Overview
In partnership with Vodafone Idea’s enterprise arm (Vi Business) and AWS, AKOOL integrated our Streaming Avatar real-time avatar technology into Vi’s IoT Innovation Lab in Mumbai. This collaboration illustrates how our platform moves video from traditional production pipelines toward live “presence” — enabling enterprises to communicate more authentically, globally, and at scale.
The Challenge
Vi Business had launched the IoT Innovation Lab in Mumbai to serve as a co-creation, prototyping, and certification hub for IoT, edge-AI, 5G/4G/NB-IoT solutions.
The lab’s goal: provide an ecosystem where device vendors, start-ups, and enterprises could test real-world use-cases, simulate networks (2G to 5G + NB-IoT), and certify solutions for market readiness.
Within that context, Vi identified a need for compelling enterprise-facing communication solutions that transcend traditional video — ones that incorporate real-time avatars, multilingual live translation, and immersive presence for customer, partner and internal engagement.
Our Solution
AKOOL brought its Streaming Avatar real-time video generation platform into the IoT Innovation Lab environment in collaboration with AWS cloud/edge infrastructure and Vi’s network connectivity backbone.
Key elements:
- Real-time avatar engine: enabling production-quality live digital avatars (our “real-time digital avatars” terminology) that can appear, speak, translate live, and interact.
- Live translation and localization workflows: avatars operating in multiple languages, enabling Vi’s global enterprise clients to engage non-English audiences.
- Edge/cloud deployment via AWS + Vi network: leveraging AWS for scalable real-time processing, and Vi’s lab network infrastructure (2G-5G/NB-IoT simulation) for low-latency, network-aware delivery.
- Co-creation & certification support inside the Lab: The innovation lab setup (co-creation zone, network simulation lab, device certification) provided an ideal environment for provisioning, testing and validating the avatar workflows under enterprise-grade and network-varied conditions.
Implementation
Within the IoT Innovation Lab in Mumbai:
- We set up a dedicated workflow station in the “Co-creation Zone” of the lab, enabling Vi, AWS and AKOOL engineers and designers to iterate prototypes.
- Using the lab’s full-stack network simulation (2G to 5G + NB-IoT), we tested avatar performance under various network conditions (latency, packet variation) replicating field enterprise connectivity—this enabled us to optimise for consistent live presence.
- We integrated AWS cloud/edge resources for real-time rendering and translation pipelines, enabling avatars to be delivered to endpoint devices with minimal delay.
- A joint certification path was followed (via Vi, AWS and the lab’s certification partner Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT)), ensuring our solution complied with oneM2M standards and enterprise network interoperability.
- We engaged with enterprise customers in the lab’s “Inspire → Orchestrate → Transform” cycle: demo, workshop, pilot-deployment.
Results & Benefits
- Faster time to pilot: Using the lab’s integrated setup allowed us to move from concept to a functional pilot much faster than typical deployments — prototypes were validated under live network conditions early.
- Network-aware performance optimisation: Deployment under varied network simulation (2G to 5G/NB-IoT) means our avatars are better adapted to enterprise customer conditions across India’s connectivity realities.
- Scalable global readiness: Avatars with live translation and multi-lingual capabilities enable Vi’s enterprise customers to address multilingual audiences with presence rather than static video.
- De-risked roll-out: The certification and testing environment in the lab (including oneM2M compliance) reduces risk for both Vi and enterprise customers by ensuring interoperability, reliability and readiness.
- Enhanced market visibility: By being part of Vi Business’s IoT Innovation Lab with AWS, the streaming-avatar solution gained exposure in an ecosystem of IoT/start-ups, enterprises and innovation partners.
Strategic Impact
For AKOOL, this partnership demonstrated the versatility of our platform beyond content creators and into enterprise-communications at scale. It positioned AKOOL as a live-presence platform suitable for telecom/IoT networks, not just conventional video production. For Vi Business, integrating streaming-avatar capabilities broadens their innovation lab’s appeal: from device/testing hub to rich multimedia communications hub, differentiating their enterprise offering. For AWS, the collaboration shows how cloud/edge capabilities can bring novel real-time video/avatar workflows into telecom/IoT ecosystems, reinforcing AWS’s value-add for telco-enterprise innovation.
Future Plans
- Expand the avatar workflows into Vi Business’s enterprise customer base in India — including sectors such as manufacturing, utilities, logistics, where real-time presence can replace traditional remote video conferencing or on-site visits.
- Leverage the network simulation lab for field-typical deployments (factory floor, remote plant, logistics hub) and refine avatar performance under extreme network/edge conditions.
- Develop co-marketing and go-to-market programmes jointly with Vi and AWS to offer real-time avatar communications as a packaged solution via the innovation lab ecosystem.
- Extend translation/localisation capabilities, avatar customisation (industry-specific avatars), and integrate further enterprise workflows (e.g., live Q&A, hybrid human-avatar presentations, localized regional languages).
Key Takeaways
- Partnering with a telecom/IoT innovation lab (Vi Business IoT Innovation Lab) brings strong advantages: access to network simulation, device-certification capabilities, co-creation environment.
- Real-time avatars transform video communication from a passive medium into presence-based interaction — particularly relevant for enterprises with global, multilingual, remote needs.
- Integrating cloud/edge (AWS) + network connectivity (Vi) + innovative avatar platform (AKOOL) creates a differentiated solution stack — enabling scalable enterprise rollout of live-avatar workflows.
- Certification and interoperability testing (via C-DoT, oneM2M standards) are critical when working in network/telecom environments — planning for them early accelerates deployment readiness.
