Zoho CEO Mani Vembu has asserted that the significant challenges faced by India cannot merely be addressed through increased expenditure on infrastructure. He emphasised that effective planning and intelligent design choices often hold more value than simply constructing larger projects. Vembu articulated these views on social media in response to a video shared by an X user depicting severe flooding in Beijing after heavy rainfall.

The footage illustrated how even well-developed cities can struggle to manage storms if urban planning fails to consider natural phenomena. Vembu posed a critical question regarding the management of rainwater, stating, “What’s the lesson from this? Heavy rain can’t be avoided. All we can do is decide where the water should go—our homes, our roads, or areas specifically engineered to handle excess water?”

Need for Better Urban Planning in Indian Cities

The Zoho CEO highlighted that urban environments should be structured to function harmoniously with natural systems instead of solely focusing on expanding concrete structures. He argued that prioritising public transportation could yield more effective outcomes for a nation like India than continually expanding road networks aimed at catering to private vehicles. Vembu indicated that a better approach to transportation would allow for greater inclusion of green spaces, parks, and flood management features within urban areas.

His statements resonate with the current scenario in India, where rapid urbanisation has been accompanied by substantial government investments in roads, highways, and smart city initiatives. Nevertheless, the persistent flooding issues during the monsoon period in several cities have cast doubt on the viability of existing drainage systems, land utilisation strategies, and the repercussions of uninhibited construction practices.

Vembu asserted, “Throwing more money at every problem won’t solve it. Some challenges can be addressed through more effective design rather than larger infrastructure.” This perspective invites a re-evaluation of current investments and strategies in urban planning.

Zoho’s Commitment to Technological Innovation

Amidst these discussions about design principles, Zoho has been actively concentrating on developing its technological infrastructure within India. The Chennai-based company has recently launched its inaugural locally conceived server named Nathu La, thereby entering the data hardware sector. This server has been entirely engineered by Zoho’s teams and incorporates Intel Xeon 6 processors.

According to Zoho, data centres employing Nathu La servers are capable of achieving comparable performance while utilising 12-18 per cent less energy and decreasing total ownership costs by 20-30 per cent. This initiative is part of a broader aim to gain more control over various layers of their technology stack, from software and platforms to hardware components.

Shailesh Davey, CEO of Zoho Corp., stated, “With Zoho’s strategy of using contextual, right-sized models, running on our own platform, now on our own servers, accelerated by our own GPU database, we are compounding the benefits accrued from owning and operating our entire technology stack.” The Nathu La server is designed to support various applications, including artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, virtualisation, and storage.

Additionally, Zoho has internally developed several components such as the server management module and networking interfaces. The firm has submitted five patents related to server architecture and thermal management, emphasising compliance with open computing standards while prioritising energy efficiency and maintenance simplicity.

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