Reliance, Digital Realty and Brookfield Infrastructure launch India-based data center venture

Digital Realty, a global provider of cloud- and carrier-neutral data center, colocation and interconnection solutions, unveiled a planned three-way joint venture (JV) with Brookfield Infrastructure and Reliance Industries to develop data centers to meet the infrastructure needs of enterprises and digital services companies in India. The new JV will operate under the brand Digital Connexion: a Brookfield, Jio and Digital Realty Company. 

This new partnership builds on the foundation laid by BAM Digital Realty by including RIL, India's largest private sector company, which has enabled and led India's digital transformation through Jio as a partner.  Each partner will own one-third of the joint venture. Digital Connexion expects to initially execute the development of data center campuses on existing strategic land parcels it owns in Chennai and Mumbai.

According to Digital Realty, the Indian data center market is experiencing rapid growth, driven by the growing adoption of digital technologies, cloud computing, and the surge in data consumption fueling the demand for robust and scalable data center infrastructure. Digital Realty can address that growth by extending coverage, capacity, and connectivity options to cloud providers, hyper scalers and local and global enterprise customers.  

Digital Connexion will have a dedicated management team in India, with leadership oversight from Digital Realty, Brookfield and RIL.  With the complementary strengths of its three partners, Digital Connexion has world-class skills and resources available to enable it to support global and local customers seeking to serve the large and growing Indian market

Each company in this new trio brings something to the table.

Data centers developed in India by the JV will leverage Digital Realty's data center platform, design and operating procedures, Pervasive Data Center Architecture (PDx®) approach and relationships with global customers, Brookfield's knowledge of the Indian infrastructure market, and Jio's digital and connectivity ecosystem and solid enterprise relationships with an existing client base of 80% of large named private enterprises in India.

Additionally, Jio's 4G and 5G connectivity network with fiber presence, covering ~99.5% of the Indian population, expands the JV's connectivity to data centers and other establishments in the country. It extends the reach of PlatformDIGITAL®, Digital Realty's best-in-class global data center platform with 300+ data centers, in 50+ metros, across 27 countries and six continents, giving customers access to a dense connected data community of partners, solutions and services, including Jio's network, cloud and other service solutions in India. 

"India is a mostly untapped market for the data center industry driven by the rapid adoption of digital business models, the world's largest population, and a government that recognizes the role of technology for future economic development," said Serene Nah, managing director and head of Asia Pacific for Digital Realty. "This joint venture brings together three global leaders in digital infrastructure to accelerate Digital India by developing, owning and operating institutional quality carrier-and cloud-neutral data centers across India."

Kiran Thomas, CEO of Jio Platforms Ltd., Said the “partnership will help us serve our enterprise and SMB clients with cutting-edge, plug-and-play solutions delivered from the cloud and lead their digital transformation and make them more competitive and efficient.”   

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