INDIA’S Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (Jio), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) said today (12) it will launch pan India block-chain network for industries and has also partnered with Microsoft to distribute cloud services in the country.
The Indian business giant made the latest announcement at its annual general meeting (AGM) 2019 on Monday (12).
The 10-year commitment between Jio and the American multinational business combines the expertise of both companies to offer solutions comprising connectivity, computing, storage solutions, and other technology services for Indian businesses.
The partnership will span the broad Reliance Industries ecosystem including its existing and new businesses.
In combining efforts, Jio and Microsoft aim to enhance the adoption of leading technologies such as data analytics, AI, cognitive services, blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), and edge computing among small and medium enterprises to make them ready to compete and grow.
Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of RIL said: “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 digitization 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.”
Jio will provide its internal workforce with cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools available with Microsoft 365 and will migrate its non-network applications to the Microsoft Azure cloud platform as part of the new agreement.
Jio’s connectivity infrastructure that aims to connect everyone, everything, everywhere will promote the adoption of the Microsoft Azure cloud platform within its growing ecosystem of startups, as part of Jio’s cloud-first strategy.
Jio will set up data centres in locations across India, consisting of next-generation compute, storage and networking capabilities, and Microsoft will deploy its Azure platform in these data centres to support Jio’s offerings.
The initial two data centres, which can house IT equipment consuming up to 7.5 MW of power, are being set up in the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. These are targeted to be fully operational in 2020.
Jio will leverage the Microsoft Azure cloud platform to develop innovative cloud solutions focused on the needs of Indian businesses.
Jio will be executing on its vision of integrated speech and computer vision solutions for Indian customers by working together with Microsoft to develop solutions that support major Indian languages and dialects, which will promote the adoption of technology across all cross-sections of Indian society.
