du, from Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC), today announced a new partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, to drive cloud adoption for enterprises and government agencies in the UAE. du and AWS are collaborating to build a Cloud Center of Excellence (CCoE) aimed at developing best practices, guidelines, and governance policies that will enable du to deliver innovative cloud services to its customers.

With a focus on data Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML), du and AWS will provide industry-specific cloud solutions to enterprises and public sector organizations. Additionally, AWS will assist du in establishing sovereign cloud capabilities to meet the data residency and security requirements imposed on government entities and regulated industries in the UAE.

Fahad Al Hassawi, CEO of du, stated, “Our collaboration with AWS aligns with du’s vision to be a trusted digital enabler for our customers, offering innovative services and platforms that drive their digital transformation. By leveraging AWS’s proven cloud technologies and expertise, we will enhance our capabilities in cloud computing, AI, and 5G to deliver greater value to organizations in the UAE.”

Leveraging their expertise and resources, the two companies aim to assist customers in migrating mission-critical workloads to the cloud while also developing new cloud-native applications. Furthermore, du intends to leverage AWS services to modernize its internal IT and network infrastructure.

Bernard Najm, Vice President, Telco MEA at AWS, said: “We are thrilled to support du in developing the UAE’s cloud ecosystem and assisting organizations in delivering enhanced digital experiences. Innovative cloud technologies are empowering organizations of all sizes, enabling them to become more agile and drive innovation. Working alongside du, we are excited to help customers modernize their infrastructure, unlock the potential of their data, and rapidly accelerate their digital transformation journeys.”

This collaboration also aims to modernize du’s digital care channels and explore the application of generative AI to enhance customer experience and improve network operations. du and AWS have already commenced their work to enhance du’s chatbot capabilities using real-time customer journey analytics and generative AI. Also, both teams are exploring the potential benefits of Cloud RAN technology to modernize and transform du’s network, aiming to reduce operational costs and simplify the network architecture.