Bharti Airtel and Microsoft India have joined hands to offer cloud computing services to small and medium business enterprises (SMBs).
As part of the partnership, Bharti Airtel will deliver Microsoft?s cloud based Office 365 business productivity solutions to such enterprises.
This platform, along with Bharti Airtel?s digital subscriber line and internet leased ports and lines services will give SMBs the option to create a public facing website with their own domain name, access to the latest releases from Office 365, anti-virus and anti-spam solutions, and anytime, anywhere access to documents and emails.
Commenting on the partnership, Sanjay Kapoor, chief executive officer, India and South Asia, Bharti Airtel, says, ?The partnership will allow us to become a virtual chief information officer for our SMB customers. According to industry estimates there is a growing affinity towards technology adoption in this segment and their IT spending is surging at a rate of 15 per year. SMB segment has shown a high adoption of cloud computing especially software as a service (SaaS) which contributes more than 50 per cent to the overall cloud market. With our superior network experience and Microsoft?s dependable technology suite we will be able to offer cost effective and secure cloud services in a high growth SaaS market.?
Bhaskar Pramanik, chairman, Microsoft India added, ?Agility, focus and cost are the key reasons why businesses are moving to a cloud and hence Microsoft?s partnership will allow Bharti Airtel?s customers to continue to stay ahead of the curve through solutions that truly fit their needs. The agreement will enable SMBs to take advantage of a secure cloud computing environment at an opex model based pricing.?
