Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Reliance CMD Mukesh Ambani announced a long-term alliance with Reliance Jio at the company's 42nd Annual General Meeting (AGM).
"Computing is becoming ubiquitous and distributed. AI is being infused in every experience. And the interaction model itself is increasingly human-first, rather than device first. These advances are shaping the next phase of innovation, creating new opportunities for people and organisations everywhere, especially in India," said Nadella in a video that was projected during the AGM.
"Our long-term partnership combines the power of Azure, Azure AI and Office 365 with Jio's connectivity and digital solutions, which are among the most used and fast growing in the world. Together, we will offer a comprehensive technology solution—from compute to connectivity and productivity for SMBs everywhere in the country," he said.
As part of this new agreement, 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.
Jio’s connectivity infrastructure 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 and Microsoft will partner to launch new cloud datacenters in India, ensuring more organizations can access the tools and platforms they need to build their own digital capability," said Nadella.
The first two datacenters, 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 calendar year 2020.
Jio will also be executing 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.
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