Alibaba Cloud and Esri join forces
Spatial analytics company Esri and Alibaba Cloud have entered a partnership, which will allow both organizations to deliver technologies to customers who want to implement Esri technology on Alibaba Cloud.
Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) was founded in 1969 and is based in California. It is a provider of geographic information system (GIS) software, web GIS and geo-database management applications. The company reports that over 75% of Fortune 500 companies use its software to meet their business objectives.
Under the agreement, Esri will collaborate with Alibaba Cloud to achieve the interoperability of their technologies. The companies plan to roll out a joint solution later this year.
“We’ve seen our users achieve amazing results already with Esri technology in Alibaba Cloud,” said Esri President and Founder Jack Dangermond in a statement. “This has been possible as both organizations have engineered interoperable and compatible technology, based on industry standards. The agreement will now bring our engineers together to collaborate on shared initiatives that deliver the next wave of location intelligence innovation on the cloud.”
This isn’t the first time the companies have collaborated in deploying Esri technology inside Alibaba Cloud in China, however. The Ningxia Land and Resources Bureau, for instance, developed a foundational geospatial data platform leveraging Esri’s ArcGIS Enterprise technology on Alibaba Cloud. This was achieved by consolidating electronic map data, imagery, survey and three-dimensional data into a “one stop” catalogue.
“Just looking at Mainland China, Esri software has been used for more than 27 years, and is undoubtedly the most-trusted, innovative and reliable GIS software,” Craig Pitman, solution architect, Asia Pacific, Esri, told RCR Wireless News. “More recently, we see our valued customers having an overwhelming preference for their home-grown cloud platform – Alibaba Cloud – as they can deliver in-country capabilities that meet government policies and directives for cloud platforms. We see our collaboration as the “right thing to do” for our customers that want to keep using our software, but need a home-grown platform to host their data and services.”
