Vodafone joins forces with Google Cloud for data analytics

Vodafone and Google Cloud have signed a six-year strategic partnership deal to build a new integrated data platform and distributed system for Vodafone, supporting the creation of new digital products and services for customers.

The platform called ’Nucleus’ will house a new system - ‘Dynamo’ - which will drive data throughout Vodafone to enable it to more quickly offer its customers new, personalised products and services across multiple markets. Dynamo will allow Vodafone to tailor new connectivity services for homes and businesses through the release of smart network features, such as providing a sudden broadband speed boost. 

Both Nucleus and Dynamo are industry firsts according to the companies and are capable of processing around 50 terabytes of data per day, equivalent to 25,000 hours of HD film (and growing). They are going to be built in-house by specialist teams and up to 1,000 employees of both companies located in Spain, the UK, and the United States are collaborating on the project.

Johan Wibergh, Chief Technology Officer for Vodafone, said: “Vodafone is building a powerful foundation for a digital future. We have vast amounts of data which, when securely processed and made available across our footprint using the collective power of Vodafone and Google Cloud’s engineering expertise, will transform our services, to our customers and governments, and the societies where they live and serve.”

Expected key benefits include:

• Better mobile, fixed, and TV content and connectivity services through the instantaneous availability of highly personalised rewards, content, and applications. 
• Increasing the number of smart network services in its Google Cloud footprint from eight markets to the entire Vodafone footprint. This allows Vodafone to precisely match network roll-out to consumer demand, increase capacity at critical times, and use machine learning to predict, detect, and fix issues before customers are aware of them. 
• To enable data scientists to collaborate on key environmental and health issues in 11 countries using automated machine learning tools. This partnership will further improve Vodafone’s ability to provide deeper insights, in accordance with local laws and regulations, into the spread of disease through intelligent analytics across a wider geographical area.
• Providing a complete digital replica of many of Vodafone’s internal support functions using artificial intelligence and advanced analytics. Called a digital twin, it enables analytic models on Google Cloud to improve response times to enquiries and predict future demand. The system will also support a digital twin of Vodafone’s vast digital infrastructure worldwide. 
• Vodafone will re-platform its entire SAP environment to Google Cloud, including the migration of its core SAP workloads and key corporate SAP modules such as SAP Central Finance

Vodafone and Google Cloud will also explore opportunities to provide consultancy services, offered either jointly or independently, to other multi-national organisations and businesses.