IBM sets up data centre in Chennai, ties-up with Nasscom for start-up promotion

IBM on Wednesday said it has set up its first public cloud data centre in India in Chennai to serve local customers such as Tata Sky.

IBM joins global rivals such as Microsoft and Oracle to set up data centres in the country. Amazon, the world's largest cloud services company has committed to open its data centres in India by 2016 as they look at getting more local customers to use its cloud services than set up servers at their premises.

IBM did not specify the India investment, but claimed it is part of $1.2 billion commitment to set up cloud data centres across the world.

With a local onramp to IBM Cloud, Indian customers, especially those in regulated industries, gain more flexibility to store and compute data within the country. The Chennai data center joins IBM's Mumbai cloud center and is part of an expansive network of data centers that blanket the globe, providing users with the performance and disaster recovery solutions needed to ensure business continuity.

In an effort to accelerate digital transformation both at the enterprise and startup level, IBM is establishing a partnership with National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) to launch Techstartup.in, a digital hub wherein the entire Indian startup ecosystem, including angels, mentors, investors, academia and venture capitalists, can interact with each other to grow the cloud market.

In addition, IBM is launching two initiatives for developers-developerWorks Premium and a cloud certification program-to enable developers with the right tools and skills to compete and innovate in the global marketplace. Also in support of developers, IBM is working with strategic enterprise IT leaders like Accenture, Tech Mahindra and CSC to extend the use of IBM Cloud technologies, including IBM Bluemix, to developer communities in India and around the world.

"India's cloud market is poised for exponential growth, which makes it essential for Indian businesses to have local access to the resources and skills they need to help guarantee success," said Robert LeBlanc, senior vice president of IBM Cloud.