Latest news with #SharadAgarwal
Economic Times
10 hours ago
- Business
- Economic Times
Turf war in the clouds showers on the ground
ETtech Live Events ETtech Indian data centre companies are looking to attract neocloud firms such as Coreweave , Lambda Labs, Crusoe and Nebius, which offer high-end computing for generative artificial intelligence training at nearly one-third the price of hyperscalers like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft by large investors, neoclouds, or 'babyscalers'—boutique operators offering specialised infrastructure and flexible GPU rentals—are fast snagging business from Microsoft Azure, AWS and Google Cloud. A study by digital infrastructure consultancy Uptime Institute showed that the average hourly cost of an Nvidia DGX H100 GPU system from a hyperscaler was $98, while neocloud players offer it at about $34—a 66% attractive prices, along with cheap data centre space and power in India, make a powerful case for neocloud companies to invest here, industry experts said. Sharad Agarwal, CEO of Chennai-based data centre services provider Sify Infinit Spaces, said neocloud companies are watching the Indian market keenly, especially because of the world's lowest rack rentals and power costs here. Many neocloud operators evolved from Bitcoin mining, gaming and high-frequency trading backgrounds. As AI chips grew in demand post ChatGPT's release in 2022, these firms quickly amassed thousands of chips to offer on Wall Street financiers have created a lucrative debt market for the neocloud firms which use the funds to acquire thousands of Nvidia chips and further rent out on hourly/monthly usage neocloud firms are cash rich. Large private equity firms like Blackstone, Carlyle and BlackRock have pumped in $11 billion in this new cohort of companies. Coreweave made an impressive $23-billion debut on Nasdaq this to semiconductor research firm Semianalysis, besides the four neocloud leaders, there are 131 emerging players in the segment globally who offer GPU rentals at discounted Infinit Spaces has introduced a pay-per-use pricing model, offering power and rack space to neocloud companies deploying GPU clusters in India. 'Our pay-per-use pricing model is a disruptor to the data centre industry,' Agarwal said. 'Huge entry cost is a barrier for emerging cloud infra firms to expand in foreign markets, and hence this pricing structure could derisk companies' fixed cost.'Hiranandani Group's Yotta Data Services – which by itself is India's sovereign neocloud -- said it has listed 8000 Nvidia H100 GPUs on Nvidia's marketplace alongside Lambda Labs, Coreweave and Nebius to offer their GPUs-as-a-service. 'This shift from hyperscalers to AI-specialised clouds is not just a competitive realignment—it's critical for democratising access to high-performance compute and accelerating innovation,' said Sunil Gupta, cofounder, CEO and managing director of Yotta Data Services, which has deployed its own sovereign neocloud with IndiaAI Mission, NIC, and Group's Blackbox said it is tapping North America and Europe expansion of neocloud firms to provide cabling, design, and construction services, and participate in their 'multi-billion gigawatt-scale expansion.'Blackbox is also pursuing global rollouts of gigawatt-scale campuses of neocloud operators for a range of services. 'These include structured cabling, data centre design, and turnkey construction services for both greenfield and retrofit projects,' said Sanjeev Verma, president and CEO of Black current discussions are focused on North America and Europe markets, expansion in India is not a question of if, but when, Verma added. CtrlS Datacenters is also in early talks with neocloud firms 'to deploy GPU clusters in India, driven by increasing AI model training and inference workloads, especially in sectors like BFSI, healthcare and manufacturing,' said Ranjit Metrani, president, managed services, at CtrlS say it is the right time for India's infrastructure players to strike long-term partnerships with neocloud firms as the industry is growing rapidly and India is evolving to be one of the largest markets for AI use. 'Neocloud companies are gaining market share globally at an incredibly fast pace comparable to the early growth of hyperscalers,' said Jitesh Karlekar, director-research at real estate research and advisory firm JLL.'This is a fundamental shift in the cloud business model… Neocloud firms are architected for the AI-native era. They offer more specialised infrastructure, lower latency, flexible pricing, and are often better optimised for high-performance computing workloads.' Therefore, it is crucial for India's infrastructure players to catch on this momentum early,' he said.
Time of India
12 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Turf war in the clouds showers on the ground
Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Indian data centre companies are looking to attract neocloud firms such as Coreweave , Lambda Labs, Crusoe and Nebius, which offer high-end computing for generative artificial intelligence training at nearly one-third the price of hyperscalers like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft by large investors, neoclouds, or 'babyscalers'—boutique operators offering specialised infrastructure and flexible GPU rentals—are fast snagging business from Microsoft Azure, AWS and Google Cloud. A study by digital infrastructure consultancy Uptime Institute showed that the average hourly cost of an Nvidia DGX H100 GPU system from a hyperscaler was $98, while neocloud players offer it at about $34—a 66% attractive prices, along with cheap data centre space and power in India, make a powerful case for neocloud companies to invest here, industry experts said. Sharad Agarwal, CEO of Chennai-based data centre services provider Sify Infinit Spaces, said neocloud companies are watching the Indian market keenly, especially because of the world's lowest rack rentals and power costs here. Many neocloud operators evolved from Bitcoin mining, gaming and high-frequency trading backgrounds. As AI chips grew in demand post ChatGPT's release in 2022, these firms quickly amassed thousands of chips to offer on Wall Street financiers have created a lucrative debt market for the neocloud firms which use the funds to acquire thousands of Nvidia chips and further rent out on hourly/monthly usage neocloud firms are cash rich. Large private equity firms like Blackstone, Carlyle and BlackRock have pumped in $11 billion in this new cohort of companies. Coreweave made an impressive $23-billion debut on Nasdaq this to semiconductor research firm Semianalysis, besides the four neocloud leaders, there are 131 emerging players in the segment globally who offer GPU rentals at discounted Infinit Spaces has introduced a pay-per-use pricing model, offering power and rack space to neocloud companies deploying GPU clusters in India. 'Our pay-per-use pricing model is a disruptor to the data centre industry,' Agarwal said. 'Huge entry cost is a barrier for emerging cloud infra firms to expand in foreign markets, and hence this pricing structure could derisk companies' fixed cost.'Hiranandani Group's Yotta Data Services – which by itself is India's sovereign neocloud -- said it has listed 8000 Nvidia H100 GPUs on Nvidia's marketplace alongside Lambda Labs, Coreweave and Nebius to offer their GPUs-as-a-service. 'This shift from hyperscalers to AI-specialised clouds is not just a competitive realignment—it's critical for democratising access to high-performance compute and accelerating innovation,' said Sunil Gupta, cofounder, CEO and managing director of Yotta Data Services, which has deployed its own sovereign neocloud with IndiaAI Mission, NIC, and Group's Blackbox said it is tapping North America and Europe expansion of neocloud firms to provide cabling, design, and construction services, and participate in their 'multi-billion gigawatt-scale expansion.'Blackbox is also pursuing global rollouts of gigawatt-scale campuses of neocloud operators for a range of services. 'These include structured cabling, data centre design, and turnkey construction services for both greenfield and retrofit projects,' said Sanjeev Verma, president and CEO of Black current discussions are focused on North America and Europe markets, expansion in India is not a question of if, but when, Verma added. CtrlS Datacenters is also in early talks with neocloud firms 'to deploy GPU clusters in India, driven by increasing AI model training and inference workloads, especially in sectors like BFSI, healthcare and manufacturing,' said Ranjit Metrani, president, managed services, at CtrlS say it is the right time for India's infrastructure players to strike long-term partnerships with neocloud firms as the industry is growing rapidly and India is evolving to be one of the largest markets for AI use. 'Neocloud companies are gaining market share globally at an incredibly fast pace comparable to the early growth of hyperscalers,' said Jitesh Karlekar, director-research at real estate research and advisory firm JLL.'This is a fundamental shift in the cloud business model… Neocloud firms are architected for the AI-native era. They offer more specialised infrastructure, lower latency, flexible pricing, and are often better optimised for high-performance computing workloads.' Therefore, it is crucial for India's infrastructure players to catch on this momentum early,' he said.
Time of India
5 days ago
- Automotive
- Time of India
Classic Legends aims to go full throttle, double sales in FY26
Mahindra-backed Classic Legends hopes to double sales in this financial year, going full steam on its growth plans with new motorcycle launches, aggressive global expansion and a wider dealer network, even as discretionary spending remains under pressure. The Mumbai-based manufacturer of classic brands is looking to mount a stronger challenge to segment leader Royal Enfield , which sold a record one million motorcycles last year, according to company executives. As part of its global expansion, Classic Legends plans to enter seven new markets including US, Europe and South America. Exports to US have been pushed to July from January on regulatory uncertainties. "Discretionary consumption has clearly been hit, but the stock market gives a false sense of comfort," Anupam Thareja, co-founder of Classic Legends, told ET. "Despite that, we believe our category-classic and adventure motorcycles-is relatively insulated. We're staying bullish." Classic Legends, which owns the Jawa , Yezdi and BSA brands, ended 2024-25 with retail sales of 32,343 units, up 0.18% from 31,016 units in the previous year, according to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations. The company expects to do better this year. It plans to launch four new models across its brands, expand into global markets and increase its retail outlets in India to 500 from 300 by the festive season, said Sharad Agarwal, the company's chief business officer. On Wednesday, the company launched the Yezdi Adventure . With prices ranging from ₹2,17,900 to ₹2,26,900, it competes with the Royal Enfield Himalayan. In 2023, Classic Legends earmarked an investment of ₹1,000 crore till 2025-26, of which ₹350 crore has been spent. The remaining funds will go toward product development, expanding distribution and boosting exports. Of the projected 80,000 units this year, 25,000-30,000 are expected to be exported to markets such as the US, Europe and South America.
Time of India
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Time of India
Classic Legends aims to go full throttle, double sales in FY26
Mumbai: Mahindra-backed Classic Legends hopes to double sales in this financial year, going full steam on its growth plans with new motorcycle launches, aggressive global expansion and a wider dealer network, even as discretionary spending remains under pressure. The Mumbai-based manufacturer of classic brands is looking to mount a stronger challenge to segment leader Royal Enfield , which sold a record one million motorcycles last year, according to company executives. As part of its global expansion, Classic Legends plans to enter seven new markets including US, Europe and South America. Exports to US have been pushed to July from January on regulatory uncertainties. "Discretionary consumption has clearly been hit, but the stock market gives a false sense of comfort," Anupam Thareja, co-founder of Classic Legends, told ET. "Despite that, we believe our category-classic and adventure motorcycles-is relatively insulated. We're staying bullish." Classic Legends, which owns the Jawa, Yezdi and BSA brands, ended 2024-25 with retail sales of 32,343 units, up 0.18% from 31,016 units in the previous year, according to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations. Live Events The company expects to do better this year. It plans to launch four new models across its brands, expand into global markets and increase its retail outlets in India to 500 from 300 by the festive season, said Sharad Agarwal, the company's chief business officer. On Wednesday, the company launched the Yezdi Adventure. With prices ranging from ₹2,17,900 to ₹2,26,900, it competes with the Royal Enfield Himalayan. In 2023, Classic Legends earmarked an investment of ₹1,000 crore till 2025-26, of which ₹350 crore has been spent. The remaining funds will go toward product development, expanding distribution and boosting exports. Of the projected 80,000 units this year, 25,000-30,000 are expected to be exported to markets such as the US, Europe and South America.
Web Release
01-06-2025
- Business
- Web Release
M2M: The NEW Search Mantra
Marketers have spent the past decade obsessing over Google rankings and social algorithms, and yes, those things have been important in how brands tell their story, find customers, and build loyalty. Here is the gamechanger. You are not just marketing to humans anymore. For the entirety of your lifetime, you have only seen people sell to humans (B2C) or to businesses run by humans (B2B). Artificial Intelligence is creating new rules of marketing. AI is not a passing tsunami. It is a permanent tectonic shift in the way we do business. AI is the new front door to your business for millions of consumers. Google's recently rolled out two new features that are changing how search works: AI Mode and AI Overviews. AI Overviews are those AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of search results. About 30% of searches now trigger these, and they're particularly common for longer questions. Instead of clicking through to websites, people are getting their answers directly from Google. AI Mode is even more dramatic – it's a separate tab that turns search into a conversation. Instead of the usual list of blue links, you get a ChatGPT-style interface that can handle complex questions and follow-ups. You either get mentioned in the AI response, or you're invisible. According to Sharad Agarwal, CEO of Cyber Gear, 'You're not just competing for attention; you're competing for algorithmic favor. Your content needs to be optimized for engagement metrics that train prediction engines, not just humans.' AI platforms and AI agents, the digital assistants that browse and actually do things powered by models like GPT-4o, Claude 3.7 Sonnet, and Gemini 2.5 Pro are increasingly becoming the gatekeepers between your business and potential customers. AI agents are helping consumers all over the world find and interact with brands in new ways. AI agents don't have eyeballs and brains and hearts. They have parsers and models and system prompts. When an AI agent visits your site, it needs information. It's looking for clean, accessible, structured data it can easily digest and present back to users. It's looking for clear, organized content that they can gobble up and synthesize back to that human user. The visual bells and whistles will be completely wasted on an AI. These agents scrape, summarize, and synthesize the web to guide users to decisions. If your product information, docs, and CTAs aren't structured, visible, and machine-readable, you'll get leapfrogged by a competitor that is. Become AI-visible. Now. Contact Cyber Gear at to be found!
