Indian tech companies are taking advantage of policy changes to localize hardware and software, with CloudPhotonix and DigiBoxx leading the way. File |Photo Credit: The Hindu
From data centers to telecom equipment, Indian companies are taking advantage of significant policy developments to indigenize India’s technology stack, both in terms of hardware and software. The main movement is emerging from the market selling to large corporations. CloudPhotonix, one of the more recent companies founded by walkie-talkie industry veterans, quickly began selling its products to carriers as networks move away from foreign-made, especially Chinese-made components.
Meanwhile, at least one company, DigiBoxx, is offering cloud storage and enterprise backup locally in India in anticipation of demand from businesses looking to pre-emptively comply with localization requirements in the wake of laws such as the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. We offer
Although the law does not currently mandate data localization within India’s borders, it does leave the possibility open in some areas. The Reserve Bank of India has already made it mandatory for Indians to store their payment data locally.
Late last year, Tarun Sibal, co-founder of CloudPhotonix, hosted a small event in Delhi that brought together academics and industry players to highlight the importance of transceivers, a critical component of networking and communications equipment for transmitting and receiving data. has been outlined.
Sibal and his other co-founders are already in their 50s, not a typical age for startup founders. He pointed out that the transceiver manufacturing and photonics science efforts that most telecom and data center companies import into India are “dark arts,” a phrase echoed by colleagues in subsequent presentations. Ta. They are seeking to capitalize not only on the shift away from Chinese technology in communications networks that began after the 2020 border clash, but also on the growing urge to manufacture and sell that technology locally.
Fundamentally, very few people have accumulated the years of expertise required to manufacture transceivers, making it a tough market for new graduates. Mohali-based Roots Analysis estimates that the global optical transceiver market could grow to $47.64 billion by 2035, more than four times its current size. Sunil Katana, the company’s chief technology officer, said in a presentation that a significant portion of the data center and network infrastructure spending was on imported transceivers.
Local storage options
DigiBoxx, on the other hand, bills itself as “Swade’s first SaaS (Software as a Service)-based digital storage and sharing platform,” adding that “servers and data centers are based in India, allowing customers to access their digital assets and It ensures that your IP is protected and securely stored within the country,” said Arnab Mitra, CEO of the company. While security does not always depend on the location of data, localization mandates like the RBI have forced companies in other industries over the years to pursue local storage options, even if they lack scale and are expensive. I started looking for it.
“Obviously the rise of privacy is becoming an even hotter topic,” Mitra said in an interview about the rise of local storage as an option. He acknowledged that local storage is more expensive, but added that companies are mindful of reputation when making storage decisions for regulatory purposes. “So this is priceless in many ways,” he said, adding that the company was also trying to avoid imposing hidden costs like some global competitors.
In an interview with The Hindu, Electronics and Information Technology Secretary S. Krishnan welcomed the progress in introducing local options in telecom equipment and data storage, saying, “These are commercially driven decisions.” , that’s the way it should be.”
IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, in an interview with The Hindu on January 8, 2025, touted the success of OpenRAN technology, which has been deployed in thousands of towers in India and will soon be exported.
issued – January 13, 2025 6:05 AM IST
