Bharti Airtel and IBM Unite to Revolutionize India’s Cloud and AI Landscape

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Bharti Airtel has announced a strategic partnership with IBM to enhance its Airtel Cloud offering. The collaboration brings IBM Power systems as a service to Airtel customers, enabling AI workloads for regulated industries, expanding data center footprint, and accelerating enterprise digital transformation across India.

Bharti Airtel, India’s leading telecommunications service provider, has partnered with IBM (NYSE: IBM) to bolster its enterprise cloud platform—Airtel Cloud. This alliance allows Airtel Cloud customers to deploy IBM Power systems portfolio as-a-Service, including the latest IBM Power11 AI-ready servers, tailored for mission-critical applications in banking, healthcare, government and other regulated sectors.

The partnership aims to deliver enhanced interoperability across on-premise, cloud, multi-cloud, and edge infrastructures, facilitating enterprises to scale AI workloads efficiently. Additionally, Airtel is expanding its availability zones in India from four to ten with sustainable next-generation data centers, and plans to launch two new Multizone Regions (MZRs) in Mumbai and Chennai.

Gopal Vittal, Vice Chairman & Managing Director of Bharti Airtel, highlighted the collaboration’s potential to set new industry benchmarks in cloud agility, security, and compliance. IBM’s senior executives emphasized the partnership’s role in accelerating India’s digital transformation agenda through innovative AI and hybrid cloud offerings encompassing IBM watsonx and Red Hat OpenShift.

Clients will benefit from IBM’s enterprise-grade cloud platform supporting a range of operating environments, including IBM Power AIX, IBM i, Linux, and SAP Cloud ERP, along with AI inferencing and automation designed to boost productivity and innovation.

Key Highlights and Major Takeaways

Expanded Cloud Capability: Airtel Cloud customers gain access to IBM Power systems portfolio as-a-Service, enabling robust AI workloads.
Industry Focus: Target sectors include banking, healthcare, government, and other regulated industries.
Infrastructure Growth: Airtel increases availability zones in India from four to ten and is launching two new Multizone Regions.
AI and Hybrid Cloud: Partnership leverages IBM’s watsonx, Red Hat OpenShift, and hybrid cloud technology for innovation acceleration.
Enterprise Application Support: Supports diverse enterprise platforms including SAP Cloud ERP, enhancing digital transformation.
Sustainability and Security: Next-gen sustainable data centers foster cloud agility with high security and compliance.

Conclusion

Bharti Airtel’s strategic partnership with IBM marks a major leap in India’s cloud and AI ecosystem. By combining Airtel’s telco-grade infrastructure with IBM’s industry-leading cloud and AI solutions, the collaboration is poised to empower enterprises across India with scalable, secure, and intelligent digital transformation capabilities.

Sources: Bharti Airtel, NSE India, IBM Newsroom

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