Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 15 (ANI): Telecom major Bharti Airtel has entered into a strategic partnership with IBM to enhance its recently launched Airtel Cloud, according to a release on Wednesday. The collaboration aims to combine Airtel Cloud’s telco-grade reliability, high security, and data residency with IBM’s expertise in cloud solutions, advanced infrastructure, and AI-ready software technologies.
Through this partnership, Airtel and IBM will help enterprises in regulated industries scale AI workloads efficiently, ensuring interoperability across on-premise systems, multiple clouds, and edge infrastructure. Airtel Cloud customers will gain access to the IBM Power systems portfolio as-a-Service, including the latest IBM Power11 autonomous, AI-ready servers, supporting mission-critical applications in sectors such as banking, healthcare, and government. The platform will also accommodate enterprise workloads on IBM Power AIX, IBM i, Linux, and SAP Cloud ERP.
The partnership will also assist SAP customers in migrating their enterprise resource planning systems to SAP Cloud ERP on IBM Power Virtual Server. Gopal Vittal, Vice Chairman & Managing Director of Bharti Airtel, stated that the collaboration adds substantial capabilities to Airtel Cloud, addressing the needs of industries requiring IBM Power Systems migration while expanding AI readiness. Airtel plans to extend its availability zones in India from four to ten and establish two new Multizone Regions (MZRs) in Mumbai and Chennai.
Rob Thomas, SVP and Chief Commercial Officer at IBM, highlighted that the partnership enables Indian enterprises to leverage IBM’s innovative cloud offerings for regulated and AI workloads, supporting digital transformation. Clients will benefit from IBM’s AI inference software built on watsonx and Red Hat OpenShift AI, alongside hybrid cloud solutions including Red Hat OpenShift Virtualisation and Red Hat AI. The collaboration also prepares enterprises for future innovation in AI and quantum computing. Airtel Multi Zone Regions will strengthen resilience, ensure data residency compliance, and maintain uninterrupted operation of critical workloads, enabling Indian businesses to accelerate digital innovation at scale. (ANI)
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