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Databricks has taken another step to expand its customer base by launching a new industry-specific offering for telecom companies and network service providers. Named the Data Intelligence Platform for Communications, this new offering leverages Databricks’ data lakehouse architecture, generative AI models from MosaicML (which Databricks acquired less than a year ago), and partner-powered solution accelerators. It provides communication service providers (CSPs) with a quick and efficient way to maximize their datasets and grow their businesses.
This new platform, available starting today, adds to the growing number of industry-specific offerings on the market. Databricks has introduced several such offerings, and so has its competitor Snowflake. Databricks claims it is already seeing positive traction with this new platform, with enterprises like AT&T benefiting significantly.
Databricks initially marketed its core platform as the Data Lakehouse, a solution that allowed enterprises to integrate structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data for building AI/ML applications. Last year, the company acquired MosaicML for $1.3 billion, enhancing its AI capabilities and consolidating all necessary components into one place. This led to the rebranding of the Data Lakehouse as the Data Intelligence Platform, which combines the unified foundation of the lakehouse architecture with an AI-driven data intelligence engine.
With the Databricks platform, teams often had to build downstream applications from scratch for various use cases, which was time-consuming. The new industry-specific offerings, such as the Data Intelligence Platform for Communications, address this by providing pre-packaged solutions. These solutions allow telecom companies and network providers to extract business-relevant information (including unstructured data) from their customers and use it to jumpstart workflows for high-value use cases.
Some of the accelerators offered by Databricks include large language models (LLMs) for building customer support chatbots, analytical dashboards to improve network reliability and reduce customer churn, geospatial analytics to identify anomalous card transactions, and entity resolution dashboards for a comprehensive view of customers. Databricks is providing these capabilities in partnership with companies like Accenture, Amdocs, Capgemini, Slalom, and Tredence.
While this industry-specific platform has just been announced, many telecom companies, including T-Mobile and AT&T, are already using Databricks for various business benefits. Databricks enables T-Mobile to determine construction readiness, ensure timely procurement of cell-site equipment, and identify fraud and waste of network materials. AT&T uses the platform to protect its customers from fraud and increase operational efficiencies. Databricks also forms the data foundation for Comcast, which uses it to activate unified customer experiences across multiple product platforms in real time.
In addition to telecom, Databricks offers tailored solutions for other industries, including manufacturing and retail. This industry-specific approach is also being used by Snowflake, which provides eight industry-tailored data clouds, including one for telecom.
According to Steve Sobel, global head for communications and media & entertainment business at Databricks, AI will reshape industries, and the leaders will be those who deeply leverage data and AI to power their organizations. Data Intelligence Platforms will be essential for these organizations, enabling them to create the next generation of data and AI applications with quality, speed, and agility.
Currently, more than 10,000 organizations worldwide use the Databricks platform, including Comcast, Condé Nast, Grammarly, and over 50% of the Fortune 500.