Indian Software Industry

[Spindrift]

I am a bit of noob in networking and IT related stuff, but one Indian alternative to AWS and Azure could be Meghdoot built by CDAC.

Cloud Infrastructure

The problem is not with setting up a cloud infra, the problem comes with reliably running with 99.99% availability. For that you have build a lot of redundancies, setup monitoring and have sufficient backup hardware in stock such as SSDs etc.

 

[prasadr14]

The problem is not with setting up a cloud infra, the comes problem is with reliably running with 99.99% availability. For that you have build a lot of redundancies, setup monitoring and have sufficient backup hardware in stock such as SSDs etc.

Most of those are solved by AWS or Azure.
With auto-scaling & incredible stability, the hosting side is already taken off.
Am currently working on AWS & what I say does not begin to state how wonderful it is.

But, these 2 companies have sold their soul & can pull plug on platforms that they deem dangerous to their ideology.

To build a rival to these companies, you need lot of guts, luck and political backing.
Unless Ambani or Adani take plunge, it aint happening.

 

[shade]

Most of those are solved by AWS or Azure.
With auto-scaling & incredible stability, the hosting side is already taken off.
Am currently working on AWS & what I say does not begin to state how wonderful it is.

But, these 2 companies have sold their soul & can pull plug on platforms that they deem dangerous to their ideology.

To build a rival to these companies, you need lot of guts, luck and political backing.
Unless Ambani or Adani take plunge, it aint happening.

One thing to note, the biggest cloud walas acquired all that hardware for their own purposes first ,Google needed hardware and cloud/'virtualization sw for their search engine, youtube, maps, gmail and other things.
Amazon again for it's shopping business, Alibaba and Tencent in chong lang once again for the same suite of services.

 

[LurkerBaba]

One thing to note, the biggest cloud walas acquired all that hardware for their own purposes first ,Google needed hardware and cloud/'virtualization sw for their search engine, youtube, maps, gmail and other things.
Amazon again for it's shopping business, Alibaba and Tencent in chong lang once again for the same suite of services.

Exactly !

People saying "Ambani + Adani + GoI can do it" are not entirely correct. You need a working super high scale product first. Could Jio platform be that ? Maybe. I'll bet on companies like Swiggy, inMobi etc though.

Jio's tech initiatives have historically sucked. The "trader attitude" stereotype is sadly true

 

[Okabe Rintarou]

They even have their own Debian Linux based operating system called BOSS.
Ofc nobody uses it.

https://bosslinux.in/boss8

Was thinking of installing BOSS once, but because I use ANSYS software sometimes, I had to go for OpenSUSE since its more stable on it due to its SUSE Enterprise connection. Similarly, many software like Adobe suite can't be used on BOSS. Blender can work, but I am 99% certain its not on BOSS official repository.

 

[shade]

Was thinking of installing BOSS once, but because I use ANSYS software sometimes, I had to go for OpenSUSE since its more stable on it due to its SUSE Enterprise connection. Similarly, many software like Adobe suite can't be used on BOSS. Blender can work, but I am 99% certain its not on BOSS official repository.

Lol I tried it once, it is an ok distro, but doesn't seem to work on real hardware or VMs( don't remember which one ) also doesn't seem to have that automatic dual boot support like Fedora and Ubuntu types have.
Supposedly according to CDAC walas it has very good support for Indic languages and scripts.

 

[LurkerBaba]

Chalo, enough of blackpills. Some hopeful stuff

• GoI can ban a few social networks and heavily incentivize the alternatives. Let a thousand "Koos" bloom
• Get rid of CDAC and similar depts. Seriously. All they do is slap Sanskrit names on opensource projects and call it Indian. Get into big contracts with homegrown giants like Zoho, Freshworks etc for Mail, CRM and other software
• Sandes (GIM) seems like another shitty government product (maybe I'm wrong). Stop doing this. GoI should have supported Hike. Now they should just pick some other homegrown chat app by a credible company

 

[LurkerBaba]

Koo app founding team doesn't look that impressive. Their claim to fame was Taxiforsure which was a shitty app. They're also MBAwallahs who have historically not been impressive in India's startup ecosystem

Hopefully they have matured compared to their previous venture and can hire good engg/UX/product folks

 

[Okabe Rintarou]

Was wondering if we can join hands with the likes of France, Japan, Poland, UK and Australia to form a pressure group that can resist Silicon Valley monopoly. If such a grouping pools its resources, we could easily create an alternative to Silicon Valley.
Alone, India might not have the critical mass, the funds or the momentum to do it in the medium term, but together, this grouping might have a chance. And once this grouping creates a momentum in this direction, we can see the likes of Jio jump on the bandwagon and spend big on trying to get a piece of the pie.
This same grouping can also double as a China-containment forum.

 

[prasadr14]

If things go south for Twitter,

it would serve a warning shot to MS & Amazon with their cloud services.
Imagine banning AWS and Azure in India - both these companies would crap themselves.

 

[LurkerBaba]

Imagine banning AWS and Azure in India - both these companies would crap themselves.

And also destroy the tech industry in India

 

[prasadr14]

And also destroy the tech industry in India

In the short term, Yes.
In the medium and long term, no - In fact it would do wonders after a period of time to Indian tech industry.

With denial of service to selective companies in US, AWS has done the unthinkable.
The repercussions may not be felt in the short term but they will eventually have to face up to it.

 

[shade]

not that easy as it sound. hope you are aware of dependency on these services. If government want to screw entire IT services ecosystem they can but will they ?

Azure and AWS yes, Twatter, No.
(((De-Platforming))) will only happen as a part of the purge if the Sadhu is ejected from the PM Kursi come 2024.

Twatter g*ndmasti is what is happening now though, and it needs to be dealt with.

 

[LurkerBaba]

In the short term, Yes.
In the medium and long term, no - In fact it would do wonders after a period of time to Indian tech industry.

Nah. It'll mostly destroy the tech industry. This is like saying GoI should ban Intel to spur semiconductor fabrication in India. Very simplistic assumptions

btw India already has pretty shitty laws for business. Banning of AWS will ensure that more startups register themselves in Singapore instead of India.

 

[Spindrift]

In the short term, Yes.
In the medium and long term, no - In fact it would do wonders after a period of time to Indian tech industry.

With denial of service to selective companies in US, AWS has done the unthinkable.
The repercussions may not be felt in the short term but they will eventually have to face up to it.

Nope, all the talented people who will loose their jobs here would go out of India. Btw koo is also hosted on AWS.

 

[prasadr14]

Nope, all the talented people who will loose their jobs here would go out of India. Btw koo is also hosted on AWS.

A year back I would have agreed with you
China Virus has shown me how resilient businesses, states & civilizations are.

No one will throw in towel if something is unavailable, they will build a new one and use it.
And they will build it very fast if it's necessary.

The proof of humanities resilience and evolution in face of hardships is staring at us.
If AWS & Azure are not available, some one else will build something to replace it very fast, thats the nature of supply and demand.

 

[Okabe Rintarou]

Question for the experts: What are the tech gaps to get something based on OpenStack (like Meghdoot) to grow to be able to replace AWS. Is it the virtualization technology or the APIs or just the scale of it all? Is there a critical feature(s) in AWS that is completely absent from OpenStack?
Also, what about other solutions like Nxtra Data of Airtel?
Another thing, what about UIDAI? Where is their database hosted? Is it vulnerable?
@LurkerBaba @shade ?

 

[prasadr14]

Question for the experts: What are the tech gaps to get something based on OpenStack (like Meghdoot) to grow to be able to replace AWS. Is it the virtualization technology or the APIs or just the scale of it all? Is there a critical feature(s) in AWS that is completely absent from OpenStack?
Also, what about other solutions like Nxtra Data of Airtel?
Another thing, what about UIDAI? Where is their database hosted? Is it vulnerable?
@LurkerBaba @shade ?

it's not that simple to answer.
Competing with AWS is not that simple. Even Azure is struggling.

If an Indian alternative must come up, it needs lot of GOI support & gutsy private player with lot of money to spend.
Even being competitive with AWS would be a struggle for any company competing with it, especially if that company has to provide competitive services similar to AWS.

 

[shade]

Question for the experts: What are the tech gaps to get something based on OpenStack (like Meghdoot) to grow to be able to replace AWS. Is it the virtualization technology or the APIs or just the scale of it all? Is there a critical feature(s) in AWS that is completely absent from OpenStack?
Also, what about other solutions like Nxtra Data of Airtel?
Another thing, what about UIDAI? Where is their database hosted? Is it vulnerable?
@LurkerBaba @shade ?

All Gormint websites are hosted in datacenters managed by NIC.
Most central gormint websites are developed by NIC
NIC is Gormint's in house IT wala PSU.

National Informatics Centre | Govt. of India

Information about description | National Informatics Centre

www.nic.in

I am no expert in IT infrastructure by it probably is the virtualization tech and the scale of something like AWS.
OpenStack is a starting point, but they will have to customize it for their needs.

You can't beat AWS btw, the goal should be for something like Koo to serve it's own needs first, then make it a public "cloud vendor" like how AWS is.

Basically they need competent people, the hardware itself, and the infrastructure like 24x7 guaranteed powersupply, the land and building for the datacenter, etc.
All of which needs money.
Lots of money.

And time.

 

[ezsasa]

All Gormint websites are hosted in datacenters managed by NIC.
Most central gormint websites are developed by NIC
NIC is Gormint's in house IT wala PSU.

National Informatics Centre | Govt. of India

Information about description | National Informatics Centre

www.nic.in

I am no expert in IT infrastructure by it probably is the virtualization tech and the scale of something like AWS.
OpenStack is a starting point, but they will have to customize it for their needs.

You can't beat AWS btw, the goal should be for something like Koo to serve it's own needs first, then make it a public "cloud vendor" like how AWS is.

Basically they need competent people, the hardware itself, and the infrastructure like 24x7 guaranteed powersupply, the land and building for the datacenter, etc.
All of which needs money.
Lots of money.

And time.

@Okabe Rintarou
competency and infrastructure exists, most Indian corporate data resides in India itself, just that data centre might be owned by a foreign company like AWS. can say so because backup tapes have to be physically transported from data centre.

If any, one bottle neck is that supply of data server hardware, majority of which comes from Singapore. if someone wants to scale up, you are lucky if you get the components in 15 days.

GoI can help by doing a govt to govt deal with Singapore, by creating a green channel for business critical data centre hardware imports exclusively where they spend the least amount of time at customs.

this scenario is for local data centre company scaling up, not biggies like AWS. AWS probably has hardware components in stock all the time.