Microsoft and Reliance Jio to offer free cloud and connectivity setup to Indian startups

Reliance Industries, India’s largest corporation and the owner of world’s fastest growing telecom provider Jio, today held its Annual General Meeting in Mumbai. During the meeting, Reliance CEO Mukesh Ambani, made several new announcements including the launch of Jio Fiber TV and more. One such announcement was the partnership with Microsoft.

Jio and Microsoft have entered into a long-term alliance to accelerate India’s digital transformation to launch cloud datacenters. Both the companies will help Indian organisations build digital capabilities with tools and platforms. This partnership involves Microsoft 365, Microsoft Azure and Microsoft AI. In partnership with Microsoft, Reliance will offer free cloud and connectivity setup to startups for free. This offer will be available from Jan 1, 2020.

Find all the details about this partnership below.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Jio will set up datacenters in locations across India, consisting of next-generation compute, storage and networking capabilities, and Microsoft will deploy its Azure platform in these datacenters to support Jio’s offerings. The initial 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.
4. Jio will leverage the Microsoft Azure cloud platform to develop innovative cloud solutions focused on the needs of Indian businesses. Through these Jio-developed solutions:
   • a. Indian startups will have access to efficient and affordable cloud infrastructure and platform services, enabling them to develop innovative products and services faster and more cost-effectively.
   • b. Small and medium businesses in India will have access to a range of cloud-based productivity, collaboration and business applications including Office 365, enabling them to compete more effectively in the Indian marketplace.
   • c. Large companies will be able to accelerate their own digital transformations by leveraging new Jio solutions that can work with Microsoft offerings already in use today within many large enterprises.
   • d. The partner ecosystem in India will have the opportunity to leverage Jio’s new offerings to serve the unique needs of their customers and rapidly grow their businesses.
5. 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.