Sudhir Kunder is the company’s Chief Business Officer and has over 29 years of experience in various fields. He has contributed to Telecommunications, FMCG, Retail, and Information and Communication Technology fields.
Mr. Kunder’s areas of expertise include Corporate Governance, Strategic Planning, Partnership Management, and Service Management. He is responsible for creating the company’s long-term plans and monitoring how well those plans are working.
Sudhir has a situational leadership style in which he assumes and plays the role of innovator and/or activator depending on the situation. He says, “I believe that people matter the most and, thus, I act accordingly. This has enabled me to collaborate with team members and stakeholders, along with enhancing my ability to make difficult decisions.”
Passionate in Marketing in conversation with Mr. Sudhir Kunder
Could you please introduce yourself to our readers, highlighting your background and areas of expertise, including Corporate Governance, Strategic Planning, Partnership Management, and Service Management?
I am grateful for this opportunity to provide an overview of my personal and professional history. I have three decades of experience in the Telecommunication, FMCG, Retail, and ICT industries. Throughout my career, I’ve been strongly involved in strategic planning, partnership management, service management, and corporate governance for prestigious organisations such as Hoechst Schering Agrevo, Tata Communications, Tata Teleservices, Bharti Airtel, and Sify Technologies.
P&L management, Business Operations, Marketing, Sales, and Strategic Partnerships are among my areas of expertise. I’ve also been a strong advocate for maintaining the highest corporate governance standards in order to ensure transparency and ethical business practices. This collective tapestry has not only provided me with a bird’s-eye view of the corporate landscape, but it has also profoundly influenced my leadership philosophy. The combination of these various encounters has undeniably been a driving force in shaping my approach.
Could you provide an overview of DE-CIX India’s role in the internet peering and interconnection ecosystem, and how it contributes to enhancing internet connectivity in India?
DE-CIX India plays a pivotal role as the Largest Interconnection Services Provider. It serves as a neutral hub where various internet service providers, content distributors, and networks interconnect to exchange traffic efficiently. This dynamic ecosystem significantly enhances internet connectivity in India in several ways.
DE-CIX India reduces the need for domestic internet traffic to traverse international routes, which decreases latency and enhances overall network performance. Additionally, it fosters direct peering between networks, enabling faster and more direct data exchange. This minimises data detours and bottlenecks, resulting in improved end-user experiences.
Furthermore, DE-CIX India’s strategic locations across the country ensure that internet traffic can be exchanged regionally, reducing the strain on long-distance connections and bolstering network resilience. This is especially crucial for maintaining connectivity during high-demand periods.
Overall, DE-CIX India contributes to a more robust and efficient internet landscape in India by fostering a network of direct interconnections, reducing latency, and enabling reliable domestic data exchange. Its role is essential for creating a thriving digital ecosystem that empowers businesses and individuals across the nation.
DE-CIX India is known for its carrier and data center-neutral approach. How does this neutrality contribute to fostering a competitive and diverse internet ecosystem, and what benefits does it offer to the stakeholders involved?
DE-CIX India’s carrier and data center-neutral approach serves as a cornerstone for fostering a competitive and diverse internet ecosystem in the country. This neutrality ensures that all participants, regardless of their size or status, have an equal and unbiased opportunity to interconnect and exchange data. This approach carries several benefits that contribute to a thriving digital landscape.
Neutrality encourages healthy competition among various carriers and service providers. With no preferential treatment, each entity is incentivized to improve its services, innovate, and offer competitive pricing. This results in higher-quality offerings with the lowest possible latencies, resulting in an unparalleled user experience and affordable options for businesses and end-users.
Carrier and data center-neutral environment paves the way for a diverse range of stakeholders to participate. Smaller ISPs, content providers, startups, and regional players can all connect and engage in direct peering, expanding the overall interconnection landscape. This diversity not only enriches the ecosystem but also prevents monopolization and encourages innovation.
Additionally, the neutral environment supports efficient resource allocation. Stakeholders can choose the data centers that best suit their needs without any constraints, promoting optimal utilisation of infrastructure.
Lastly, neutrality ensures flexibility. As market dynamics change, participants can adjust their partnerships and connections without facing limitations imposed by exclusive agreements or affiliations.
In essence, DE-CIX India’s carrier and data center-neutral approach fosters a competitive, innovative, and inclusive internet ecosystem. It empowers a wide range of stakeholders to collaborate, compete, and contribute to India’s digital growth. This neutrality ensures that the internet landscape remains dynamic, diverse, and driven by healthy market forces, ultimately benefiting end-users through improved services, accessibility, and choice.
Cybersecurity is a critical concern in the digital age. How does DE-CIX India address security concerns and ensure the integrity and confidentiality of data being exchanged through its network?
Cybersecurity is of paramount importance to DE-CIX India. We implement robust mechanisms to ensure that data transmitted between connected parties remains confidential and protected from unauthorised access. This safeguards sensitive information and prevents interception by malicious actors.
To strengthen our overall security measures, we build our Points of Presence (PoP) within the confines of global standard data centers. We do not establish external connectivity away from the data center. This method effectively preserves the integrity and hygiene of our network architecture, providing an additional layer of security.
Regular security audits and assessments are conducted to identify vulnerabilities and ensure compliance with industry best practices. These assessments help in proactively addressing security gaps and strengthening the overall security posture of the network.
Collaboration with partners is another key aspect of DE-CIX India’s security strategy. The company works closely with its interconnected networks and service providers to establish mutual security protocols and ensure that data exchange occurs within secure environments.
In summary, DE-CIX India’s cybersecurity monitoring systems, audit procedures, and collaborative partnerships work in tandem to strengthen network security, ensuring the confidentiality, dependability, and protection of data exchanges from potential cyber threats.
How does DE-CIX India contribute to the broader goals of digital transformation and enhanced internet accessibility, especially in underserved regions of India?
Through our Interconnection Platform, we not only cater to ISPs but also extend our services to enterprises, SMEs, and SMBs. This approach ensures the acceleration of their digital transformation and digital acceleration objectives by providing essential infrastructure elements such as Peering Services, DirectCLOUD, and Microsoft Azure Peering Services.
We provide a dependable and highly efficient Interconnection Platform that significantly shortens routes, resulting in a 90% reduction in latency and a 50% reduction in trouble tickets. Hybrid Cloud is critical for businesses, and our Single Access Port allows you to swiftly access multiple services. Running hybrid services through our platform is not only faster but also superior and more convenient than any other ecosystem currently available in Asia Pacific.
Our ability to manage the entire customer life cycle and assist them in connecting to us even from the most remote parts of India makes it critical for the industry to connect and collaborate with us because we have unequivocally proven that we as an organisation help any and all customers who are challenged for connectivity.
Underserved regions often lack reliable and high-speed internet access. DE-CIX India’s strategic presence across the country enables the establishment of interconnection points closer to these regions. This geographical distribution results in better access to quality internet services, bridging the digital divide and promoting digital inclusion.
Furthermore, the enhanced connectivity facilitated by DE-CIX India empowers businesses in underserved areas to tap into new markets, reach customers online, and expand their operations. This contributes to economic growth and job creation in these regions.
DE-CIX India’s contribution to digital transformation and internet accessibility is twofold: it enhances the overall quality of internet connectivity, benefiting all sectors of society, and it specifically addresses the connectivity challenges faced by underserved regions, fostering inclusivity and driving economic development.
Therefore, it is evident that DE-CIX India plays a crucial role in driving the overarching objectives of digital transformation and improving Internet accessibility, especially in underserved areas of India.
As the Chief Business Officer, could you share insights into DE-CIX India’s future growth plans and its vision for contributing to the advancement of India’s digital infrastructure and internet ecosystem?
“Latency is the new currency.” If latency demands continue to evolve at the same rate as innovation in recent years, digital services and applications will soon require Lower latency. This means that digital infrastructure and internet ecosystem will become even more important in the future, and these requirements are universal in the modern world.
As latency requirements get lower and lower, it becomes more and more important to bring Interconnection services as close to People and Businesses as possible – everywhere. With 19 of our own Points of Presence (PoPs) and a unique mechanism that caters to our customer’s needs, we have extended our presence to 16 Data Centers within Light Storm. This strategic approach significantly enhances our reach and underscores our clear aspirations to serve not only metropolitan and semi-metropolitan areas but also the emerging markets in hinterland cities, where we anticipate substantial growth opportunities
We are a natural choice for players expanding to the edge data center environment, and we take pride in being the exclusive organisation that entered into a partnership with prominent Indian enterprises nine months ago. As part of this collaboration, they are in the process of establishing 200 Edge PoPs across India. In addition to this, they have successfully executed four containerised Edge DC deployments in Northern India.
Our vision is centered on continuous expansion and innovation. We plan to strategically expand our interconnection footprint across key regions in India, bringing our services closer to where they’re needed most. We recently launched our innovative services Microsoft Azure Peering Services (MAPS), and we plan to launch DDoS Mitigation and Cloud ROUTER in the near future. We’ll continue investing in cutting-edge technologies to enhance the efficiency and security of our network. Additionally, fostering collaborations with industry leaders, policymakers, and communities remains integral to our growth strategy, as we work together to propel India’s digital infrastructure to new heights.
The future is digital, and DE-CIX is ready for it. Suffice it to say that DE-CIX is and will always be the medium through which digital becomes available to everyone, everywhere.
How does DE-CIX India’s role in facilitating internet peering align with or complement Microsoft Azure’s Peering Services, and what advantages does this collaboration bring to both entities?
DE-CIX India’s role in facilitating Peering, DirectCLOUD, and Microsoft Azure’s Peering Services via a single access port is to create a synergy that offers significant advantages to both entities and their users.
DE-CIX India is a Largest Interconnection Platform that connects various networks and internet service providers. Its robust infrastructure and strategic locations allow for the efficient exchange of internet traffic, optimising connectivity and lowering latency. Microsoft Azure’s Peering Services, on the other hand, are focused on improving direct connections between networks and Azure’s cloud services, thereby increasing performance and security.
Utilising Microsoft Azure’s Peering Services allows organisations to optimise 90% of network traffic, resulting in improved data privacy and a 50% reduction in customer complaints, thereby improving overall performance and customer experience. The use of Azure’s cloud services creates a direct link that bypasses the public internet, mitigating potential vulnerabilities and ensuring a secure environment for data exchange.
DE-CIX India’s impressive network includes a large number of ISPs, many of which have established last-mile connections to SMEs, SMBs, and Enterprises. This distinct positioning enables them to seamlessly integrate MAPS in a plug-and-play manner. It not only simplifies the adoption process, but it also opens up new revenue streams within their existing customer base, where the last-mile infrastructure is already in place.
