SDP Global Summit 2012, Rome, 11th-14th September

The SDP (Service Delivery Platform) Global Summit 2012 takes place in Rome from the 11th-14th September.

On Tuesday the 11th September is the API focus day.  I recently founded a Telecom APIs group on Linkedin, its generating some interesting discussions such as:

I think the API day going to be a fun as there’s lots to discuss.  OMA (Open Mobile Alliance) ignored the feedback given to it at last year’s SDP conference and has wasted time and effort standardizing APIs, rather than providing guidelines and letting the market decide, or simply copying Twilio as what they’ve done is working for the long tail.  More importantly than wasted standards efforts, we’re finally seeing real quantifiable Telecom API successes and failures, so its a good time to review the real-world experiences of operators in the market.

Through the main conference (12th and 13th September) there are lots of operator discussions:

  • Telefonica: the archetype group SDP deployment, and of course the creation of Telefonica Digital as a separate organization focused on the customer not the network.  The report “The Services Domain” discusses this model in depth.
  • Telecom Italia: World’s most successful API deployment by volume of transaction (supports all TI’s xVNOs).
  • Vodafone, Michel Burger share VF’s web-services oriented SDP architecture.
  • Orange Group and their experiences with APIs.
  • Other operators include Swisscom., Grameenphone, BH Telecom, Bouygues Telecom, Portugal Telecom and Globe Telecom.

The two main themes of the conference focus on business and technology, there will be an afternoon-long session on enterprise and the SDP, which is becoming a critical battle ground as the combination of Salesforce.com and Twilio (within 18 months this acquisition could happen) will result in the loss of much enterprise business OTT (Over The Top) for operators.  The timing of this conference is good, we need a frank review point on the progress of our industry to innovate faster, and I’m going to do my best to ensure the discussion is frank, to the point, and intolerant of vendor or standards body BS 😉

I’ll be running a post-conference workshop on Friday 14th September 2012 from 09:30 – 16:30 entitled – Telecom Innovation: Service Delivery Platforms, APIs, Open Innovation, Application Stores, Over The Top and The Services Domain.

The objectives of this workshop are:

  • Review the impact of continued commoditization, and increased competition including OTT services on telecom revenues through the rest of this decade, based on a 2012 global operator survey.  This will include understand the revenue potential from APIs and the mitigation provided by operators’ own OTT initiatives, e.g. Telefonica’s Tu Me (or is it Me Tu?) and Roger’s One Number.
  • Through 20+ case studies review where and why SDP deployments are working, examining the reality behind the hype, understanding the variety of SDP business cases.  How the SDP enables an operator to innovate in services and business models faster, to fail more often, and hence discover success to remain relevant to customers.
  • Understand the failures in operator’s ADCs (Application Developer Community) and the keys to success based upon extensive application developer interviews and operator successes.
  • APIs across the whole tail: What partners, innovators, developers, enterprises, content owners, existing customers, and internal operator development groups need from Telco APIs.  Understand how Telco APIs can be successful, and how enterprises successfully using APIs today.
  • Why we need to look beyond technology and consider organization wide change with the Services Domain to be successful in service innovation.  Reviewing Telefonica Digital and SingTel’s latest reorganizations.
  • What’s an operator needs to do given their specific local market conditions.

Workshop Structure

1. Introducing the Basics

  • SDP overview: A frank independent review of the SDP, Telco API, service and business model innovation, and how they apply across mobile, fixed and broadband operators.
  • Definitions & Acronym soup: Understanding the core components of an SDP, such as service creation, service execution, content delivery and network abstraction. Understanding the many components associated with SDP, including API, REST, Ruby, GSMA OneAPI, OMA, W3C, WAC, AJAX, SOA, OAuth, RCS, IMS, BOSS, to name just a few acronyms.
  • The SDP landscape: Mapping the range of solutions suppliers label as SDP. Understanding where and how each type of SDP is used across legacy voice, IPTV, mobile content, web content, advanced communication services, API exposure, business model innovation, and integrated NGOSS (Next Generation Operational Support System) solutions.

2. Global Operator Survey

  • Review respondents
  • Project Status
  • Vendor ratings
  • Barriers and business drivers to getting the project started
  • Pricing, project size, ROI, and learning
  • Global Telecom Revenues through the rest of this decade
  • Impact of Cloud Computing, LTE, OTT, IMS, WAC, SOA, M2M, RCS, OTT

3. APIs

  • Operator APIs, Open Innovation, Application Developer Community Activities and Stores
  • Review of operators’ stores and ADCs (Application Developer Community): BlueVia / O2 Litmus, Orange Partner, Telus, Three, Telenor’s CPA and Fusion, Verizon Developer Community.
  • Reviewing the consumer electronics manufacturers, and other Over The Top stores
  • Including Apple (AppStore and AppleTV), Nokia / Microsoft, Google Play, Blackberry, Samsung (mobile and TV), Sony Store, Amazon On Demand, etc.
  • What application developers need from an ADC, a Telco API, and more generally from an operator.
  • Understanding the different operator customers that will embed telecoms into their business and customer relationship.  Where’s the Money?  Understanding why it’s across the tail, not the long tail.  Home truths and recommendations.

4. In-Depth Case Studies across:

  • Telefonica, BlueVia, and Telefonica Digital: covering their use of Agile Development, SOA, ESB Federation, enterprise application stores, Tu Me, and creation of a separate innovation organization.
  • Roger’s One Number
  • Etisalat’s converged SDP
  • Oi’s voice-centric SDP
  • Softbank and Telkomsel: Role of Service Brokers
  • Saudi Telecom Group’s Service Delivery Framework
  • Mobily SDP
  • Etisalat Sri Lanka Cloud SDP
  • Rancore open source SDP
  • Telenor SDP
  • Telecom Italia’s API success
  • Aircel’s API and App Store success
  • Verizon’s API success
  • Voxeo: Over The Top Real-time API ecosystem
  • Megafon, China Mobile, American Movil, Tata Docomo, SingTel, and lots more….

5. Discussion on what suppliers and operator needs to do given their specific local market conditions.