The atmosphere was abuzz with excitement at W.Media’s Chennai Cloud & Datacenter Convention 2025 this year, where over 850 senior professionals in the region’s digital infrastructure industry gathered to network and share their vision and wisdom. The day-long event was held at the ITC Grand Chola alongside the first edition of W.Media’s Interconnect World, a forum for connectivity industry professionals. Among the attendees spanning both events that were held simultaneously, were data center owners and operators, telco and IXP operators, key buyers and decision makers, architects, engineers, consultants, industry watchers, veterans, experts and even representatives of government agencies.
Guest of Honour Dr. Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, Minister for Information Technology & Digital Services, Government of Tamil Nadu, lit the ceremonial lamp to commence proceedings. In a special address he showcased what made Tamil Nadu and especially Chennai special saying, “We are very happy that our natural talents and natural strengths in terms of connectivity, the under-sea cables, and power, particularly green power… somewhere around 35 percent of our energy is green.” He also lauded W.Media’s efforts in putting together the convention saying, “Such conferences are very important for you to learn, build a network, hopefully have some fun, as you advance the collective vision of the sector and the industry. I’m very pleased to see this happen.”
Simon Fletcher, Managing Director – Australia and New Zealand, W.Media, welcomed all attendees and reflected on the growth of digital infrastructure industry and related conventions, saying, “The continuing interest in India as a data center destination will benefit Chennai as the quantum of growth here is pretty much unmatched globally due to the critical mass of the population and the economy.” He further said, “India is tech’ing up – the number of smart phone users here is now around 1 billion, an effective doubling in under the past 5 years. Internet users are following a similar upward path at slightly higher numbers. As the overall installed capacity moves over 1000 MW, there is estimated to be more than three times that amount in the pipeline.”
Over the course of the day nearly 30 top industry leaders and experts shared their observations and ideas in nearly 20 sessions spread across three convention areas: the plenary hall where the Chennai CDC was held, another forum at Interconnect World, and finally at CenterStage, a breakaway session in the Expo Hall.
“There is hope and there is anxiety,” said Surajit Chatterjee, MD, Data Center, India, CapitaLand Investments, referring to the impact of Artificial Intelligence on the digital infrastructure industry. “The technology is moving very fast. Capex is a concern.” Moderator Sandeep Dandkar, a renowned data center expert concurred with him saying, “The change is fast, and beyond what you can envisage. So today when you design a data center you have to anticipate what’s going to happen in the future.” But Chatterjee advocates for a hybrid approach and encourages better communication with vendors and partners to build future-ready data centers in the age of AI.
In the keynote address that followed this panel discussion, Venkataraman Swaminathan, Vice President and Country General Manager – Greater India, Secure Power Division, Schneider Electric, also examined the repercussions of a fast evolving and dynamic technology like AI on the digital infrastructure industry. “Statistics are evolving. One quarter ago, I presented numbers that were smaller than these,” he said reflecting on the dynamic nature of AI and its impact. “Can you plan beyond 2030,” he wondered just like the panelists before him.
“There’s an AI wave in US and Europe, and it will be the case in India also in 1-2 years when AI will become the main driver,” said Pratap Mane, President and Country Head – India, Colt Data Centre Services. “We have to be ready, and build AI-ready facilities. Clients are demanding faster delivery and future-proofing,” he observed during a panel discussion about building gigawatt-scale data centers in the age of AI.
But his fellow panelist Sanjay Bhutani, Chief Business Officer, AdaniConneX, displayed greater enthusiasm and exuberance. “We are at the right place, right time,” he said. “Our green energy has gone up to 200GW over the last few years, and this could go up to 500GW by 2027. Of this, data centers need only 2 percent. Even if they grow later to consume say 8 percent by 2030. We are growing, at the same time, our infrastructure is also growing,” he said expressing confidence in finding sustainable ways to power AI data centers in India in the near future.
Next door at Interconnect World, panelists – Harsha Ram, Business Head Network Services, Sify Technologies; Vipul Kumar, VP, Edge & Network, CtrlS Datacenters; Sandeep Donde, Managing Director, Microscan – discussed Chennai’s evolving role as a regional and global connectivity hub, and its impact on investments, in a discussion moderated by Jitesh Karlekar, Director – Data Center Research – APAC, JLL India.
In another panel discussion moderated by Manjunath Prasad, VP – ITS, TVS Mobility, panelists – Hitesh TK, CIO, Vodafone India, and NK Singh, Founder & CEO, Data Center Guru examined the need for more realistic goal setting when it came to networks, telcos and sustainability.
Meanwhile in the Expo Hall, CenterStage saw a series of fireside chats and more informal discussions between industry veterans who came together for friendly chats as peers. What was special was the exceptional amount of interest in the field of liquid cooling leading to two sessions on different aspects of the technology – how to choose the right cooling mix, and if liquid cooling could make traditional air cooling obsolete.
The evening ended with networking drinks, and a raffle draw where one lucky winner got to take home an iPad.
