L&T & Microsoft sign landmark deal to develop regulated sector cloud offering

"In line with emerging regulations, L&T and Microsoft will co-engage with a defined set of large customers in regulated sectors to develop architectures and roadmaps to modernize their traditional data centers to potentially hybrid models and advance their digital transformation goals," L&T said.

Under the MoU, the two industry leaders will setup a joint governance group to define future platform designs, investments, and commercial/business models to service the regulated sectors’ emerging technology requirements.

Senior leadership teams of both the organisations will be engaged collectively on this as the association evolves.

S.N. Subrahmanyan, CEO & MD of Larsen & Toubro said, “India is at the cusp of enormous cloud adoption, as innovation, scale and agility become critical determinants for enterprises grow and compete globally.

"Our partnership with Microsoft aims to accelerate hybrid cloud transition for large customers in regulated sectors, while maintaining the highest benchmarks of compliance, security, and governance.

"As enablers of India’s digital transformation vision, our ambition is to support organizations in their journey to become digital natives and future ready businesses.”

As per the present norms, the MoU will focus on engaging customers in the Indian jurisdiction, with the potential to extend this partnership to other jurisdictions in the future, as agreed between the two companies, according to a press release issued by L&T.

At an appropriate time, L&T and Microsoft will consider possible partnership structures to continue to collaborate for the performance of this MoU, it added.

Talking about the MoU,  Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India, shared, “The government’s drive for ‘Digital India’ and the unprecedented digital momentum across the country has led to a recalibration of the cloud infrastructure requirements. Microsoft is excited to collaborate with L&T to support the public sector and the other regulated industries as they seek to accelerate digital services to benefit all parts of India. This partnership will enable development of a scalable cloud infrastructure model for these sectors to accelerate their digital innovation, in alignment with the data location and security needs of India.”

Digital transformation, innovation and growth is empowering the public sector and regulated industries to achieve more as they engage with citizens, empower their employees, optimize their operations, and reinvent services and business models, he said.

As one of the largest cloud hyperscalers, Microsoft has a strong track record of addressing the requirements of public sector and regulated industries across the globe, helping them respond to the increased citizen demands of today while embracing emerging technologies to transform their tomorrow, he added.

The agreement with L&T will combine the unique strengths of both L&T and Microsoft to utilize digital services as a key lever for economic growth, he commented.

"Over the years, L&T has been at the forefront of using technology and innovation for sustainable growth. Leveraging the best-in-class technical competencies, L&T offers concept-to commissioning services for setting up end-to-end data center services, with hybrid, multi-cloud management and cyber security services, besides digital transformation, and application integration services," according to the release.