Vodafone signs a 10-year, $1.5B deal with Microsoft that sheds European DCs Microsoft and Vodafone have inked a 10-year deal worth $1.5 billion, resulting in the telecommunication giant shuttering physical datacenters across Europe in favor of virtual ones using Azure. Both companies emphasized the generative AI angle to the deal. Vodafone plans to use Azure OpenAI "to deliver frictionless, real-time …
I was leading a team that tried to move vodafones data centres from the UK to Ireland back in 2006. It was not easy. Their software is very bespoke and did not like being moved.
We also had a lovely experience during a storm force gale. They had two links between UK & Ireland. One through Wales and one through Scotland. You'd think that would be enough separation - but no. The scottish link - a trawler dragged its anchor during the storm and tore up the undersea link. At the same time a wall blew over in Wales and destroyed that link in doing so.
It was a fun project.
> They had two links between UK & Ireland. One through Wales and one through Scotland. You'd think that would be enough separation - but no.
I remember after Vodafone Germany moved their support call centre to Egypt that there were several Winters in a row when multiple submarine cables between Europe and Egypt were damaged during storms. The 1st year after the move 2 of the 3 (or was it 3 of the 4?) Europe-Egypt cables broke and Vodafone had to reopen a temporary call centre in Germany. This sort of thing is typical during storms despite there apparently being laws/"rules" in place that ban boats from anchoring near submarine cables.
Vodafone have 3 links between Ireland/NI and Scotland/England/Wales - "Lanis-3" Scotland-NI, "Lanis-2/Lanis-1" Scot-IsleOfMan-NI, "Solas" Wales-Ireland cables.
Vodafone also have "backup" link arrangements, i.e. their "Lanis-3" and "Lanis-2/Lanis-1" routes are AFAIK backed up via an agreement with either Virgin Media ("Sirius North" Scot-NI) or BT (3 x Scot-NI and 1 Scot-IsleofMan-NI cables) - I forget which the agreement is with, I *think* it is Virgin Media. Vodafone's "Solas" cable is backed up via either Virgin Media ("Sirius South" UK-Ireland) or BT ("ESAT-2" UK-Ireland) cables.
So Vodafone are not short of their own cables and backup routes via at least one rival that they have agreements with.
https://www.submarinecablemap.com/submarine-cable/lanis-1
https://www.submarinecablemap.com/submarine-cable/lanis-2
https://www.submarinecablemap.com/submarine-cable/lanis-3
https://www.submarinecablemap.com/submarine-cable/solas
https://www.submarinecablemap.com/submarine-cable/sirius-north
https://www.submarinecablemap.com/submarine-cable/sirius-south
https://www.submarinecablemap.com/submarine-cable/scotland-northern-ireland-2
https://www.submarinecablemap.com/submarine-cable/scotland-northern-ireland-3
https://www.submarinecablemap.com/submarine-cable/scotland-northern-ireland-4
https://www.submarinecablemap.com/submarine-cable/bt-mt-1
https://www.submarinecablemap.com/submarine-cable/esat-2
Meanwhile, in the real world:
Various claims are filed as a result of the issuance of duplicate SIM cards to third parties other than subscribers. As a result of the above, the holders of the telephone line are not only left without service, but the third parties access their bank accounts.
We find an assumption of using fraudulent practices based on the generation of duplicates of SIM cards without the consent of their legitimate holders in order to access confidential information for criminal purposes (known as "SIM Swapping").
It has been verified that the measures implemented by VODAFONE ESPAÑA, S.A.U. were insufficient, so they generated a loss of confidentiality and the transfer of personal data to a third party.
It was also found the lack of accountability by not having implemented an effective GDPR compliance and management model to avoid the risk of identity theft, in relation to the absence of adequate security measures and aimed at ensuring the procedure of identification and delivery of the SIM card, the materialization of the risks, the delayed temporary reaction to the events described, in addition to the inadequacy of the measures taken.
Unfortunately they were only fined €4M.
Unfortunately they were only fined €4M
Written off under the "cost of business" section. Counterbalanced by the large amount of money they "saved" by not actually doing things according to the rules..
"Vodafone plans to use Azure OpenAI "to deliver frictionless, real-time, proactive and hyperpersonalized experiences across all Vodafone customer touchpoints.""
WTF is that word-salad supposed to mean? Why do corporate comunications seem to consist of a meaningless assemblage of the current buzz-words?
Ok, so which clapped out 386 they run the SME customer portal on?
GUI dating from the mid 2000s, performance on par with dial up from the 1990s and pages loading times in excess of 10 seconds for a 99% text interface!!
Absolute garbage and should face the fate of the Office Space printer immediately.
My assumption for why they keep it around is it makes it so hellish to use few customers ever query their wildly incorrect bills.
Vodafone has already outsourced a lot of stuff and is actively engaged in tower and network sharing in many countries. Sell off the data centres and what else is left?
Systemically, the risks posed to our economies by this kind of concentration are at least as high as those posed by using Chinese suppliers.
Memorable quotes:
- transform the telco's customer services
- more consistent and intelligent responses to queries
- help Vodafone's customer service staff improve productivity and the quality of their conversations, the company said, rather than replacing them with AI
- We are excited
= run
