The Interoperablity Imperative

However, according to Infonetics Research, the trend toward open API's might be taking a backseat to in-house development, rather than a more open one that exposes the network to third parties.

“Interest in service exposure and APIs (application programming interfaces) continues to grow, driven by operators’ desire to interject themselves into the over-the-top value chain,” Shira Levine, directing analyst for service enablement and subscriber intelligence at Infonetics Research says. “However,” Levine continues, “we saw less interest in this year’s SDP survey in pursuing the so called 'long tail' approach, where APIs are made available to third parties, suggesting that operators are more likely to leverage APIs as part of a strategy to work with internal developers and partners in creating and delivering new services.”

Interoperability is the new imperative for the entire telecom sector. As virtualization takes hold and innovation at breakneck speeds becomes commonplace, open standards become the means by which technology can keep up, even accelerate further. Open standards are having their moment and proving their place in the future of telecom services. From applications running on a network to virtualizing core network functions, interoperability isn't something vendors or service providers can merely continue paying lip service.