It’s easy to think of a network as something that provides connectivity. It allows us to make and receive calls, send messages and use the internet.
But Vodafone’s network has become a highly sophisticated piece of infrastructure, capable of so much more. Through NaaP, we’re opening access to the enhanced capabilities of our network for innovators within and outside our business.
What is NaaP? Introducing Network as a Platform
Vodafone’s mobile network has a wide range of capabilities that go beyond basic connectivity. These enhanced capabilities include the potential for data transmission at gigabit speeds with minimal latency, accurate location tracking of specific devices (all data is anonymised – for more information visit our privacy centre), cloud-based services and more. And they can act as a foundation for the development of new technologies, products and services.
NaaP is our way of providing our product creators and software engineers, as well as third-party developers and businesses outside Vodafone, with access to those additional capabilities, enabling them to innovate through harnessing the power and scale of our network.
How does NaaP work?
Our objective is to extract the complexity from the network and present it in a simple interface using software that can be easily adapted for the unique purposes of each user.
For each additional capability of the network, we are developing a simple application programming interface (API) that engineers can ‘plug into’ and use. These APIs package up all the complexity of the network and deliver it in a format that is easy to integrate into new products or services. These APIs will then be made available to developers through a catalogue within a single, modern, cloud-based platform. Developers can use the catalogue to find the API they need and plug into it directly, enabling easy integration with their own new products or services.
Vodafone operates the largest fixed and mobile network in Europe. It is the same across all our markets. That means that any innovations built using NaaP can be developed once and rolled out at scale.
We are working on and testing a range of new APIs already and the platform is in development. We expect this to be made available to external developers later in 2022.
NaaP examples and use cases
Personalising the network
Optimising the performance of devices based on how they’re used.
Anonymised, aggregated location data
Putting data to good use, helping improve public services and more.
Caller ID
Enriching calls to allow companies to be identified to the called party with a brand name.
Connected drones
Enabling safer flight paths for drones – the next step in developing in delivering mail ‘from the sky’ or providing services to remote or hard to reach areas.
Fraud prevention
Helping banks detect unusual transactions and pause them where necessary.
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