Reliance Jio inks deal with Microsoft to bring cloud-based solutions to more businesses

Reliance Jio, the mobile network operating subsidiary of Reliance Industries, has penned a deal with Microsoft to help accelerate digital transformation in India. The 10-year agreement will see the pair work to offer Indian businesses technology solutions across data analytics, AI, cognitive services, blockchain, internet of things, and edge computing.

Jio will provide its own workforce with cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools available with Microsoft 365 and will migrate its non-network apps to the Microsoft Azure cloud platform.

Meanwhile, its connectivity infrastructure will promote the adoption of Azure within its ecosystem of startups, and the Azure platform will be leveraged by Jio to develop cloud solutions for Indian businesses.

“Jio is delighted to partner with Microsoft in our efforts to further deepen the use of technology on scale to all Indians,” said Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries.

“This is a unique and first-of-its-kind partnership that brings the capabilities of two large companies focused on creating significant value to Indian enterprises — small and large. By working together to develop innovative and affordable cloud-enabled digital solutions built around Jio’s world-class digital infrastructure and Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, we will accelerate the digitisation of the Indian economy and make Indian businesses globally competitive. This will be a showcase to the world to demonstrate tech-enabled value creation that is both exponential and inclusive.”

The partnership will also pave the way for Jio to setup data centres across India, with Azure being deployed in the centres. The first two centres will open in Gujarat and Maharashtra next year.

Finally, Microsoft and Jio will work together to develop speech and computer vision solutions that support ‘major’ Indian languages and dialects.

“We have an incredible opportunity to apply advances in technology to help organisations across India innovate and grow,” said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. “The combination of Jio’s leading connectivity and digital solutions with Azure, Azure AI and Office 365 will bring powerful tools and platforms for compute, storage, productivity and more to millions of businesses in the country.”

Source: Mobile Marketing Magazine

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