TM Forum in Collaboration With Microsoft Makes Carrier-Grade Open Source ODA Canvases a Reality for Global Telcos

TM Forum announced that its Open Digital Architecture Canvas is expanding its support for telco organizations with the availability of Microsoft assets for the TM Forum ODA Reference Canvas through GitHub. This will enable Communication Services Providers of all sizes to quickly and easily build a carrier-grade ODA Canvas on Microsoft Azure using pre-built modules.

The ODA Canvas provides a robust, cloud-native execution environment for reusable ODA Components that enable significantly faster and simpler lifecycle management and site reliability engineering for telecoms software. ODA Components define reusable building blocks for composable, flexible IT and network systems that are enabling the industry to move away from monolithic, legacy software towards an agile, horizontal, plug-and-play future – dramatically reducing costs, transforming customer experiences, and enabling the business agility to re-ignite growth.

By leveraging Azure, including Azure Kubernetes Service for hosting ODA Components and Microsoft Entra ID for identity C access management, within the TM Forum ODA Reference Canvas, CSPs can build their own operational Canvases from carrier grade commercially supported pre-built modules to streamline their operations and reduce time-to-market for new services.

Additionally, by contributing to the TM Forum Reference ODA Canvas as open source – including documentation and configuration scripts – Microsoft is democratizing access to cutting-edge technology. CSPs of every size – from startups to tier 1 operators – can now build ODA canvases from an open source toolkit in GitHub, encouraging a more competitive and diverse industry landscape while fostering the collaboration and innovation needed to ensure the continuous development of the entire ODA ecosystem.

Vodafone is one of the founding members of TM Forum’s Innovation Hub, and an industry leader in ODA development. It is already using an ODA Canvas in a live environment in Greece - ahead of the reference implementation becoming generally available to the industry in early 2025 - and believes it can improve agility and operational efficiency by a factor of ten. From the 1st of January, Vodafone will expect its IT suppliers to demonstrate their commitment to adopting the ODA Canvas, taking a similar approach to helping drive Open API adoption by making compliance a pre-requisite of winning a contract.

George Glass, CTO, TM Forum: “Microsoft’s contribution of commercially supported Canvas Operators to the TM Forum Reference ODA Canvas is a significant step towards making the vision of a truly interoperable and open ODA ecosystem a reality. Microsoft is empowering CSPs of all sizes to build and deploy carrier-grade open source ODA Canvases tailored to their specific needs. This is a powerful example of the collaborative innovation that’s required to drive the global telco industry towards a more agile and efficient future.”

Dr. Lester Thomas, Head of New Technologies and Innovation at Vodafone: “It's important when building a standard not to hinder innovation. A major benefit of the ODA Canvas is how it enables hyperscalers and software companies to offer innovative solutions that can automatically plug in to a CSP’s existing IT environment using new cloud-native software features that are ODA-compliant. At Vodafone, we expect to realize significant benefits from this approach. It’s as a win-win for the industry.”

Rick Lievano, CTO Worldwide Telecommunications Industry, Microsoft: “The implementation of TM Forum’s ODA Canvas on Microsoft Azure marks a significant milestone in the telco industry. By combining the strengths of TM Forum’s Open Digital Architecture with Microsoft’s powerful cloud platform, this initiative promises to drive innovation, enhance customer experiences, and strengthen industry partnerships. As the telco landscape continues to evolve, such collaborations will be crucial in shaping a more agile, efficient, and customer-centric future.”

Microsoft’s contribution begins the evolution of the ODA Canvas from a standalone open source reference implementation to a powerful toolkit with which CSPs and system integrators can build a customized Canvas to suit their exact needs on their chosen cloud platform.

Exos Systems, an international consultancy and TM Forum Member that works with Microsoft, is one of the early users of the Azure ODA Canvas implementation. It makes use of foundational Azure capabilities like Azure Kubernetes Service for hosting ODA components and provides deployment patterns for identity and access management via Microsoft Entra ID, observability via Azure Monitor, and other supporting functions related to the ODA Canvas on Azure, enabling CSPs to easily deployable an ODA Canvas on their Azure subscriptions.

It’s anticipated that other hyperscalers will make similar open source contributions from their own ODA Canvas implementations as well as offering pre-built canvases on their own marketplaces. Independent Software Vendors including Amdocs are also using the framework when hosting components on Azure.

Anthony Goonetilleke, Group President of Technology and Head of Strategy at Amdocs: “As service providers move to the cloud, Amdocs and Microsoft are accelerating the journey, delivering faster time-to-market, cost efficiencies and enhanced flexibility. Leveraging TM Forum’s ODA Canvas on Azure and Amdocs’ ODA-ready components, we empower service providers to deploy modular, future-ready IT and network systems that support the evolving needs of the communications industry.”

Source: TM Forum media announcement