PCH sets up node in CtrlS Hyderabad data centre to boost DNS performance

CtrlS, a homegrown data centre company, on Monday, announced its collaboration with US-based network operators Packet Clearing House (PCH) to set up a node in its Hyderabad data centre to improve the performance and security of the Internet’s Domain Name System (DNS) in India.

DNS root servers are name servers at the apex of the DNS tree, and the entire Internet. They are the first step in the name resolution of any domain name, where they translate human readable web addresses into IP addresses. Without DNS Root Servers, one cannot access any online content or even send an email.

PCH DNS Services Cluster at CtrlS’ Hyderabad 1 data centre will improve network operators’ access to critical DNS services, handling up to 100,000 DNS queries per second, CtrlS said in a statement.

That said, the launch will enable better internet and DNS infrastructure for CtrlS’ customers as well as for India market in general. It improves overall latency for customers and keeps DNS traffic within an area. The deployment will soon also happen in Noida, Bangalore, Lucknow and Patna as part of the next phase, the statement said.

In this regard, PCH, founded in 1994, served 124 country code top-level domains (TLDs), 43 GOV.ccs (Government central civil services), and 23 MIL.ccs as well as brand TLDs such as .apple, .bmw among others. It has a total of 265 data centre locations at 119 countries around the globe.

“The partnership will enable us to provide faster, more reliable, and secure internet access to millions of users," Ashish Ahuja, Chief Technology Officer, CtrlS Datacenters, said. 

"Hosting DNS at our data centres help us in speeding response time and improved network performance as it reduces the latency between the end-users and the Root Servers," he added.

CtrlS which began operations in 2007, today operates over one million square feet of data centre space in India, spread across 11 data centres located in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad. It is further developing 21 data centres currently out of which five are to be operational by the end of this fiscal.

Last week, the Hyderabad-headquartered company announced it is setting up a 150-MW hyperscale data centre in Thailand and has signed a memorandum of agreement with the public agency EECO (Eastern Economic Corridor Office) to lease a 10-acre land parcel for 50 years. 

To be sure, in the last 12-18 months, India has witnessed a massive data centre growth and expansion with several domestic and global technology companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Cisco, NTT Data, Adani Group, L&T, Hiranandani Group (Yotta), Equinix, Trellix, Web Werks and Vultre, among others, having set up their data centre operations in the country or increase the capacity of their existing data centres.

With over 138 data centres, India is currently the world’s 13th largest market and the number is steadily growing, a report published by Assocham-EY in September 2022 projects India’s data centre market to grow to $8 billion by 2026.

According to market research firm ICRA Ratings, about 4,900-5,000 MW of data centre capacity is expected to be added in the next six years, involving investments of nearly ₹1.5 lakh crore.