Oracle and Vodafone, the largest pan-European and African technology communications company, today announced a strategic partnership to modernize the operator’s European IT infrastructure and accelerate its transition to the cloud.

Under the multi-year agreement, Vodafone will modernize and migrate a large number of its systems to OCI Dedicated Region, a fully managed cloud region that brings all of Oracle’s public cloud services into Vodafone’s own network and data centers. This will provide a dedicated cloud platform for Vodafone to modernize its thousands of Oracle databases as well as to support and scale its mission-critical OSS and BSS systems, including CRM and order management.

The implementation will also enable Vodafone to build new cloud-based applications faster, and by taking advantage of its geographical scale, launch them in multiple markets at the same time.

Oracle will deploy OCI Dedicated Region in Vodafone’s main data centers that manage its European IT and network operations. The deployment of public cloud services directly inside Vodafone’s own network and data centers will enable the operator to flexibly modernize, manage and automate its critical systems using new technologies such as autonomous services, and more easily meet the latency and performance requirements of these applications.

Vodafone will also have close access to compute resources that enable it to dynamically augment and scale services in multiple geographies according to changing business requirements, while reducing operational costs and meeting data residency regulations.

The partnership supports Vodafone’s multi-year initiative to consolidate and modernize the technology infrastructure that supports its mission-critical systems into a shared, on-premises, open-standard platform capable of supporting and scaling next-generation digital services. It will also help Vodafone further its Tech 2025 goals: reducing time-to-market of its services, providing stand-out customer experiences through always-on services, and reducing operational costs through automation.

“As Vodafone focuses on growth, data is key to how we evolve our business, build new capabilities and innovate to meet the needs of our customers. Our collaboration with Oracle supports our vision of becoming a technology communications company,” said Scott Petty, Chief Digital & IT Officer, Vodafone. “The agreement enables Oracle to bring its entire portfolio of cloud services directly into Vodafone data centers. This includes the same architecture, software, services and control plane used in OCI public cloud. The flexibility offered by OCI enables us to build a robust, secure, and extensible cloud platform in our own data centers, while also providing the operational agility and scalability required to support the growth and diversification of our business.”

“Telecom companies are reimagining their business models to innovate and monetize new opportunities at speed and at scale,” said Clay Magouyrk, executive vice president, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. “Vodafone is at the forefront of this thinking, and we are excited to bring the power of OCI to Vodafone’s data centers to support the company and its partners as they fast-track this vision and deliver the next generation of connected services.”

“Now more than ever, telecom companies need to quickly adopt new technologies to deliver new innovative products at speed while continuing to meet evolving regulatory requirements. Our partnership with Vodafone is based on achieving this balance, providing a cloud platform that enables Vodafone to modernize and consolidate its existing infrastructure while also building a foundation for a digital future. We are looking forward to partnering with one of the telecom sector’s digital trailblazers as we help shape the next generation of communication services and business models,” said Jonathan Tikochinsky, executive vice president, global strategic clients, Oracle.