Bharti, IBM to offer managed services

NEW DELHI: Bharti Tele Ventures Ltd (BTVL) and IBM India have announced the launch of managed services under their joint go-to-market program that both the companies signed a year ago. The services are aimed at the Indian ICT market.

The initial offering portfolio will include managed hosting services & business resiliency and continuity services to enterprise customers in India. Under the alliance, the companies would jointly deliver end-to-end managed services, including connectivity, at client locations around the country.

Under the agreement, IBM will make available to its clients', IBM India's Level III+ command center services, data center services and IT help desk services. Airtel would provide end-to-end connectivity and cater to all the customers' telecom and communication requirements of clients. The marketing of the integrated solutions and services would be front-ended by Bharti through its Airtel Enterprise Services division.

IBM Global Services ASEAN/SA Boon Kiat Yang said, “Both managed hosting and business resiliency & continuity services would enable companies to conduct what is termed 'business@ease' by not only entrusting their entire ICT requirements to Bharti and IBM and focus on areas of their core competence but also benefit from the convenience of working with a single point of contact for managed services and connectivity”.

Bharti's Infotel Business Group president Badri Agarwal said, “Through this alliance we are providing world class facilities and products to help companies in their journey towards globalization. The services that are being launched today are targeted primarily at the BFSI, manufacturing and the government segments.”

He added that they would also target foreign companies and offer them an integrated solution of connectivity as well as disaster recovery and business continuity.