As enterprises rethink the way they do IT, Proximus has announced it has strengthened its hybrid cloud offer via a partnership with HCL. HCL will run and service Proximus’s private cloud infrastructure and support the transition of the Enterprise Business Unit towards becoming a hybrid cloud solution provider. The partnership will be fully operational by February 2022.
Proximus’s new hybrid cloud solution will combine its portfolio in the Proximus DCs with public cloud capabilities. This will enable Proximus to offer a richer catalogue of services and, it says, improve its cloud offering in terms of sustainability, efficiency, customer experience and flexibility. Proximus’s portfolio now includes all major public cloud solutions providers, including Microsoft, Google, AWS and SAP, to provide choice to its customers.
“This is a groundbreaking collaboration between HCL and Proximus. Together, we look forward to developing a competitive cloud environment and digital offerings for the Belgian market. HCL’s investment in a dedicated lab will not only drive innovation and growth at Proximus, but it will also support their endeavors to develop the next generation of digital talent in Belgium.”
Proximus says the deal with HCL is good news for its private cloud customers, and will enable further development of growth domains it has identified. The agreement will also bring attractive financial benefits – lowering the Total Cost to Operate of Proximus’s cloud infrastructure by around 20%, and generating a positive NPV from year one.
HCL will pay Proximus EUR71 million in cash for its current cloud infrastructure. Any future assets required to support the infrastructure under the HCL contract will fall under a IFRS lease model and hence will be operating costs.
“I’m very pleased with this agreement between Proximus and HCL, which will bring us economies of scale, knowledge, best practices, tools, experience and expertise in the cloud domain. This IT infrastructure partnership will not only allow us to assure the development of the best customer offer, but it will also make sure that we’re able to retain strong strategic influence in the cloud domain.”
Guillaume Boutin, CEO, Proximus Group
