need to be created, especially for Nxtra’s needs, their deployment might be delayed for the time being.
Before the SmartSense system was fully implemented at the Chennai factory, the company conducted a thorough development and testing process.
Ecolibrium’s AI/ML solutions are currently in use at 500 locations across the globe. Their products offer data-driven insights in real time for industries like manufacturing and real estate.
“In a first-of-its-kind collaboration with Nxtra, we are bringing our 12 years of expertise to revolutionize data center 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 maintain high standards of operational and energy efficiency,” Chintan Soni, chief executive officer, Ecolibrium, said.
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