Microsoft, Kyndryl Ink Global Strategic Partnership
‘As an independent company, we’re investing in our partner ecosystem to support the success of our customers, and we’re focused on expanding our market opportunity across cloud, data, security, and intelligent automation,’ Kyndryl CEO Martin Schroeter said in a statement.
Kyndryl, the recent IBM spin-off of its managed infrastructure services, has declared Microsoft its only “premier global alliance partner” as Kyndryl starts to flex its new ability to deepen relationships with companies that aren’t IBM.
The companies predict “incremental multi-billion dollar revenue opportunities” from the deal, according to a statement Friday. The goal of the partnership is to bring to market new Microsoft Cloud solutions focused on hybrid cloud adoption, application modernization, data governance, cybersecurity and other areas.
As revealed earlier this year in regulatory filings related to the spin-off of Kyndryl, the two companies already had an existing vendor partnership.
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New York-based Kyndryl will bring advisory, implementation and management services as part of the partnership, according to the statement. The companies will also launch “Kyndryl University for Microsoft,” a co-innovation lab to train Kyndryl employees on new skills related to Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft.
Kyndryl CEO Martin Schroeter said in a statement that the new partnership shows that his company “is matching our deep expertise in mission-critical IT systems with the benefits of Microsoft Cloud to be at the heart of progress for our global customers.”
“As an independent company, we’re investing in our partner ecosystem to support the success of our customers, and we’re focused on expanding our market opportunity across cloud, data, security, and intelligent automation,” said Schroeter, a former IBM executive.
In a statement, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that he looks “forward to partnering with Kyndryl to serve our shared customers, building on its expertise and understanding of mission-critical IT systems, as well as the company’s deep relationships with enterprises around the world.”
“The case for digital transformation has never been more urgent, and more clear,” Nadella said. “As Kyndryl’s only premiere global alliance partner, with the power of the Microsoft Cloud we will help customers across every industry manage and modernize their business for the era ahead.”
Since Kyndryl’s debut on the New York Stock Exchange, the company’s share price has almost halved, going from $50 at market open Oct. 22 to $21.50 market open Thursday.