Bolloré Group partners with Alibaba for cloud and co-development

French transportation conglomerate Bolloré Group has signed a memorandum of understanding with Alibaba concerning digitisation projects across its business.

The global partnership agreement covers a collaboration between Alibaba Cloud and Bolloré’s Bolloré Logistics and Blue Solutions businesses. Under the deal, Bolloré Group will make use of Alibaba’s cloud computing capabilities, big data, artificial intelligence, content delivery network and security products, said Alibaba.

Among the projects to be jointly developed is one covering smart and clean mobility and clean energy. The initiative will see Alibaba work with Bolloré’s Blue Solutions to explore the opportunity to co-develop internet-enabled electric cars and buses that provide internet connectivity for voice control, multimedia, navigation and autonomous driving. The two companies will also explore cooperation opportunities in the development of car-sharing in China.

Alibaba said it will look at the feasibility of implementing Bolloré Group’s batteries and electricity storage technologies in its datacentres worldwide.

Cyrille Bolloré, vice-chairman and managing director of Bolloré Group, said: “We are looking forward to working with Alibaba Group and its subsidiaries to develop business in our respective markets and join forces in other parts of the world.

“The many areas of cooperation and several joint projects already identified by our respective teams are particularly promising. We are also very pleased by our common willingness to share best practice and expertise, which will be of great benefit to all our companies.”

Simon Hu, president of Alibaba Cloud, said: “The sophisticated cloud services provided by Alibaba Cloud and the expertise of Bolloré Group will complement each other and create synergy in servicing our customers more effectively, as well as providing them the opportunity to succeed in the digital age.”

As Computer Weekly has reported previously, Alibaba Cloud is the third-largest public cloud provider, with a market share of about 3%. Microsoft has a 7.1% market share, while Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the largest cloud provider with a 44% market share, according to Gartner.

Gartner’s September 2017 global infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) market tracker reported that Alibaba had outperformed AWS, Microsoft and Google in revenue growth terms during 2016, having increased its revenue by 126.5% from $298m to $675m.