Reliance Jio And Microsoft Collaborate To Introduce Azure Cloud Platform In India

Microsoft and Reliance Jio have joined hands to speed up digital transformation by introducing cloud data centers in India.

The ultimate goal of the collaboration is to grant access to Azure, the cloud-based software of Microsoft, and hardware infrastructure to enterprise users, through the help of JioFiber network.

The Azure cloud platform will be utilized within the connectivity infrastructure of Jio, a move that coincides with the company’s strategy to focus on the cloud first. This partnership can result in cloud-based business applications, productivity, and collaboration to meet the needs of businesses of all shapes and sizes.

Jio’s own workforce will also have access to these services as part of the collaboration. At the same time, the Microsoft Azure cloud platform will house non-network applications.

According to Mukesh Ambani, these services of Microsoft will be available to startups at the price of a tenth what they ask everyone else to pay. Small to medium companies can have access for a cost from Rs. 15,000 to 20,000. Businesses with a larger size can have a customizable plan according to their needs.

IoT, AI, data analytics, and cognitive services are also more readily available and affordable to accelerate grassroots innovation and digital transformation in India.

At Reliance's Annual General Meeting, CMD Anil Ambani announced this collaboration as well as said that the company would invest in startups that it was interested in.

For now, the services of Microsoft is in 13 Indian languages and are open for even more.