Aircel, a telecom player with Pan-Indian operations announced on Thursday an agreement with Virtela , an independent managed network, security and cloud services company to launch first global cloud-based application service.  The service is enabled by Virtela’s innovative Enterprise Services Cloud (ESC), the industry’s only cloud architecture built for enterprise networking, security and mobility.

With service delivery via Virtela ESC’s 50 Local Cloud Centers (LCCs) around the world, Aircel will now be able to offer application acceleration to Indian enterprises along with an array of award-winning managed services to extend and enhance their business operations internationally.

Virtela ESC serves as the foundation for a multitude of other industry-first cloud services in enterprise networking, security and mobility, which Aircel customers can now exploit to improve the performance and security of their critical business communications around the world at fraction of the cost of traditional hardware-based solutions.

“Aircel’s ability to deliver cost-efficient network services that focus on application performance will address the critical business needs of Indian enterprises that are operating and expanding internationally,”said Chandan Ghosh, Head - Aircel Business Solutions.  “Aircel’s partnership with Virtela expands our offerings with the latest cloud advancements to help our customers’ business processes become more efficient and profitable on a global basis.”

Cloud computing ranks as the top technology priority among Indian CIOs, according to Gartner’s 2011 CIO Agenda survey, which shows CIOs expect to adopt new cloud services much faster than originally expected. Indian CIOs report that their top business priority is increasing enterprise growth, with expanding into new markets and geographies another top-ten priority.

“We are excited to work with Aircel in expanding their innovative solution portfolio aimed at empowering every aspect of their enterprise customers’ businesses,” said Jian Li, Virtela Chief Technology Officer and Head of Asia-Pacific Service Provider Partnerships.“Our relationship with Aircel further demonstrates the strong value proposition Virtela’s Enterprise Services Cloud offers to service providers interested in delivering seamless managed services worldwide with the highest performance, scalability and service quality.”