EPAM Builds VR Worlds for Vodafone España on AWS

Vodafone España came up with an ambitious plan during the COVID-19 pandemic to meet younger customers’ desire for virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) experiences, while also creating something that would appeal to older, less technologically minded customers.

It recognized that it would need help to achieve such a transformative project—moving from being purely a network provider to a content creator, while also building the high-performance, low-latency infrastructure that virtual worlds require.

The idea came out of exploring use cases for 5G technology as Vodafone España rolled out its network. It looked for a partner with VR and AR experience and chose AWS Partner EPAM after considering several options. “EPAM was super helpful and understood that this was a totally new field for us, and we really needed help and guidance,” says Marta de Pablos, head of new business at Vodafone España. “Other partners were too specific. We knew that this project was going to evolve and change over time—EPAM and AWS had the expertise and agility we needed for this level of transformation.”

EPAM and Vodafone España initially thought customers would be interested in VR and AR experiences in gaming, video, and travel. But during a pilot phase, they found that customers were also interested in using relaxation or meditation rooms, and a social room where they could invite friends to talk. They also wanted a simple streaming-style interface to make their first choices about activities. “Thanks to EPAM and AWS, we were quickly able to meet these demands,” says de Pablos. “AWS means the development platform and the infrastructure are easy to build and scale.”

Originally, Vodafone España considered building the platform on its own systems but quickly realized that the benefits of scalability made the cloud a better fit. It looked at other providers, but AWS had the local support and the open infrastructure that it required. This flexibility also meant it was easy for Vodafone España to pause the launch when Spain’s COVID-19 pandemic lockdown ended and there was more interest in real-world interactions.

The cloud-native architecture gives Vodafone's virtual world agility, scalability, and a seamless customer experience. Its use of serverless computing and content distribution provides speed and responsiveness while controlling costs. Vodafone España uses AWS Cloud Map to register and manage application resources with custom names. This constantly monitors the health and location of these resources, ensuring the application always accesses the most up-to-date and available resources. This dynamic resource management enhances the application's availability, scalability, and reliability. It helps deliver a seamless user experience, make the most efficient use of available resources management, and aligns with modern DevOps practices.

AWS Storage Gateway provides a bridge between on-premises environments and cloud storage services. This provides Vodafone España with scalable and elastic storage, data backup and archiving, data tiering for optimized cost and performance, and integration with various AWS services. It also eases integration for the service’s external content partners.

The project has now had a successful soft launch. A key benefit is the ability it gives Vodafone España to easily localize content for a Spanish-speaking audience. While Vodafone España was keen to reach a broad range of customers, the penetration and democratization of VR/AR devices has been a challenge—most users still rely on their mobile phones to access the system, as VR/AR-specific devices are expensive. However, it has managed to spread interest beyond the obvious 18–20-year-old tech-obsessed gaming enthusiasts.

There are three main segments of users. The first is young, technology-literate users looking for gaming and entertainment. The second is families seeking out activities for all ages along with educational and learning experiences. Finally, a third group comprised content lovers who look for activities and content related to the genres or specific content that they love. “Cirque du Soleil created one of our most popular pieces of content,” says de Pablos. “It is totally different to the theater—you are right in the center of the action. It is a really emotional and scary experience, it’s fantastic!”

The project has sparked interest inside and outside the company. Internally, potential uses include improving customer service for technical support and creating a virtual way to make handset and contract sales. Externally, it has changed how people view the Vodafone España brand and increased loyalty among users.

According to a survey of more than 2,000 Vodafone España customers, users see it as innovative and powerful, and the sort of experience they associate with content specialists like Amazon Prime and Netflix. It increased users’ attachment and loyalty to the Vodafone España brand. While monetizing the service is likely 3–5 years away, it is already having an impact on how the company is perceived.

Although the virtual world was created as a consumer product, Vodafone España has sparked a lot of interest from enterprises as it is one of the largest Spanish VR platforms. Businesses want to use the VR meeting rooms for inter-company and customer meetings or to demonstrate their goods and services to potential customers. This could be another potential source of revenue. In the short term, revenue generation is not a focus for Vodafone España. “To be honest we don’t know which revenue model will be most effective,” says de Pablos. “It could be subscription, pay-per-use, or supported by advertising. What’s important right now is that it’s boosting customer loyalty and that’s crucial for any mobile operator.”