Atos, EMC and VMware to Form Cloud Computing Strategic Alliance

Atos S.A., EMC Corporation and VMware announced a strategic alliance for open cloud computing.

Additionally, Atos plans to create a new company, Canopy, providing a range of cloud solutions and services designed to speed the delivery and help customers quickly take advantage of the benefits of cloud computing. Based on technology from EMC and VMware, the new offerings will include an open cloud platform that enables customers to choose, access and deploy cloud-based services for their enterprise IT needs.

Canopy will provide a one-stop shop for cloud services, enabling organizations to accelerate their move to the cloud. As part of the alliance and in addition to providing the technologies upon which the new Atos cloud solutions and services will be delivered, EMC and VMware also intend to invest alongside Atos to help drive innovation and the adoption of Canopy’s solutions in the marketplace.

Thierry Breton, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Atos, said: "Today’s enterprises and governments face in parallel massive pressures on IT costs, growing user expectations for agility, user-friendliness, and innovation. Cloud Computing is radically changing the world of IT by meeting these needs. The launch of Canopy and its unique set of enterprise-grade services will ensure that Atos is well positioned to play a leading role in this new and growing market. The value of today’s strategic alliance is very promising for our customers as Canopy has been designed to leverage the capabilities of Atos, EMC and VMware technologies so as to offer our clients the best one-stop-shop cloud services. Canopy will in particular closely work with its private and public sector customers to guarantee that its cloud solutions and operations will provide the highest level of integrity, reliability and security."

Joe  Tucci, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, EMC said: "Cloud computing is altering forever the way in which IT is designed and consumed across data centers, applications and end user access points. EMC looks forward to working even more closely with Atos, accelerating this shared vision and making the benefits of cloud computing a reality for enterprise customers in key targeted industries."

Paul Maritz, Chief Executive Officer, VMware said:  "Cloud computing represents a significant shift in how customers consume and manage IT resources, but they are asking for the benefits of the cloud on their terms, with the ability for managed services to be delivered on or off premise. We’re pleased to be working with Atos and EMC to deliver cloud solutions in this fashion – simplifying and automating IT services to help customers not only reduce costs, but also transform IT into a strategic asset that yields business and competitive value."

The cloud offerings will be based on open standards so clients can choose their preferred technology, whether to run the solution off- or on-premise and how to mix private, public and hybrid cloud solutions to best meet their business needs.

They will be targeted at selected vertical markets
and include:

• An Enterprise Application Store – powered by EMC and VMware technologies- will enable clients in the world to choose, access and download applications they require under SaaS model. The store will include horizontal (cross-industries) and industry-specific business applications.
• An Enterprise Platform as a Service (PaaS) – powered by EMC and VMware technologies, and managed by Atos, will provide a secure enterprise Java development environment, incorporating a standard development framework where Canopy and its clients can design, create and test new cloud applications.
• A Private Cloud – powered by EMC and VMware technologies – will provide clients with a pre-configured, standardized, enterprise-grade cloud stack for on-premise and off-premise deployments, enabling clients to speed up their cloud readiness.
• Cloud strategy and transformation Journey Design – these consulting services will range from building customized cloud strategy to shaping a cloud transformation journey so that customers can grasp the benefits while moving to the cloud securely and at the speed that is right for them.

The alliance will leverage the common channels of Atos and EMC to bring to the market this portfolio of end-to-end cloud services.

With cloud computing currently accounting for 10% of the IT market and set to quadruple by 2020, Atos, EMC and VMware share the same vision and strategy regarding ongoing IT/cloud transformation and the cloud solutions and services required in the marketplace.

Canopy will enable the transformation of the application landscape of customers and help them capture the value delivered by the cloud. Canopy customers will benefit from high level of integrity, security and confidentiality of data in the cloud as well as secure operations with high level of availability leveraging the portfolio of solutions and services from its partners.

Thus, Canopy customers will benefit from the EMC and VMware technologies, orchestrated, integrated, industrialized and delivered through the Atos worldwide datacenter network and know-how in cloud services. For organizations, the benefits are in IT costs reduction through flexible pricing models plus access to flexible, agile technology that ensures implementation and faster time to market for products and services.

Headquartered in Europe, Canopy will propose cloud offerings from dedicated infrastructures in order to ensure its customers’ data protection and security, complying with all relevant regulations. Canopy CEO will be appointed by Atos, its principal shareholder.

About Atos
Atos is an international information technology services company with annual revenues of €8.6 billion and 74,000 employees in 42 countries. Serving a global client base, it delivers hi-tech transactional services, consulting and technology services, systems integration and managed services. The company is focused on business technology that powers progress and helps organizations to create their firm of the future. It is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic and Paralympic Games and is quoted on the Paris Eurolist Market. Atos operates under the brands Atos, Atos Consulting & Technology Services, Atos Worldline and Atos Worldgrid.