Information and communication technology multinational T-Systems South Africa is investing extensively in Microsoft Azure capabilities and offerings that will be provided as local Microsoft Azure cloud services, says T-Systems South Africa solutions, projects and portfolio head Rajan Padayachee.

T-Systems is a global data trustee for Microsoft and is also bringing its proprietary Open Telekom Cloud to South Africa. Microsoft announced in May that it would offer Azure from local data centres in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

“The partnership fits T-Systems’ and Microsoft’s alliance strategy. The substantial investments that many customers have made in Microsoft services prompted us to invest in local Microsoft Azure cloud to maximise customers’ investments and build on our partnership with Microsoft.”

The partnership will focus on complementing T-Systems’ existing solutions with Microsoft Azure cloud services to create additional value for customers. The ability to host critical services on the Microsoft Azure cloud will help to support greater local cloud deployments and use cloud services, says Padayachee.

Many customers have been reluctant to move their critical infrastructure to the cloud, notes T-Systems South Africa MD Gert Schoonbee. Partnership “However, Azure’s functionality makes it feasible to do so for any corporation – large or small. Our goal is to leverage our experience and Azure partnership to simplify the process of digitation and cloud migration.”

Microsoft Azure enables customers to leverage the computing power of hyperscale for critical business systems, such as enterprise resource planning SAP systems, on a pay-per-use basis. Overlaid with T-Systems’ cloud solutions, such as Cloudifier and Azure Migration Factory, customers can benefit from fast and seamless migrations, explains Padayachee.

Microsoft South Africa MD Zoaib Hoosen says T-Systems brings value to the partnership through its extensive cloud experience and existing partnerships with other business-critical solution vendors.