Vodafone, Google Cloud Team Up on Data Analytics

Mobile operator Vodafone Group and Alphabet's Google Cloud entered a strategic partnership to jointly develop data services, Vodafone said on Sunday.

About 1,000 workers in Britain, Spain, and the United States will be to asked by both companies to create Nucleus, a new cloud-based storage and analytics portal which will host Vodafone's data.

Nucleus will be capable of processing around 50 terabytes of data a day within the cloud, Vodafone said in a statement.

"Both companies will drive the use of reliable and secure data analytics, insights, and learnings to support the introduction of new digital products and services for Vodafone customers simultaneously worldwide," the statement added.

Google did not respond to Reuters request for a comment.

The news was first reported by the Financial Times on Sunday.

As part of the six-year agreement, both companies will also develop a system called 'Dynamo', which can extract and transport data across different countries where the British-based telecom company operates.

According to the FT report, the two companies also want to sell consultancy services to other multinational businesses looking to move huge amounts of data to the cloud in the future.

Google owner Alphabet in Q1 2021 reported record profit for the second consecutive quarter and announced a $50-billion (Rs. 3,72,780 crores) share buyback. Alphabet's overall quarterly sales rose 34 percent to $55.3 billion (roughly Rs. 4,12,040 crores), above analysts' estimate of 26 percent growth from a year ago and close to the $56.9 billion (roughly Rs. 4,23,960 crores) it reported in the fourth quarter. Revenue benefited by an unspecified amount from Google's acquisition of smartwatch maker Fitbit in January.

© Thomson Reuters 2021