 "people+ai, an initiative of Nandan Nilekani’s EkStep Foundation, announced a partner consortium of 24 organisations aligned on making the Open Cloud Compute (OCC) project a reality for India")
people+ai, an initiative of Nandan Nilekani’s EkStep Foundation, announced a partner consortium of 24 organisations aligned on making the Open Cloud Compute (OCC) project a reality for India. It stands out as one of the select technology-driven consortia dedicated to addressing and facilitating large-scale computing access.
With the increasing reliance on cloud technologies across industries and regions, an open and interconnected approach allows for seamless integration of diverse solutions and services. OCC is that open network for computing infrastructure, helping meet the growing demand for compute, especially in an AI age.
people+ai is jointly working with partner organisations that act as providers in this compute stack and customers who have a growing need for compute. These partner organisations include top chip makers, cloud service providers, technology providers, and manufacturing service firms.
Nandan Nilekani, co-founder and director of EkStep Foundation, and Dr Pramod Varma, chief technology officer (CTO) of EkStep Foundation, held a closed-door session with representatives of over 20 organisations aligned with OCC’s purpose and philosophy. The session focused on laying the groundwork to create a thriving compute ecosystem in India, particularly the creation of a single and open interface for providers and customers of computing infrastructure.
Nilekani is the co-founder of Infosys, and he spearheaded the country's massive unique identification project.
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Dr Pramod Varma, CTO of EkStep Foundation, said that 24 technology partners are collaborating to architect a compute ecosystem critical for India’s digital growth. He noted that the alignment from an elite list of partners shows their conviction to solve some of the hardest problems faced by the country.
“The OCC project acts as a catalyst in democratising access to cloud compute for the common good. It will enable many micro compute providers, potentially in the hundreds, to unite and create a mega compute network powered by trust. As Nandan (Nilekani) once said, micro is the new mega,” said Varma.
Tanvi Lall, director of strategy for people+ai at EkStep Foundation, said that just like energy sources, compute resources come in diverse forms. Over the next few years, Lall said the demand for compute will rise due to increased digitalisation and AI, and the global cloud compute market is expected to triple in size. Through OCC, the initiative is taking a digital public infrastructure (DPI) approach to unlocking access to compute at scale.
“The interconnected micro-cloud computing infrastructure aims to unite numerous independent providers on a single network, enhancing their discoverability and utilisation,” said Lall. “Users of this infrastructure would have access to computing power and related services from many providers.”
people+ai said the OCC project compels us to look beyond the few large data centres that currently dominate our landscape. By expanding the network of providers, compute resources can become more accessible, more resilient, and more tailored to specific local needs. This model not only enhances efficiency but also promotes innovation by enabling a wider range of organisations to participate in and benefit from the technology ecosystem.
