Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO of Microsoft.

IBM spin-off Kyndryl, a global IT infrastructure services provider, and Microsoft have announced a global strategic partnership that will combine their capabilities targeting enterprise customers.

The deal with Microsoft is Kyndryl’s first since becoming an independent public company and provides incremental multi-billion-dollar revenue opportunities for the two organisations, Kyndryl says in a statement.

Earlier this month, Kyndryl completed its spin-off from IBM and started trading as an independent company on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “KD”.

Together, Microsoft and Kyndryl will bring to market solutions built on the Microsoft Cloud that will accelerate hybrid cloud adoption, modernise applications and processes, support mission-critical workloads, and further enable modern work experiences for customers, it notes.

The long-term partnership will open additional markets and new customers to Kyndryl across all industries, and illustrates the speed and commitment the company is placing on forging strong relationships with leading enterprise technology innovators, says the firm.

It adds that Microsoft becomes Kyndryl’s only premier global alliance partner, increasing Microsoft’s access to the $500 billion managed services market where Kyndryl leads.

“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,” says Martin Schroeter, chairman and CEO of Kyndryl.

“In this landmark relationship with Microsoft, Kyndryl 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.”

“The case for digital transformation has never been more urgent, and more clear,” says Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO, Microsoft.

“As Kyndryl’s only premiere global alliance partner, with the power of the Microsoft Cloud we will help customers across every industry manage and modernise their business for the era ahead. We are looking 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 companies will jointly bring customer solutions to market in the areas of data modernisation and governance, AI-driven innovations for industries, cyber security and resiliency, and transformation of mission-critical workloads to the cloud.

Kyndryl will provide advisory, implementation and managed services for complex hybrid IT environments.

In addition, central to the partnership will be a focus on creating new solutions for customers and programmes to advance skills.

A co-innovation lab will be established to rapidly develop and bring to market new customer capabilities built on Microsoft Cloud. To strengthen and expand technical expertise, Microsoft will establish the “Kyndryl University for Microsoft” powered by Microsoft to rapidly scale skills for Kyndryl professionals.