Microsoft India on Tuesday opened its local data centres in Mumbai, Pune and Chennai, providing cloud services to governments, businesses and citizens. The data centres were inaugarated by the chief minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis and Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa.
On September 29, 2014, Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella had announced that the company would be offering its Azure cloud services from local data centres in India by the end of this year. The Redmond-based tech giant has launched the services ahead of schedule, exactly a year after the announcement. Nadella had also talked about Microsoft's cloud efforts in India during PM Narendra Modi’s visit to the Silicon Valley. “Governments, large businesses, small and medium businesses (SMBs) and citizens can use the massive computing power now available locally to fuel India’s inclusive growth, spur innovation and accelerate digital transformation,” said Microsoft India in a statement.
Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis has said that the government will utilise Microsoft’s cloud service to host a variety of digital services improving overall governance and boost productivity. Microsoft India is understood to have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Tamil Nadu government. Entrepreneurs selected by the state government will be allowed to access Microsoft’s software development platform free of cost, for three months.
Microsoft India chairman, Bhaskar Pramanik said, “The Microsoft cloud in India will transform the way computing is done in the country. The hyper-scale cloud will empower governments, businesses and users and offer enough computing power that will support all their existing workloads. We are happy to partner with Government and businesses to make the Microsoft cloud work for India and for Indians.”
By setting up local data centres in the country, Microsoft India said that it has become the first public cloud provider from India. The company hopes that the banking and finance sector, government agencies and state-owned enterprises will be able to take advantage of local data residency. It will also help businesses dealing with large data volumes, by way of reduced network distances and lower latency. The government’s digital locker and UIDAI programs are also expected to benefit from the services, thereby accelerating the Digital India and Smart Cities initiatives.