Steve Martin (NextDC)
Data centre operator NextDC has struck a deal to offer Australian businesses access to the Alibaba Cloud.
As a result of the strategic partnership, NextDC will become a network services partner of Alibaba Cloud and will offer secure and reliable connectivity "to help businesses grow in China’s booming e-commerce market, the APAC region and beyond".
According to publicly-listed NextDC, the partnership gives clients the flexibility of employing a hybrid cloud approach with the ability to scale computing power as the business grows anywhere in the world.
NextDC already partners with the biggest cloud providers including AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud and Oracle Cloud.
"Our goal is to help remove obstacles to doing business everywhere and to provide a competitive edge for our customers through fast, secure and seamless high-bandwidth connectivity," said Steve Martin, head of channel at NextDC.
"Our partnership with Alibaba Cloud further expands the accessibility of business critical clouds to Australian organisations.”
The two companies will leverage each other's technology and industry resources to offer Australian businesses unique connectivity to the Alibaba Cloud.
“We are excited to partner with NextDC to engage with local businesses,” said Raymond Ma, general manager of A/NZ at Alibaba Cloud.
"Alibaba Cloud has always been dedicated to make it easy to do business anywhere, offering highly competitive and cutting-edge advances in artificial intelligence to help customers create retail, e-commerce, and smart city opportunities in China and the Asia Pacific region.
"The partnership with NextDC will reinforce our commitment to the market," Ma added.
In August, Alibaba cloud appointed Westcon-Comstor as a distributor across Australia and New Zealand, providing an on-ramp for partners seeking Asian expansion.
The agreement - which spans the Asia Pacific region, aims to provide choice for the channel in the highly competitive cloud space, alongside offering a new route to regional markets for local partners.
