Zoho has launched Nathu La, a server designed in-house as part of its effort to build its own technology stack.
Developed with Intel and using Intel Xeon 6 processors, the server delivers equivalent performance while cutting power consumption by 12-18% and reducing total cost of ownership by 20-30%, according to Zoho. The company said this would lower inference costs for AI use.
Nathu La marks Zoho's move beyond software into server design, extending work across hardware, firmware and systems management over the past five years. The company plans to run its own applications on the platform so it can tune software and hardware together for its workloads and data governance requirements.
The design follows principles from the Open Compute Project, with an emphasis on modularity, thermal efficiency and easier maintenance. Zoho said this is intended to cut operating costs in its data centres while giving it greater control over system deployment.
Inside the server
According to Zoho, the motherboard and chassis platform include customised power delivery systems, an in-house DC-SCM design and modular chassis options for different deployment environments. The system is aimed at workloads including virtualisation, high-performance computing, AI inference and storage.
Zoho said its hardware engineering team designed the DC-SCM and network interface card, with assembly handled by electronic manufacturing services partners in India. It has also filed more than five patents related to thermal management and server architecture aimed at reducing cost.
The company presented the launch as part of a broader push towards technological sovereignty. It said the platform has hardware-rooted security across the stack and that its use of indigenous intellectual property removes dependence on foreign entities for security audits, firmware updates and licensing continuity.
This positioning links the product to industrial and digital infrastructure priorities in India, where domestic sourcing and local control over strategic technology have become increasingly prominent. Zoho said the system aligns with open-source software policy and local-content requirements for government procurement.
Chandrashekar LSP, Managing Director of Zoho Canada, linked the launch to a longer-term strategy spanning several layers of the company's technology estate.
"Zoho Corporation has invested in building its own technology stack from the ground up over the last three decades. The Nathu La server launch is in line with that goal," said Chandrashekar LSP, Managing Director, Zoho Canada.
He also outlined how the server fits into the company's AI strategy and infrastructure choices.
"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. These long-term R&D investments we are making at every layer of the stack are aimed at delivering customer value and ensuring that our solutions are more sustainable and accessible for businesses than the competition," said LSP.
Zoho is best known for business software and IT management tools through its Zoho and ManageEngine brands. The move into in-house server design shows how some software groups are seeking tighter control over infrastructure as AI computing costs rise and companies look for ways to cut energy use and spending while keeping sensitive workloads on systems they manage directly.
Zoho said Nathu La is intended to support its applications globally while reducing the cost of AI adoption for businesses through lower operating costs and reduced inference expense.