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.

“With the opening of the IBM Cloud data center in Chennai and our collaboration with NASSCOM, IBM is not only delivering greater access to a globally integrated cloud data center that offers the performance and speed needed, but it is also creating the foundation for future growth by working with NASSCOM 10,000 Startups program to equip local developers with the skills they need to grow the market.”

The Chennai data center will support India’s growing customer demand for in-country cloud solutions with faster network speeds, improving both performance and reach and offers the full range of SoftLayer infrastructure services from IBM.

N. Ravishanker, CIO of leading Indian broadcast satellite television provider Tata Sky Ltd., said, “Tata Sky’s transition to IBM Cloud infrastructure has helped our business become more agile and reduce latency seen in day-to-day processes. Having a local data center that is equipped to meet specific requests for our business along with IBM Cloud’s ability to handle disaster recovery gives us immense confidence in the safety and security of our data.”