Chandok explained that the Hyderabad site will be Microsoft’s second strategic hub in India, representing a significant investment in compute capacity. The region will be constructed to support artificial intelligence (AI) workloads from the outset, ensuring the company meets growing technological demands while adhering to sustainability goals.

At the summit, Chandok reiterated the importance of addressing water usage and energy sourcing in the development of data centres worldwide. He stated that two central questions arise with every new facility: how much water is consumed and the source of power used. Microsoft aims to provide transparent answers to these concerns, aligning its operations with global sustainability standards.

Water Consumption and Renewable Energy Initiatives

According to Chandok, the India South Central cloud region is specially designed to require little to no water for cooling purposes. He stated, “Effectively zero water for cooling in India South Central. We are not needing water in the first place by design.” This strategy reflects Microsoft’s overarching commitment to sustainability, particularly in addressing environmental impacts.

The company also announced plans to integrate substantial renewable energy sources into its operations. Currently, Microsoft has contracted 1 gigawatt of renewable energy in India, with 630 megawatts already in use. Chandok outlined a vision for 2030, whereby Microsoft aims to become completely carbon negative, water positive, and generate no waste, signalling a robust commitment to sustainable infrastructure.

Chandok emphasised the scale of infrastructure necessary to support the growing data centre capacity in India. Presently, the nation has approximately 2 gigawatts (GW) of data centre capacity. By 2035, he anticipates that this capacity could expand six to seven fold, illustrating the rapid growth trajectory of the industry. This increase is essential in meeting the rising demand for digital services across various sectors.

Potential Impact on India’s Data Centre Landscape

This announcement marks a significant milestone in Microsoft’s expansion of its cloud services in India. The launch of the India South Central region is expected to enhance the country’s capabilities in providing cloud services and AI solutions. As Microsoft establishes additional data centres, there will likely be increased opportunities for local businesses and advancements in the technology sector.

Chandok concluded by reinforcing the company’s efforts to align technological growth with environmental responsibility. By addressing concerns over water and electricity directly, Microsoft aims to set an industry standard for sustainability in the cloud computing space. The development of the India South Central cloud region presents an opportunity not only for Microsoft but also for the broader Indian economy, encouraging innovation while prioritising ecological integrity.

The ongoing focus on renewable energy and sustainable practices positions Microsoft as a leader in corporate responsibility within the tech industry. The efforts put forth for this new cloud region, alongside its existing facilities, collectively represent a strategic commitment to help shape a more sustainable future for India’s digital infrastructure.

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And most of the conversations they had ended up at dead ends.  Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware and the licensing shakeup that followed changed the math for a lot of data centers, and honestly, it caught more than a few teams off guard.

With higher Renewal quotes and confusing subscription bundles, IT leaders found themselves in the middle of vendor evaluation.

They haven’t thought about their hypervisor in years, and now they are facing the challenge to justify next quarter’s budget amid a licensing frenzy.

So, what should your enterprise look for in a hypervisor? Well, the answer is resilience. Unfortunately, only a handful of VMware alternatives are able to meet that requirement with complete licensing transparency.

Let’s get into what that actually looks like.

The Core Things Enterprises Are Demanding in VMware alternatives

When evaluating VMware competitors, enterprises are keeping their expectations clear and demanding the following three core areas:

1. True Convergence, Not Just More Products to Manage

A lot of legacy setups are basically duct tape holding together separate compute, storage, and networking systems.

They rely on different vendors, different consoles, and different support contracts. It works, technically, but it’s exhausting to run and even more exhausting to troubleshoot at 2 am when something breaks.

What enterprises want now is a single, unified software stack. Compute, storage, and networking under one roof, one management pane, one place to look when something goes sideways.

That’s the whole point of hyperconverged infrastructure. VMware alternatives like Sangfor, Nutanix, Scale Computing, and Microsoft Azure Stack HCI are here to solve with an efficient HCI architecture.

It’s the reason why so many teams are re-evaluating their architecture instead of just swapping licenses. Lower administrative overhead isn’t a nice-to-have anymore. It’s the ask.

2. Pricing That Doesn’t Ambush You Later

Nobody likes surprises on an invoice. Bundled licensing, sudden feature upcharges, and subscription-only models quietly replacing perpetual ones are some of those surprises.

All of this makes long-term budgeting a nightmare for CFOs and IT directors alike.  What’s interesting is the list of questions enterprises are asking vendors.

Some of their questions sound something like this: can you tell me what I’ll be paying in three years, or not?

Sustainable, transparent Total Cost of Ownership forecasting has become a real decision-making factor, not a footnote. If a vendor can’t give a straight answer on future costs, that’s a red flag worth taking seriously.

3. Security That’s Built In, Not Bolted On

Basic hypervisor-level security used to be enough. It isn’t anymore. Ransomware doesn’t wait for you to deploy a third-party security layer, and enterprises know it.

What they’re demanding now is infrastructure with micro-segmentation, continuous data protection, and disaster recovery baked directly into the platform from day one, not stitched on as an afterthought.

True Concerns IT Leaders Face around VMware Alternatives

IT leaders are finding themselves amid the following questions:

What is the best alternative to VMware for enterprise virtualization?

The modern standard is a full-stack HCI platform such as Sangfor HCI that natively combines the hypervisor, modern data center, network virtualization, and security into one seamless tier, built on optimized architecture that can genuinely handle mission-critical workloads.

Can you migrate from VMware to another hypervisor without downtime?

Yes. Modern migration tooling supports live VM migration and data consistency checks while both environments run in parallel, which cuts operational risk and helps avoid data loss during the switch.

Where Sangfor HCI Fits Into This Picture

Sangfor is squarely in the conversation regarding VMware Replacement, and for good reason. Sangfor HCI is built specifically for enterprises moving off legacy virtualization, with native migration tooling designed to make that transition a lot less painful than most IT teams expect.

The market validation backs this up as well. Here’s why:

Sangfor earned multiple recognitions in the G2 Summer 2026 Reports, achieving Leader status in the G2 Grid® for Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) Solutions and Server Virtualization Software, while also receiving multiple badges across HCI, Server Virtualization, Hybrid Cloud Storage, and Disaster Recovery categories based on verified customer reviews.

The achievement included five Leader badges, based on real customer feedback rather than marketing claims.

Reviewers on G2 have rated Sangfor HCI close to a perfect score(4.7/5), and users consistently point to the same things.

It’s easier to manage than what they had before, migration was smoother than expected, and security came built in rather than as a separate purchase.

Sangfor also holds a strong rating on Gartner Peer Insights (4.8/9), another data point worth checking if you’re doing your own due diligence before a platform decision like this.

How Sangfor Handles Real Deployments

None of that matters as much as a real deployment, though, so here’s one worth knowing about.

PT Surya Citra Televisi (SCTV), one of Indonesia’s major national broadcasters, was running critical workloads including SAP HANA, broadcast playout, and video management systems on VMware.

After the licensing shakeup hit their OPEX and left them uncertain about long-term support, they moved to Sangfor’s HCI infrastructure paired with Sangfor Enterprise Cloud Platform for unified management.

The migration covered production-critical systems where downtime simply wasn’t an option, and it went through with minimal disruption to end users.

They ended up with a socket-based perpetual licensing model instead of unpredictable subscriptions, plus local support in Indonesia instead of waiting on overseas escalation.

That’s exactly the kind of structural agility enterprises are asking for, not just a swap of one vendor logo for another.

Where This Leaves You

Evaluating a modern VMware alternative isn’t really about finding the cheapest sticker price.

It’s a chance to actually simplify how your team operates day to day, get security handled at the infrastructure level instead of bolting it on later, and finally get some financial predictability into your planning.

If you’re an infrastructure leader looking at this decision right now, it’s worth looking past the hypervisor itself and asking what the whole architecture gives you over the next five years, not just the next renewal cycle.

There’s no shortage of VMware competitors in the market today, but the ones worth serious evaluation are the ones treating hyperconvergence as the whole answer, not just a feature checkbox. That’s the bar enterprises are setting, and it’s a reasonable one to hold vendors to.

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This data centre was initially planned with a capacity of 1 GW but has since been expanded to 2.5 GW. Critics express concerns about its potential environmental impact, particularly in relation to local water supplies and ecological balance. Bolisetty Satyanarayana, a notable activist and the national convener of Jal Biradari, has specifically questioned the environmental authorisations related to the site.

Satyanarayana has reached out to Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan, seeking clarification on whether a comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment is necessary. He requested confirmation regarding the acquisition of preliminary clearances prior to the commencement of site preparation.

Water and Ecological Concerns Highlighted

Satyanarayana has expressed his apprehensions regarding water and electricity consumption associated with the data centre. He pointed out that certain districts of Visakhapatnam are already struggling with water scarcity issues, which could be exacerbated by the centre’s operations. He further claimed that the proposed sites are closely linked to catchment areas for significant reservoirs and are part of the ecological zone surrounding the Kambalakonda Wildlife Sanctuary.

The social implications of such a project are considerable. Satyanarayana asserted that ongoing construction activities are already detrimental to the local ecosystem. He has taken additional steps to challenge the land allocation for the facility, alleging that parts of the land are owned by the Simhachalam temple, which legally cannot be transferred for commercial development without following due process.

Furthering his efforts, Satyanarayana has filed a case in the Andhra Pradesh High Court regarding these matters and reported that official notices have been issued in relation to the case. He has raised alarms about the high water demands linked to artificial intelligence data centres, arguing for stringent scrutiny of their expansion, especially in water-scarce regions.

Growing Public Opposition to Data Centre Development

The protests in Vizag reflect a broader national trend regarding public scrutiny of the environmental impact of large data centre installations. Activists highlight the increasing concerns regarding the ecological footprint of the burgeoning data centre industry in India. This sentiment is illustrated through recent protests in Thane, where residents, aligned with the “Wake Up Thanekar” movement, are challenging a proposed Amazon Web Services facility.

In Thane, objections revolve around the proposed site’s location within a densely populated area and its potential implications for local water supplies and quality of life. The Amazon project is spread across 53 acres, with anticipated investments of approximately Rs 47,000 crore. The growing intensity of these protests signifies a rising awareness and concern over environmental sustainability within the data centre industry.

As the proposed Vizag project stands as one of India’s most ambitious data centre initiatives, activists are now calling for enhanced transparency regarding the necessary environmental approvals and resource assessments before further construction takes place. The outcome of these developments could set a precedent for future data centre projects across the nation.

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This facility is now operational and being utilised by significant enterprises, including Adani Group and HDFC Bank. With this expansion, Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure in India now comprises four regions, including existing centres in Pune, Chennai, and Mumbai, solidifying its position as the country’s foremost cloud service provider.

The timing of this launch aligns with substantial investments being made by global tech firms in India, which are recognizing the country’s vast internet user base, thriving startup ecosystem, and increasing AI adoption as key growth drivers for future cloud computing development.

Investment Signifies Commitment to India

Microsoft has allocated approximately $20.5 billion to bolster its operations within India, ranking it among the company’s most significant investment locations outside the United States. This commitment signals a robust belief in the potential of India’s digital landscape.

As AI services increasingly rely on cloud infrastructure, having powerful data centres becomes crucial for the training of AI models and processing large volumes of information. Microsoft’s investment in local facilities aims to attract more businesses seeking to store and manage their data within India.

The company reported that its Azure cloud segment has experienced double-digit revenue growth over the past two years, reflecting a rising need for enterprises to transition their workloads to cloud platforms. Microsoft’s collaboration with Reliance Jio, which includes two additional data centres, further enhances its operational footprint in the country.

Competitive Landscape and Environmental Concerns

This expansion by Microsoft arrives amidst competing efforts from Google and Amazon, both of which are investing substantially in enhancing data centre capabilities in India, as they view the nation as a pivotal market for future AI advancements. However, these projects have not been without challenges.

Google’s proposed $15 billion hyperscale data centre hub in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, has faced growing opposition from environmental advocacy groups. Concerned activists argue that the facility could exacerbate local water shortages and disturb nearby wildlife habitats, leading to protests with slogans like “We cannot drink DATA.” Legal challenges pertaining to water usage and the site’s proximity to Kambalakonda Wildlife Sanctuary have also been raised.

In response, Google has asserted that it will adhere to all relevant regulations and implement advanced air-cooling technologies to minimise water consumption. The Andhra Pradesh government has rejected claims that the project was expedited without appropriate environmental evaluations and has expressed willingness to address legitimate public concerns.

This controversy underscores a broader global apprehension surrounding the environmental impact of AI infrastructure. Modern data centres are known for their substantial electricity and water consumption for cooling processes, prompting similar protests in various parts of the world, including the United States.

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