NTT Data is teaming up with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to help enterprises modernize legacy systems, adopt agentic AI responsibly, and scale industry innovation.

The collaboration will combine NTT Data’s expertise in cloud transformation, cloud-native modernization, and agentic AI with the scale and development of AWS services. The duo are targeting mission-critical workload modernizations through secure cloud foundations in both regulated and high-growth industries.

As part of the agreement, NTT Data and AWS plan to accelerate enterprise transformation in four priority areas, including AI-driven large-scale cloud transformation – boosting the migration and modernization of on-premises workloads on AWS; and industry cloud solutions from the hyperscaler – to deliver modern industry-specific, repeatable offerings across industries like financial services, healthcare, and manufacturing.

Innovation environments on AWS, including sandboxes and dedicated innovation labs, are set to help NTT Data and Amazon’s teams to develop, test, and refine these solutions together before scaling them for enterprise deployment.

To advance the collaboration, NTT Data also formed a dedicated AWS Business Group with nearly 11,000 AWS-certified experts working to certify 10,000 more experts over the next three years.

AWS will also support NTT Data in running co-innovation programs, certifications, and client events, to help enterprises adopt AI-driven cloud solutions faster.

The sovereign data question

In October last year, NTT Data also signed a strategic collaboration agreement with AWS for the delivery of AI-powered contact center solutions, built on Amazon Connect. This deal targeted the accelerated adoption of AI-powered customer experience solutions worldwide.

The new and Euro-centric deal with Amazon follows the general release of AWS European Sovereign Cloud. Released in January, the AWS sovereign offering is sold as an independent cloud for European customers, physically and logically separate from other AWS regions.

Included in the NTT Data partnership is a bid to help European governments and companies meet stringent data residency and operational autonomy requirements. Commenting on the deal, Greg Pearson, VP of AWS global sales, claimed that “through industry-aligned architecture platforms, AI-driven customer experiences, and support in meeting evolving regulatory requirements through the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, [AWS and NTT Data are] enhancing the ability to transform legacy workloads and build modern digital experiences on AWS.”

For Mark Butcher, managing director of British cloud consultancy Posetiv Cloud, the sovereignty issue is a legal question, not a technical one, with ownership the ultimate deciding factor on sovereign solutions such as those from AWS.

“They know this, and the courts know this, I really don’t know why we’re all pretending it isn’t true,” Butcher told SDxCentral. “Sovereignty isn’t about where the servers sit, it’s about who owns the company and which courts can reach your data.”

“If the cloud provider is ultimately owned by a U.S. company, the data is subject to U.S. law. Calling that sovereign is just nonsense and they know that. As AWS is subject to U.S. law, then the data isn’t sovereign. Geography or operating models don’t change anything.”