Lightstorm focused on providing more than just network infrastructure for AI and cloud

Given the capabilities of having control of the network infrastructure, Lightstorm realized that they can actually something more than just connectivity as well.

With organizations developing and deploying more AI use cases, the network infrastructure needs to be agile, reliable and scalable to support the demand. From large hyperscalers to data centers, the need for low latency, high bandwidth, and unmatched reliability is imperative to ensure digitalization goals are met.

For Lightstorm, its capabilities in redefining the network infrastructure for the digital age through its carrier-neutral platform offers a powerful solution. The digital network infrastructure solutions provider across the Middle East and Asia-Pacific region caters to the dynamic needs of hyperscalers, cloud-native companies, and large enterprises through its innovative network solutions.

“We are a tech company that connects the cloud and AI. We are also an infrastructure company, because connectivity means the need to own networks, fiber, and being able to connect to the data centers where the cloud resides, whether it’s a data center owned by the cloud itself or data center owned by somebody else,” said Amajit Gupta, Group CEO & MD at Lightstorm in an interview with CRN Asia.

Specifically, Lightstorm connects AI workloads for hyperscalers by offering an AI-optimized architecture, bespoke hyperscale builds and seamless cloud integration. Lightstorm also connects enterprises through an AI and cloud network fabric that is pre-connected to data centers.

The Polarin platform

Given the capabilities of having control of the network infrastructure, Gupta said Lightstorm realized that they can actually something more than just connectivity as well. This is where the focus shifts to its network-as-a-service (NaaS) offering. The pay-as-you-go networking service, called Polarin, is an interconnection network fabric that enables seamless connectivity between data centers, hybrid and multi-cloud environments, internet exchanges, and SaaS applications.

With Polarin, organizations can effortlessly scale their networks while ensuring high availability, low latency, and 100% uptime, delivering a transformative customer experience. As a self-service platform, Polarin caters to cloud-native, forward-thinking enterprises, enabling the streamlined delivery of enhanced customer experiences without the need to overhaul their network or cloud architecture.

“If the cloud can be provided with the most reliable, secure, highly scalable infrastructure, how can you also give that to enterprises who probably need a fraction of bandwidth, but they need the cloud business model. And that is where the concept of network as a service comes in and we offer that to the enterprise,” Gupta said.

Since Polarin started, Gupta highlighted that Lightstorm has acquired about 90 customers and are now looking to the next level of the pyramid. This is where he is hoping to work with distributors in the channel ecosystem such as large system integrators.

With Polarin now available in AWS Marketplace as well, AWS customers can easily access and deploy Polarin’s NaaS platform through their AWS accounts, simplifying both procurement and management. Its capabilities make it easier for AWS customers to build and manage flexible, secure, and scalable networks within the AWS environment.

Lightstorm in APAC

While Lightstorm operates predominantly in India and Indonesia, it has a presence globally, especially in the Asia Pacific region. Today, it provides seamless reach to over 125 data centers across 7 countries.

“We are clear on our vision of building out in Asia-Pacific and Middle East, particularly because the end user demand is so high. There are a billion unconnected users in Asia-Pacific. The largest mass of educated young people are in the region as well. Between India and Indonesia and some of the populous countries, they can perhaps make up the most underserved demand anywhere in the planet. Our starting markets were India, Indonesia, and now we have connected US, Guam, Japan. We’re building out in Thailand, Malaysia very soon,” he said.

While the primary focus is on the underserved and emerging markets, Gupta explained that Lightstorm initially started with on infrastructure investments in fibers. Lightstorm currently has about 30,000km of fibers that it owns, manages and operates, which connects to about 75 data centers.

In May this year, Lightstorm announced the successful integration of the assets acquired from RTI Cables, further enhancing its global subsea and terrestrial network. The integration provides Lightstorm with over 75 Tbps of capacity, connectivity across 25+ data centers, and coverage in in Tokyo, Sydney, Brisbane, Guam, Hawaii, Los Angeles, and Singapore.

These 21,000 km of subsea cable systems form the backbone of a high-capacity, low-latency infrastructure that enables seamless interconnectivity for global enterprises. The network offers industry-leading latency performance, with the fastest Tokyo-to-Sydney route spanning 9,700 km at just 97 milliseconds, and the most versatile Australia-to-US path via Guam and Hawaii covering 14,500 km in 109 milliseconds.

Additionally, through a strategic partner network, this expansion includes the only direct Singapore-to-US route bypassing the South China Sea, ensuring enhanced security and resilience for global enterprises.

“We have a potential plan of connecting, even opening up the land for open cable landing stations or submarine cable landings. In the past year, we also acquired the infrastructure connecting the US, Hawaii, Guam, all the way up north to Japan and down south to Australia. We acquired the system and its officially now part of Lightstorm. And so that asset is part of the building blocks for Lightstorm to build and connect a Pan-Asia cloud and AI fabric system,” Gupta explained.

At the same time, there are also further expansion plans to connect more regions. This includes owning and operating submarine cable systems.

“As much as we do in terrestrial markets, we will also plan to connect them up so that it all becomes a Pan-Asia wide cloud and AI fabric from a network connectivity standpoint. Today itself, with these assets that we have, we connect up 125 data centers, which includes India, a few data centers in Indonesia, Jakarta, and then all of these data centers that’s in Tokyo, Australia, Guam, Hawaii, and LA. So this is our landscape that is there today. And it is evolving on a monthly basis,” Gupta concluded.