Cisco and Tata Consultancy Services have entered into a strategic alliance to develop and deliver Information Technology (IT) services to help customers build or evolve next-generation data centres by taking advantage of the network as a platform. Under the agreement, TCS will build a new technology practice focused on Cisco’s industry-leading data centre networking and security solutions. The companies also announced the formation of a ‘Cisco Technology Lab’ at the TCS campus in Chennai, India. This announcement was made at a press conference attended by John Chambers, Chairman and CEO for Cisco, and S. Ramadorai, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director for TCS.

“Customers are demanding greater dynamism from their IT infrastructure and application environment to address current challenges and to capitalize on opportunities whenever and wherever they emerge,” said N Chandrasekaran, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director of TCS. “This strategic alliance will take advantage of Cisco’s industry-leading data center networking solutions and TCS’ global network delivery model to help our customers increase the efficiency and agility of their IT operations.”

The TCS and Cisco strategic alliance will initially focus on India as well as mutual enterprise customers in the United States and the United Kingdom in the key verticals of banking and finance services, telecom, and government as well as small and medium-sized business.