Kyndryl and Microsoft forge cloud, digital transformation partnership

Kyndryl, the managed services giant spun off from IBM, has forged a cloud partnership with Microsoft to advance digital transformation projects.

A week ago, Kyndryl started trading as an independent company and one of its core pillars was to become a multi-cloud player. The Microsoft partnership will serve as a proof point for Kyndryl.

Martin Schroeter, CEO of Kyndryl, said the company is investing in its partner ecosystem as an independent company. “Kyndryl is matching our deep expertise in mission-critical IT systems with the benefits of Microsoft Cloud,” he said.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the Kyndryl partnership will serve shared customers well. 

Under the partnership, the two companies will tackle cloud migrations as well as digital transformation projects. The core details include:

• Microsoft becomes Kyndryl’s only Premier Alliance Partner.
• Kyndryl and Microsoft developers will create applications built on Microsoft Cloud for current and new customers.
• The two companies will work on hybrid cloud, AI and IT modernization tools to migrate mission critical workloads.
• Kyndryl and Microsoft will form a co-innovation lab with joint efforts available through Microsoft AppSource and Azure Marketplace.
• Microsoft will sell Kyndryl-Microsoft products and services.
• Microsoft will create a training program for Kyndryl’s 90,000 employees called Kyndryl University for Microsoft.

For Kyndryl, the Microsoft pact is likely to create a new revenue stream. Historically, it has serviced IBM cloud customers.