Telecom Application Developer Manifesto Released for Public Comment
The sponsors of the Telecom Application Developer Summit (www.tadsummit.com) release a Manifesto to solve the Telecom Industry’s innovation gap.
Austin TX, Cambridge UK, Colombo Sri Lanka, Paris France, San Francisco CA, 1st October 2013 – Apidaze, hSenid Mobile, OnMobile, OpenCloud, Telestax, and Tropo Inc., the companies leading the new wave of telecommunication service innovation, today released a draft of the Telecom Application Developer Manifesto for public comment. The Manifesto documents what is required to make the Telecom Application Developer ecosystem a reality, through identifying the needs and responsibilities of the three main actors in this ecosystem: developers, vendors and telcos.
Globally, the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) industry will be a $5.0 trillion sector in 2013, up from $4.7 trillion for 2012. There were 6.8 billion mobile subscriptions worldwide by mid-2013, up from 5.9 billion in November 2011, according to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Most electronic products are now ‘connected’ from tablets, through TVs, to thermostats. Telecommunications is an exciting and influential industry, and continues to evolve with important trends such as:
● Rise of VoIP (Voice over IP), so voice becomes just an application on the internet, accessible to any internet connected device or application;
● Democratization of telecommunications technology with open source telecom software, easy to use and powerful telecom application platforms, and telecom APIs;
● Broader competition not just between telcos but with web-based service providers;
● Global addiction to the internet for communications, information and entertainment; and
● Evolution of mobile networks towards global broadband ubiquity.
However, a gap exists in the telecommunications industry; it lacks a viable telecom application developer ecosystem. The ecosystem gap will become critical as voice and messaging revenues are under pressure from app and web-based services such as Skype, Whatsapp, WebRTC, KakaoTalk, and increasingly ubiquitous internet connectivity. To respond, the telecoms industry must deliver more services built on the telecommunications network.
The purpose of the Telecom Application Developer Manifesto is to set out from the grassroots of the industry what is required to make this ecosystem a reality by identifying the needs and responsibilities of developers, telcos and vendors. The companies and developers play a critical role in brokering this ecosystem through meeting the needs of developer and telco; and ensuring the go-to-market and business model needs are aligned. With this alignment, innovations from developers can deliver hundreds of new services to the telcos’ customers. And, critically, we must not forget the vendor’s and the industry’s need for transparency and publicity to share best practices, rather than remain divided and hence conquered by web-based service providers.
“It is clear that the $1trillion market for standalone communications services such as basic phone calls and SMS’s is in danger of crumbling. To combat this, the telecoms community needs to move from having two or three monolithic $100bn+ services to ecosystems supporting multiple forms of both standalone and embedded communications, ‘manufactured’ both flexibly and at scale. The TADS Manifesto encapsulates the philosophy needed to make this a success” said Dean Bubley, director of London-based research firm Disruptive Analysis.
“The Manifesto is a template for the industry. It’s much more than just APIs – it’s about creating a profitable and sustainable telecom application developer ecosystem. Developers, vendors, and telcos must continue to collaborate to deliver competitive telecoms innovation.” explained Jonathan Bell, VP Marketing OpenCloud.
The steps to create this ecosystem include:
1. The first step is to publish the draft of the telecom application developer Manifesto for industry comment. It can be downloaded here: http://www.tadsummit.com/2013/about/#manifesto, please send your feedback to info@tadsummit.com.
2. The second step is at TADS (Telecom Application Developer Summit, www.tadsummit.com), 21-22 November Bangkok, to bring the ecosystem together to see if we can build a telecom application developers ecosystem together. And through the event revise the Manifesto given the discussions and learning to deliver the first formal issue of the Manifesto.
3. The TADS website will be an independent repository including videos from the developer summit, an active weblog with case studies of telecom application success, and where the Manifesto resides and is revised as we learn what it takes to create this ecosystem.
4. Beyond this is for the industry to decide.
About OpenCloud
OpenCloud delivers open, standards-based network service layer transformation solutions to the telecommunications industry. OpenCloud Next Generation Service Layer products enable the agile delivery of classic and Telco2.0 telecommunication services at a dramatically lower price-point across next generation IP and legacy networks. OpenCloud has more than 50 customers worldwide including multiple Vodafone and T-Mobile operating companies and Telkomsel in Indonesia. OpenCloud ranks as one of the UK’s top 50 fastest growing privately owned companies.
