Vodafone Updates Data Storage Capabilities

Teradata, a division of NCR Corporation says that Vodafone Australia has implemented a complete technology refresh and expansion of its Teradata Warehouse environment. The investment, which includes hardware, software and professional services, has more than doubled the Vodafone data warehouse, delivering twice the power and twice the capability while reducing total cost of ownership.

The 20 terabyte technology refresh and expansion was driven by three key business drivers, law enforcement requirements for the storage and retrieval of call detail records (CDRs), the need for near real-time reporting and the reuse of CDRs across the enterprise. CDRs must be accessible to the police and other law enforcement agencies to help track criminal activity. The reuse of CDRs across the enterprise removes data duplication and provides Vodafone with greater insights into customer behavior to make near real-time business decisions, while optimizing the network, supporting billing migration and customer self-service initiatives.

"The best solution for Vodafone's business needs was to totally replace the current Teradata system with the latest technology and higher-performing systems. The new system enables effective on-time business reporting with substantial customer relationship management benefits and low maintenance costs," said Julian Beavis, Teradata vice president for India, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. "The strength of our partnership with Vodafone and our knowledge of their requirements were both key in persuading them that a total refresh would create considerable value."

"The new Teradata data warehouse enables us to store more CDRs and handle more complex data types, while at the same time evolving a tape-based application to a nine to five data centre environment," said Neil Fraser, Vodafone's newly appointed business services manager, Technology Solutions. "The result is a more powerful business tool that provides Vodafone with greater insight to customer behaviour and the ability to facilitate real-time decisions.

Last year, Vodafone outsourced its non-core technology operations to five expert partners which included HP and IBM. However, the Teradata systems are one of two technology assets that remained with Vodafone Australia. In 1998, Vodafone Australia became the first Vodafone "property" to become a Teradata customer. Today, more than half of Vodafone's worldwide customers are available on Teradata solutions, making Teradata Vodafone's clear global standard for data warehousing."

Posted to the site on 22nd April 2004