Big Data Management

Vodafone and Google Cloud Collaborate to Develop Industry-First Global Data Platform

Vodafone and Google Cloud today unveiled a new six-year strategic collaboration to accelerate the use of reliable and secure data analytics, insights, and learnings to enable the simultaneous global launch of new digital products and services for Vodafone customers.

Vodafone and Google Cloud will collaborate to create a strong digital interconnected data platform with the added capability of collecting and transferring huge volumes of data worldwide from various platforms into the cloud, as part of a major extension of their existing agreement.

The platform, called 'Nucleus,' will house a new system called 'Dynamo,' which will push data across Vodafone, allowing it to deliver new, personalized products and services to customers across different markets more efficiently. Via the release of smart network features such as offering a sudden broadband speed upgrade, Dynamo would allow Vodafone to customize new networking capabilities for homes and businesses.

Both Nucleus and Dynamo, which are industry firsts, are capable of handling about 50 terabytes of data per day, equivalent to 25,000 hours of HD film (and growing). They are being developed in-house by Vodafone and Google Cloud specialist teams. The project involves up to 1,000 employees from all businesses based in Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Vodafone has now established over 700 use-cases to easily deliver new products and services across its markets, support fact-based decision-making, reduce costs, eliminate duplication of data sources, and simplify and centralize operations. The speed and simplicity at which Vodafone's operating companies in several countries will be able to access its data analytics, intelligence, and machine-learning capabilities will also be greatly enhanced.

Vodafone customers around the world will enjoy a deeper and more enriched experience by generating more detailed insight and data-driven analysis within the organization and through its partners. Among the main advantages are:

• Increasing the availability of highly personalized rewards, content, and applications for Vodafone's mobile, fixed, and TV content and connectivity services in real-time. A customer, for example, can experience a sudden increase in broadband speed based on personalized individual preferences.

• Increasing the number of smart network networks available in Google Cloud from eight to the entire Vodafone footprint. This enables Vodafone to precisely align network roll-out to market demand, maximize bandwidth at key moments, and use machine learning to predict, track, and resolve issues before customers become aware of them.

• Using automated machine learning tools, data scientists in 11 countries are collaborating on important environmental and health issues. Vodafone is now assisting governments and aid organizations with secure, anonymized, and aggregated movement data to combat COVID-19. This collaboration will strengthen Vodafone's ability to provide deeper insights into disease spread through intelligent analytics across a broader geographical area, following local laws and regulations.

• Using artificial intelligence and advanced analytics, including a complete digital replica of many of Vodafone's internal support functions. It is known as a digital twin, and it allows analytic models on Google Cloud to boost response times to inquiries and predict potential demand. The system would also enable a global digital twin of Vodafone's massive digital infrastructure.

• Furthermore, Vodafone will re-platform the entire SAP ecosystem to Google Cloud, including core SAP workloads and main corporate SAP modules such as SAP Central Finance.

About Google Cloud

Google Cloud offers leading infrastructure, platform capabilities, and industry solutions to enterprises. They provide enterprise-grade cloud solutions that leverage Google's cutting-edge technology to help businesses run more efficiently and adapt to evolving demands, providing customers with a solid foundation for the future. Customers in over 150 countries rely on Google Cloud as a trustworthy partner to address their most pressing business challenges.

About Vodafone

Vodafone is a global telecommunications firm with operations in Europe and Africa. It is Europe's biggest mobile and fixed network operator, as well as a world leader in IoT connectivity. In Africa, their M-Pesa technology network provides access to mobile payments and financial services to over 45 million users. They operate mobile and fixed networks in 21 countries and collaborate with mobile networks in an additional 48. They had over 300 million mobile customers, more than 27 million fixed broadband customers, more than 22 million TV customers, and we connected more than 118 million IoT devices as of December 31, 2020.

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