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1、March 2025|inform.tmforum.orgSponsored by:Authors:Mark Newman,Chief Analyst Dawn Bushaus,Contributing AnalystEditor:Ian Kemp,Managing Editor BENCHMARK REPORTComposable IT&Ecosystemstowards anOpen DigitalArchitectureassessing CSPsprogress2contents31section 5:How CSPs are using ODA in practice14sectio

2、n 2:Assessing the business case for openness and composability26section 4:The impact of ODA for vendors07section 1:ODA explained2136section 3:What does the ODA journey look like for operators?section 6:key fjndings and recommendations03the big picture40additional features&resourcesthe big pictureThe

3、n in the late 2000s and 2010s communications service providers(CSPs)undertook IT transformation projects in an efgort to modernize their support systems.These projects were either gradual brownfjeld migrations or“big bang”transformations,with systems integrators and large best-of-suite vendors often

4、 contracted by CSPs to manage large,multi-year projects.But IT transformation initiatives have had mixed success.There was a(misplaced)belief that the very act of moving applications to the cloud would reduce operating costs,increase agility and help deliver better customer experiences.Outdated proc

5、urement approaches have been a major contributor to disappointing IT transformation results.New systems and functionalities were often delivered years after there was a business need for them.And the process of selecting,shortlisting and negotiating with vendors frequently resulted in contracts that

6、 failed to meet the requirements of the business.To get the functionality they needed,operators had to make costly change requests to suppliers for their proprietary systems.Throughout this whole process levels of technical debt have been growing.Within CSPs IT functions there has been deep frustrat

7、ion that a large proportion of their time and budget continues to be spent keeping existing systems running rather than investing in new capabilities to enable them to innovate and help the business move faster to respond to market threats and opportunities.Cloud-native principlesIn recent years CSP

8、s particularly tier-1 operators have started to transition to cloud-native architectures and ways of working.By adopting cloud-native principles they can move away from monolithic applications to small,independent software components that perform specifjc functions.In doing so they can take a more i

9、terative approach to modernization and transformation.CSPs have learned,through experience,that as a general rule the smaller the project the greater the chances of success.The software landscape in telecoms operators IT systems architectures developed as a patchwork quilt of vendor-specifjc solutio

10、ns sewn together with custom code and proprietary interfaces.Operational and business support systems(OSS/BSS)evolved from a series of standalone tools into a complex array of applications,but as recently as a decade ago they were still developed for specifjc functions rather than holistic operation

11、s.This evolution has resulted in what we now call the legacy environment a highly complex,constantly changing operational ecosystem,diffjcult to manage and expensive to maintain.3inform.tmforum.orgBENCHMARK4the big pictureinform.tmforum.orgAt the same time,the adoption of standardized APIs enabling

12、two or more software components to communicate using a set of standard defjnitions and protocols has helped operators to integrate difgerent vendors products and services.TM Forums Open APIs,have been at the heart of those developments.However,just because a CSP takes a component,or microservices-ba

13、sed,approach to its applications does not mean that it is going to be easy to create an infrastructure or environment where difgerent components can be deployed as part of a larger architecture.Indeed,while vendors have been quick to create environments where their own microservices can be deployed

14、quickly and easily,such environments might not be so efgective for an operator that wants to deploy components from multiple vendors.“Each vendor makes its own decision about how its cloud-native software works,”says Vodafones Head of New Technologies and Innovation,Dr.Lester Thomas.“And when I go a

15、cross the difgerent vendors,theyve all taken similar decisions,and most are in the infrastructure software space.Theyre all primarily using open source software patterns and practices,but theyre not the same.”The problems that Thomas describes in transitioning to a cloud-native environment with mult

16、iple vendors have been the driving force behind the creation of TM Forums Open Digital Architecture a toolkit and set of processes and guidelines to plan,design,build and operate a cloud-native telco.The ultimate vision of the ODA is to create a plug-and-play environment for components that can be b

17、ought and sold in an online marketplace(a fuller explanation of ODA and that vision is detailed in the next section of the report).The ODA brings together many existing TM Forum assets for example,Open APIs,the eTOM Business Process Framework and the Information Framework(SID).But perhaps its two hi

18、ghest-profjle innovations are ODA Components the identifjcation and defjnition of independently deployable pieces of software,typically built out of one or more microservices and the ODA Canvas,a plug-and-play environment for the deployment of ODA Components.Where are we on the ODA journey?TM Forums

19、 members have been working on the ODA since 2017 with an initial brief to help create greater clarity between the difgerent OSS/BSS domains.Over that time many of the worlds largest operators and vendors have committed to building IT environments that are conformant with the ODA.This Benchmark repor

20、t seeks to establish where the telecoms industry is today in the transition to open,composable IT systems.While it is theoretically possible to embrace an open architecture without the ODA 59%of respondents to our vendor survey(one of two surveys carried out for this report)said it would be possible

21、 for CSPs to achieve openness and composability without the ODA we are not aware of any operator that has done so.As such,our assumption in our research has been that the ODA is synonymous with strategies to embrace openness and composability.Our research is based on more than 30 in-depth briefjngs

22、with senior executives in both CSPs and their technology suppliers.CSPs Which of the following approaches best describes the operating model of your IT organization?TM Forum,2025We rely on partners to integrate our systemsOtherOur IT organization is streamlined to build bespoke point solutionsWe hav

23、e an IT implementation and delivery process that is conducive to building a modular,componentized,reusable architecture46%14%23%17%5the big pictureinform.tmforum.orgThe vast majority of CSPs were familiar with the ODA.Some of them are fully committed and already piecing together an architecture,whil

24、e others are following developments and still trying to fjgure out where and when it makes business sense to transform.Likewise,our briefjngs with vendors included companies which have seized on ODA as an initiative that shapes their products and marketing strategies,and others that are moving more

25、slowly because they are of the view that ODA is not mature enough yet.We also conducted separate CSP and vendor surveys,with the results shown in the graphics throughout The profjle of the respondents broadly matched that of our in-depth briefjngs.However,it is probably true to say that CSP responde

26、nts were skewed towards companies that are supporters and adopters of the ODA.We received 63 responses from 44 unique operators from our CSP survey and 59 responses from 46 unique companies from our vendor survey.Some of the charts combine results from the two surveys.Benefjts and challengesIn our s

27、urveys we asked both CSPs and vendors about the short-term and medium-to long-term benefjts of ODA adoption.Many of our conversations homed in on the impact of ODA on systems integration and the associated costs.One of the most pronounced challenges experienced during the growth of the telecoms IT i

28、ndustry was that of integration and interoperability.CSPs found themselves managing an ever-expanding ecosystem of applications that were not designed to work together and,in some cases,intentionally limited data exposure to competitors solutions at the interfaces.Integration projects became massive

29、 undertakings,consuming signifjcant fjnancial and staffjng resources and delaying time-to-market for new services.While there is optimism that the ODA can help to lower the“integration tax”associated with best-of-breed deployments,many CSPs are wary of estimating how much of an impact it will have(s

30、ee pie chart).When will it be possible to easily switchvendors at the ODA Component level?TM Forum,2025Its not possible to know if or when this will happen.It would require operators to significantly build their in-house capabilities and there is no guarantee that enough vendors will develop commerc

31、ial propositionsIts going to take more than five years for this to be possible as operators and vendors build the necessary competences and productsThis may become possible within the next 2-3 years as operators and vendors move to an ODA Canvas DevOps environment15%21%50%58%35%21%VendorCSPCSPs Do y

32、ou expect the adoption of ODA to result in a lesser requirement for third-party systems integration?18%21%61%TM Forum,2025Yes,we have already reduced our spend on third-party systems integrationWe think its going to take morethan five years for this to bepossible,because it will take timefor operato

33、rs and vendors to build the necessary competencesand productsWe have no idea if or when thiswill happen.It would requireoperators to significantly build their in-house capabilities andthere is no guarantee that enoughvendors will develop commercialpropositions6the big pictureinform.tmforum.orgWe als

34、o had many discussions about the benefjts of ODA in helping operators to grow revenues and develop new lines of business(see section 5 for examples of how CSPs are adopting ODA in practice).In an interview with TM Forum CEO,Nik Willetts,the CEO of Canadian operator Telus,Hesham Fahmy,explained how t

35、he ODA helped the company develop its platform and marketplace strategy.“The fjrst step is you have to create an API marketplace,”Fahmy said.“Internally,how do we start doing everything?Use API fjrst,be software driven,and then you need standardization.And then thats when we said,OK,that makes sense

36、.Then we should adopt all the ODA standards and make that the basis of the API marketplace.So that was our journey,and why it is so important,because it is core to our DNA and what we want to achieve as a company.”Some are even more unequivocal about their adoption of ODA.In a video explaining why t

37、he Spanish operator is using it,Enrique Blanco,Telefnicas recently retired Global CTIO,says:“Telefnica supports ODA for a single reason:it is the right architecture.”Read this report to learn about:The origins of the Open Digital Architecture(ODA),its evolution,and its many difgerent functional elem

38、ents The benefjts of,and business case for,openness,composability and transitioning to the ODA The operator journey to ODA adoption The impact of the ODA on vendors Practical examples of how CSPs are using ODA to deliver new and innovative services and streamline operations.7section 1:ODA explainedi

39、nform.tmforum.orgA primary goal of ODA is to“kill the RFP”and replace it with a model that focuses on experimentation through proofs of concept.The idea is to establish a market for Lego-like OSS/BSS components that CSPs can plug into their own operations environments and manage autonomously.The res

40、ult will be much faster service innovation,according to Vodafones Lester Thomas,an ODA pioneer.Indeed,Vodafone is targeting a ten-fold improvement in operational effjciency and time-to-market for new services as it implements its ODA-based Telco-as-a-Service(TaaS)cloud-native platform.ODA provides a

41、n evolutionary path to a plug-and-play architecture.It builds on a foundation of work that TM Forum members have already carried out to develop the Business Process Framework(eTOM),Information Framework(SID),Open APIs,Business Architecture,and most recently the ODA Components and Canvas,plus work in

42、 projects focusing on data analytics and AI,customer experience management and digital ecosystem management.An evolutionary approach is necessary because of the huge number of legacy support systems still in use within CSPs IT operations.A holistic approachODA provides tools for teams across a CSPs

43、business including product developers and managers in multiple business units;the IT architects and software engineers responsible for the applications that support products and services;and the IT operations teams responsible for running all the systems.Increasingly,as networks become more software

44、-centric,CSPs network teams are also turning to ODA.In simple terms,the Open Digital Architecture(ODA)is a toolkit to plan,design,build and operate a cloud-native telco.It replaces traditional operational and business support systems(OSS/BSS)with simpler IT solutions that are easier and less costly

45、to deploy,integrate and upgrade.BENCHMARK8section 1:ODA explainedThe graphic above shows the ODA and the various TM Forum projects that are working on tools in each area.Brief descriptions of the key tools follow,and you can click on each project in the graphic to learn more about that teams work.“W

46、henever you want to turn an idea into value whether its developing a new customer experience,a new product or service,or improving effjciency through automation you need to change systems and processes,”explains TM Forums Andy Tiller,EVP,Member Products&Services.“We used to make these changes in sil

47、os,where teams would plan,design,build and operate separately.Now,we do it in a much more joined up way,which is achieved through DevOps.”But because telco operations typically include support systems built by dozens of difgerent parties,the industry must agree on common processes,language,and infor

48、mation and data models so that the systems can interoperate.“We all need to use the tools in the same way,which is what ODA is about,”says Tiller.ODA for businessODAs Business Architecture improves strategic decision-making,communication between business and IT teams,and the alignment of stakeholder

49、s and implementation strategies.It includes capability and value-stream frameworks,plus a capability map to help organizations facilitate communication between business and technical teams.The Business Process Framework provides a comprehensive,industry-agreed view of important telco business proces

50、ses such as ordering a product.By using a common language across departments,systems,partners and suppliers,CSPs can reduce the cost and risk of procuring,implementing and integrating OSS/BSS.TechCo Organizational Design(TCOD)focuses on the human aspects of digital transformation.And a Digital Talen

51、t Maturity Model(DTMM)is available to help CSPs determine a base level of maturity when it comes to transforming their organizations talent and culture.Read this report to learn more about fjnding skills for the future and TCOD:REPORTAuthor:Dawn Bushaus,Contributing AnalystEditor:Ian Kemp,Managing E

52、ditorSponsored by:inside thetelco talentrevolutionfinding skills for the future:TM Forum|May 2024inform.tmforum.orgOpen Digital ArchitectureBusinessInformatjon SystemsImplementatjonDeployment&RuntjmeCapability FrameworkTechnical ArchitectureOpen APIsData ModelsCanvasOperatjons FrameworksReference Im

53、plementatjonGovernanceInformatjon Framework(SID)Functjonal FrameworkFunctjonal ArchitectureValue Stream FrameworkPeople,Organizatjon&CultureComponentsData Architecturework in progressVersion 3.0.5 TM Forum 2025 Concepts&PrinciplesDesign GuidesAPI GovernanceAI GovernanceData GovernanceSecurityTransfo

54、rmatjon GuidesMaturity ModelsMetricsEnd to End ODAInformatjon Systems ArchitectureComponents and CanvasOpen APIsBusiness ArchitectureODA-CA Component AcceleratorTechCo Organizatjonal DesignTM Forum,2025ODA covers all parts of a CSPs businessProcess Framework(eTOM)9section 1:ODA explainedInformation

55、systemsThe Information Systems Architecture provides the systems and data view within ODA.It contains a functional architecture and framework,plus the Information Framework.The Information Framework provides an information reference model along with a common vocabulary for implementing business proc

56、esses.It also provides the basis for a common data model and a common data dictionary,laying the foundation for application,component and API development.New work in this area includes the development of a modern data architecture so that telco operations can evolve to better support AI.This will be

57、 the subject of an upcoming TM Forum survey and report.Implementation and deploymentODA implementation and deployment are closely related.Implementation focuses on providing machine-readable specifjcations and code so that ODA principles can be embedded in software systems,while the deployment archi

58、tecture ensures the effjcient management and operations of these systems,including automation.Both require Open APIs and standardized ODA Components,and deployment also requires a run-time environment,or“canvas”(see p.10 for more explanation of the ODA Canvas).TM Forums Open APIs have been widely ad

59、opted in the telecoms industry as a standard way to integrate disparate systems and make them interoperable.More than 70 Open APIs have been collaboratively developed by TM Forum members working within the Open API Project,with REST-based,asynchronous and domain context specifjc versions being relea

60、sed.The Open API project creates a full set of Open API assets including guidelines to specifjcation,usable code and compliance testing.As of March 2025,the Open APIs had been downloaded more than 1 million times by 50,000+software developers from 3,000 organizations.What are ODA Components?ODA Comp

61、onents are the independently deployable software building blocks for a composable IT estate,typically built out of one or more microservices.Each Component has a machine-readable(YAML)specifjcation that provides metadata to describe its core function for example,rating,pricing or invoice production,

62、which are all parts of a billing system and specify which Open APIs it exposes or depends upon.In the Component image in the box below,the core function is shown in green.The specifjcation also describes complementary functions relating to how the component is deployed and managed on the ODA Canvas.

63、These are shown in red,yellow,blue and grey in the image.inform.tmforum.org Support real-time,dynamic integration via Open APIs they can be assembled like Lego blocks,with the Open APIs and a standard data model to enable zero-touch interoperability.Expose their business capabilities(which are disco

64、verable via catalogs)externally through Open APIs this enables zero-touch partnering.Support a common data architecture they contain their own data and share it in real time,which makes them AI-ready.Microservices-based they support cloud-native deployment,which means they can be managed autonomousl

65、y with self-healing and self-scaling capabilities.Can be automatically deployed and managed in an operational canvas they expose operational interfaces for management,monitoring,security and reporting.Features of ODA Components TM Forum,202210section 1:ODA explained“Were developing a market for ODA

66、Components,so that everyone can buy and sell compatible software,”explains Tiller.“But were not at least not yet developing a marketplace like an online shop where you can buy a component.Its still too complex for that.”ODA Component conformance certifjcation gives software suppliers a set of tools

67、and processes to test and verify whether their commercial software products adhere to the ODA standards.This allows them to claim conformance and potentially gain market advantage by demonstrating compatibility with other ODA-compliant systems.General availability of these tools,including assistance

68、 for vendors in using them,is expected in June 2025.An ODA Component Directory helps CSPs fjnd the Components they need and the suppliers that are developing compliant products.So far,more than 35 Components have been specifjed,with others at the prototype stage.Around 70 in total are planned to cov

69、er the OSS/BSS landscape.More than 100 software providers have mapped their commercial products to the ODA Components and listed them in the directory.CSPs viewing the directory can see all the vendors for every component,including where they are on the journey to compliance based on formal Open API

70、 and ODA Component conformance certifjcations.Whats the ODA Canvas?Development of the ODA Canvas began in 2019 as part of the Business Operating System Catalyst project,which aimed to produce an interoperable reference implementation of a telcos core commerce management system including a product ca

71、talog and order management service.The point was to drastically simplify integration of IT systems by developing a plug-and-play environment to enable zero-touch operations.To understand the Canvas,it helps to think of Components as Lego building blocks.The size of the studs and the dimensions of th

72、e blocks are standard so that they can be plugged together to construct objects.But to build a city out of Lego blocks,you need a stud board to support the Components and supply common services(imagine an electricity supply to light up or power multiple Lego blocks).So,TM Forum members needed to agr

73、ee on the functional standards that make Components interoperable,but they also had to specify how they should plug into a cloud-native runtime environment.Ongoing development of the reference Canvas is happening in TM Forums Innovation Hub a physical lab in India using a DevOps continuous integrati

74、on/continuous delivery(CI/CD)pipeline.The reference Canvas is being built on Kubernetes,but the specifjcation is platform independent and interoperable through the Kubernetes API.The ODA Canvas became available for widespread use in January 2025 and,as such,CSPs are only now starting to benefjt from

75、 its ability to automate operations using Site Reliability Engineering(SRE)practices.That said,nearly a third of respondents to our CSP survey said their organizations were making good progress towards an ODA Canvas DevOps environment(see pie chart).Customizing canvasesCSPs and cloud providers are d

76、eveloping their own canvases based on the reference ODA Canvas.Vodafones version is its TaaS platform,for example,while Deutsche Telekom is developing a canvas called Magenta.Similarly,Orange is using ODA to create its Telco Cloud Factory.Bell Canada and Jio also have ODA-compliant canvases.inform.t

77、mforum.orgCSPs How would you assessyour progress towards an ODA Canvas DevOps environment?31%22%47%TM Forum,2025We are making good progressThis is something we know weneed to do but have made verylittle progressThis is not really on our roadmapFor the ODA Canvas,TM Forum members needed to agree on t

78、he functional standards that make Components interoperable.11section 1:ODA explained“TaaS already exists as a way for difgerent markets and functions within Vodafone to efgectively be a tenant of a Kubernetes platform.It is used by our Site Reliability Engineering teams to host mainly our digital en

79、gagement systems,which run on Kubernetes,”says Thomas.“But this canvas adds a layer on top so we can run core IT systems Today,those systems typically run in an older environment.And even if theyre running in the cloud,theyre running in separate,siloed cloud instances,not as modular components in a

80、single platform.Creating a single platform is what the ODA Canvas does.”Among hyperscalers,Microsoft and Google Cloud are contributing to the development of the ODA reference Canvas in the Innovation Hub,and each has also built its own compliant canvas.Amazon Web Services(AWS)has a compliant canvas

81、as well.All three cloud providers are developing full suites of managed services with their canvas platforms.For example,Microsoft has announced an open-source toolkit available in GitHub that makes it possible for telcos of all sizes to build ODA Canvases on Microsoft Azure.Microsofts ODA Canvas Op

82、erators software that automates the management of applications and services enables developers to build an ODA Canvas on Microsoft Azure and integrate services including security,monitoring,logging and API management.Google has developed a similar toolkit that is now available in GitHub.In addition,

83、Oracle ofgers a compliant canvas for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure,and Red Hat ofgers one for OpenShift.These developments promise to provide key benefjts that could drive ODA uptake.Using an ODA-based canvas with managed services from the hyperscalers will make it easier for CSPs to move workloads fr

84、om one cloud to another,while also encouraging innovation by cloud and software companies.Developers at smaller telcos and software companies will have the same tools as bigger industry players,fostering a more competitive and diverse telecoms ecosystem.Even so,there will be difgerences in how compa

85、nies deploy a canvas.One member has described the ODA Canvas as a broom:You can change the head and the handle,but its still a broom and works as such.Governance is keyAlongside the assets that help CSPs modernize OSS/BSS are tools for governance,which is particularly important when it comes to AI a

86、nd data analytics.“TM Forums mission around AI and data focuses signifjcantly on governance:How do you use AI?How do you make sure that rather than just bolting on loads of AI applications and generating more technical debt,you are managing it properly?How do you control the cost?How do you know whe

87、re to make your investments?”Tiller explains.“The ODA story is really about how all the tools,processes and frameworks are combined with best practice guidance and governance to enable transformation to a cloud-native,digital telco.”See section 3 for more about governance,including CSPs progress in

88、putting governance programs in place.Whats next for ODA?The CSPs and hyperscalers collaborating in the Innovation Hub are now looking at how to integrate AI capabilities into the ODA Canvas.“We want telcos to take that extra step forward to consider how to modernize their BSS/OSS with a native-AI ap

89、proach,”says Priya Saxena,Strategic Cloud Engineer at Google.“By integrating AI into the ODA Canvas,its not just a plug-and-play model for your infrastructure.Its also going to be a standardized model for your future-generation,AI-native OSS/BSS.”Indeed,a huge focus for the ODA team going forward wi

90、ll be on understanding what AI-based automation and autonomous networks(AN)mean in the context of ODA.“Weve got a nice AN reference architecture which shows intent management functions for autonomous domains negotiating intent with each other,but its a reference architecture for design;its not yet a

91、n implementation architecture,”explains TM Forums inform.tmforum.orgCompanies with ODA-compliant canvases12section 1:ODA explainedTiller.“So,how can I buy an intent management function?What component does it live in?Does it live in all the components?Is it something separate?Those are all questions

92、we need to resolve.”The team will also look at the impact of agentic AI on the ODA use case library,which provides reference examples showing implementation of various common OSS/BSS processes with ODA Components and Open APIs.Human involvement is currently crucial in designing and operating parts o

93、f this process,but agentic AI aims for autonomy.Indeed,in Level 4 autonomous networks,as defjned by TM Forums six-level taxonomy,AI agents will act on behalf of users or systems.To learn more about autonomous networks and CSPs progress up the levels,read our Benchmark report:Autonomousnetworks:in se

94、arch of best practiceDecember 2024|www.inform.tmforum.orgSponsored by:Authors:Richard Webb,Senior AnalystDawn Bushaus,Contributing AnalystEditor:Ian Kemp,Managing Editor Autonomous network operationsBENCHMARK REPORTIn the next section we assess the business case for CSPs to adopt openness and compos

95、ability strategies.inform.tmforum.orgIn total 16 CSPs have achieved“Running on ODA”status accredited to those operators that have passed a joint ODA evaluation with TM Forum while 15 vendors now have software products that are“Ready for ODA”.Running on ODAReady for ODAThe principle of fmexibility si

96、ts at the heart of the ODA,and it has widespread support from the vendors and CSPs surveyed for this report.Three out of four vendors and CSP respondents said they preferred fmexibility to a tighter standard(see chart on p.13).Flexibility within the ODA is designed to allow CSPs supported by their t

97、echnology partners to difgerentiate their products,services and experiences from their competitors.The theme of fmexibility and versatility has been embedded in TM Forum Open APIs which,in many respects,represent the foundation for the ODA.Open APIs can be applied to many difgerent domains,and TM Fo

98、rum works closely with other organizations for example,in the case of network APIs the GSMA Open Gateway initiative,the Linux Foundations CAMARA project,and MEF to provide domain-specifjc data models and extensions to the TM Forum APIs(known as Domain Context Specializations).Indeed,some vendors spe

99、cifjcally cited the need to conform to other industry Flexibility versus standardization within the ODA13section 1:ODA explainedinform.tmforum.orgstandards as a reason why they welcomed the ODAs fmexibility.However,some of the vendors and CSPs that we spoke with including those for whom fmexibility

100、made conformance an easier task thought that a more prescriptive architecture with specifjc technical(as opposed to merely functional)requirements might better serve the needs for the industry.“When you can accommodate every use case on the planet then it means that you are not really specialized fo

101、r any use case,”commented a senior consultant in a global systems integrator.He suggested that the ability for CSPs and vendors to customize and individualize Open APIs might compromise compatibility from difgerent vendors.However,TM Forums Tiller points out that Open APIs have strict guidelines and

102、 design patterns that must be complied with and which make integration easier.“This doesnt guarantee interoperability,”says Tiller,“but in order to do that you need to lock down the payloads so that CSPs have no fmexibility to defjne their own products and services.When this is required such as for

103、inter-operator interoperability we use Domain Context Specializations.”A tighter set of specifjcations might be welcomed more by smaller vendors with less R&D and use case expertise than larger best-of-suite vendors.“There are some vendors who want direction,”said the CEO of one such small,best-of-b

104、reed vendor.“They want tighter specifjcations.They take the view just give me the instructions.Ill just hire my developers,and then I can be in business.They really want to be told what to do,which is entirely difgerent from the other guys.”Impact on integrationThe relationship between integration c

105、osts and ODA fmexibility also came up in our conversations.The question,it seems,is the extent to which greater fmexibility gives rise to higher integration costs because the vendor(and operator)are able to deploy more customized solutions while conforming with the ODA.And will the continued need fo

106、r systems integration risk the evolution of the ODA to a plug-and-play environment?Establishing the extent to which a vendors product conforms to ODA is also a recurring topic.“If you take each ODA Component it has some text description that says what this Component does,”notes the systems integrati

107、on consultant.“But there is no defjnitive statement as to how you measure this.”Our survey results,however,suggest that the majority of operators and vendors would not want the ODA to prescribe specifjcally what functionality a Component must have.“It would make OSS/BSS like network equipment,requir

108、ing hard conformance to a rigid standard with little room for difgerentiation beyond price,”says TM Forums Tiller.“There is,however,a clear machine-readable defjnition of each Component to support interoperability,and we are about to launch a Component conformance certifjcation program allowing vend

109、ors to prove their compliance with the standards.”As more operators deploy systems and solutions that are conformant with the ODA,and as more vendors build or refactor products that are ODA-compliant,there is a strong chance that a“tighter”defjnition of Component will emerge,suggests the systems int

110、egration consultant.“The closer we get to the point of really widespread adoption,thats probably when we will start to see a lot more tightening and standardizing and widespread acceptance of what that standard approach should be.”Flexibility versus standardization within the ODAWould you prefer the

111、 ODA to be atighter standard or are you happywith its flexibility?TM Forum,202574%73%26%27%We prefermore flexibilityWe would likeit to be atighter standardVendorCSP14section 2:Assessing the business case for openness and composabilityinform.tmforum.orgHowever,in most cases the lines of business with

112、in the CSP organization have little or no awareness of the ODA.They are more interested in specifjc upgrade and new investment projects.It is up to the technology teams and functions to make the case for ensuring that these projects are compliant with ODA.The extent to which the ODA is evangelized w

113、ithin the wider organization is often a function of the profjle of the Chief Information Offjcer(CIO).Where the CIO or Chief Technology Innovation Offjcer(CTIO)is seen as the main driver for the“digitalization”of the company as a whole a focus that tends to have strong support from the top of the or

114、ganization it can be easier to position an open architecture as a key enabling capability.Without such backing,and strong governance,it can be diffjcult to persuade individual teams to sign ofg on an approach which may incur additional time and cost to be ODA conformant rather than adopting a strate

115、gy and solution which may have more short-term benefjts.The head of the enterprise architecture team of a North American CSP explained how support for the ODA as an overarching vision for the technology evolution of the business had weakened as a result of his team being moved from sitting under a C

116、IO function focusing inwards on IT support systems and infrastructure to being placed under the Chief Technology Offjcer(CTO)focusing on outward technology development for customers.As a general principle,network teams have been slower to adopt cloud-native principles and ways of working than IT tea

117、ms.The harsh commercial realities of running a telecoms business can also make it challenging for IT teams to get the organization to commit to architectural approaches whose benefjts cannot be directly measured.As the CTO of a leading OSS/BSS company explained:“When I look at the difgerent programs

118、 that are initiated in our customers,everyone is asking for clear business case return on investment.The days of saying Im going to transform the architecture because its old and upgrade my IT estate to become composable are over.No ones approving those investment cases.”The general notion that ther

119、e are widespread benefjts to organizations in adopting ODA is shared by many CSPs.Two thirds of operator respondents to our survey said they felt able to make a strong case for ODA compliance in their organizations(see graphic).Most of these have given their public backing and many have been approve

120、d as“running on ODA”accredited to those CSPs that have passed a joint ODA evaluation with TM Forum(see the full list of operators that have achieved that status).BENCHMARKCSPs Do you feel able to make a strong businesscase for ODA compliance in your organization?TM Forum,202569%YES31%NO15section 2:A

121、ssessing the business case for openness and composabilityinform.tmforum.orgAssessing the benefjts In our separate CSP and vendor surveys we asked respondents to evaluate whether difgerent potential benefjts of ODA adoption and conformance predefjned in the survey questions represent a“signifjcant”,“

122、moderate”or“insignifjcant”impact to their businesses.For each benefjt,respondents were given the opportunity to difgerentiate between short-term and longer-term gains.The remainder of this section sets out those responses in graphics combining the two surveys and provides analysis of the results.Ben

123、efjt 1 Lower integration costs because our vendors do not need to build dedicated interfaces for our organizationThe high cost of integrating(new)IT systems,and the time it takes to do the integration,is one of the biggest single arguments made by both CSPs and vendors for the transition to more ope

124、n,composable architectures.They often talk about the“integration tax”on the telecoms industry.While both vendors and CSPs are generally confjdent that compliance with the ODA will lead to lower integration costs as systems and functions are automated,the fact that operators may end up buying more sy

125、stems from more vendors as they embrace componentization and a composable architecture could,conversely,lead to higher integration costs.“Part of the discussion about integration costs for ODA is the same issue that the industry has been grappling with for years as it debates the merits of best-of-b

126、reed versus best-of-suite approaches to IT systems,”said the Chief Architect of one software and services vendor.“Do I take a full stack from a single vendor and dont worry about integration,or do I have a best-of-breed architecture and then I have integration all over the place to make sure it work

127、s?”The merits of best-of-suite versus best-of-breed is“like a pendulum that swings back and forth”commented the executive.He also noted that even when a vendor sells a full-stack(best-of-suite)solution it can still have“as many as 40 or 50 integrations to other platforms as part of an implementation

128、”.As such,when debating the impact on integration costs of an approach such as the ODA,comparisons between best-of-suite versus best-of-breed do not always tell the whole story.Such is the complexity of the systems integration and broader professional services requirements within CSPs requirements t

129、hat are met by internal teams,by software vendors that also deliver professional services,and by dedicated professional services organizations that it can be diffjcult to capture total spend and even more diffjcult to evaluate changes in spending as automation takes hold.There are no budgets,per se,

130、for integration services.When CSP respondents give their opinions about integration costs for example,in our survey they are making assumptions and extrapolations based on projects that they have already undertaken and the evolution of systems integration requirements more broadly and over a period

131、of time as their networks and systems have become more complex.Nevertheless,the assumption that integration costs will be lower for an operator complying with the ODA,over a period of time,than for an operator that continues to look at each new project in isolation and without adhering to a broader

132、architectural vision,is one that the majority of CSPs and vendors endorse.TM Forum,2025Significant benefitModerate benefitInsignificant benefitCSPsShort termLonger termVendors47%49%4%74%22%57%29%14%66%29%4%5%Lower integration costs because vendorsdo not need to build dedicated interfacesBoth vendors

133、 and CSPs are generally confjdent that compliance with ODA will lead to lower integration costs as systems and functions are automated.16section 2:Assessing the business case for openness and composabilityinform.tmforum.org“I think as more and more adoption of Open APIs occurs,the cost does go down,

134、both from an implementation and an ongoing maintenance perspective,”said the CTO from the BSS vendor.“As I look at the costs of a program license and support aside,because those are given costs your costs are:data migration;confjguration of business rules and business processes and regular reporting

135、;and then integration.So,if those are your three big buckets of professional services spend,I dont see how it couldnt go down if you simplify and automate that.”Furthermore,the growth in systems integration requirements that may result from a CSP componentizing and bringing in more vendors may not m

136、aterialize.Indeed,other“openness”initiatives,such as the Open Network Automation Platform(ONAP)and Open RAN,have failed to build signifjcant momentum and adoption even though some of the technology principles have been adopted by larger vendors.In the case of Open RAN,the one big operator deployment

137、 so far has involved one vendor,Ericsson,and its contract with AT&T.ABI Research says Open RAN accounted for just 6%-8%of the total RAN market worldwide by the end of 2024.Benefjt 2 The ability to reuse applications in difgerent functions and productsWhile component reusability absolutely represents

138、 a long-term aspiration,and is part of the vision behind openness and composability,there is a recognition even from some of the main backers of the ODA that it is not something that will be achievable in the short-to-medium term.“Its absolutely part of what we want to achieve,”says Lester Thomas at

139、 Vodafone.“But Im in the camp that recognizes its a hard thing to do.until components are robust and have support from multiple standards and theyre discoverable and able to change their behavior based on where theyre being used.”Despite the enthusiasm from our survey respondents particularly CSPs a

140、bout the short-term and longer-term potential of reusability of applications and components(see chart above),a number of executives that we spoke to advised caution.“If you want reusability,it requires simplifjcation,”said the Chief Architect of a large systems integration company.“But if you build

141、with lots and lots of Lego blocks you havent simplifjed anything,right?Thats problem number one.Problem number two is whether the component is truly reusable.In many cases,the way things are implemented,they dont become reusable.And thats not a technology issue.Its just the way that the process,the

142、business rules,are applied.Software tends to be bespoke for the environment that its in.”Benefjt 3 Quicker time to market for new products and servicesIn recent years many telecoms operators have lost confjdence in their ability to successfully launch new products and services.Indeed,the speed of in

143、novation has slowed considerably.This is particularly true in the consumer market where after years of trying to expand in new markets such as video and TV services,smart home,consumer IoT and mobile payments CSPs are increasingly simplifying their output into core propositions around fjxed broadban

144、d(including telephony)and mobile broadband(including voice and text).As such,innovation is more about faster time-to-market for new mobile and fjxed broadband,bundled device and bundled video and TV services.However,if operators could signifjcantly reduce the time and cost of bringing new products,s

145、ervices and experiences to market they would have the opportunity to experiment,innovate and to change the culture of their organizations which tend to be risk averse.Indeed,many of the TM Forum,2025Significant benefitModerate benefitInsignificant benefitCSPsShort termLonger termVendors55%33%12%65%2

146、9%36%43%21%44%49%7%6%The ability to reuse applications indifferent functions and products17section 2:Assessing the business case for openness and composabilityinform.tmforum.orgCSPs which have embraced the ODA have prioritized functions such as customer management and product management(catalog,orde

147、r,fulfjllment)in order to give them more opportunities to deliver new digital services and experiences rapidly(see section 3).In our surveys,77%of CSPs and 61%of vendors said being able to speed up delivery of new products and services would be a signifjcant benefjt of ODA adoption in the longer ter

148、m,while 63%and 55%respectively said it would be a signifjcant benefjt in the short term(see graphic at top of page).Benefjt 4 It allows us to(more easily)build a platform/marketplace businessCSPs have long aspired to build platform businesses both as a means of delivering new products and services t

149、o their customers and to make their core connectivity solutions easily consumable by developers.They have stepped up efgorts in the last few years as part of their network-as-a-service strategies and focus on network monetization more broadly.Furthermore,the sale of network APIs will largely be cond

150、ucted via platforms for example,via communications platform-as-a-service(CPaaS)providers.A composable,open architecture is crucial for any platform business.A platform,or marketplace,is an ecosystem that brings together difgerent companies selling services and applications and a wide range of buyers

151、 which expect simple,easy-to-consume digital services.By their very nature platforms are dynamic,allowing new experiences to be made available and consumed with ease.However,this was the benefjt that received the least support of all of those listed in the survey.Vendors,in particular,seem to be ske

152、ptical about the ability of CSPs to build platform businesses enabled by ODA.But this is likely less a comment about the technical capabilities of the ODA and more an assessment of whether CSPs have the software culture,skills and market buy-in to be successful.To date,operators attempts to build pl

153、atform businesses have largely not been successful because they lack the requisite software skills and have not found a way to attract developers.However,the Open Gateway project a GSMA initiative to transform telecoms networks into developer-ready platforms is giving operators renewed confjdence th

154、at they can monetize network and IT assets and capabilities.Read our reports to fjnd out more about platform models and GSMA Open Gateway:January 2025|www.tmforum.orgAuthor:Ed Finegold,Contributing AnalystEditor:Dawn Bushaus,Contributing Editorsponsored by:how NaaS isdriving theevolutionof telcooper

155、ations REPORTAuthors:Mark Newman,Chief Analyst,TM ForumDawn Bushaus,Contributing Analyst,TM ForumSponsored by:Editor:Ian Kemp,Managing Editor,TM Forumestablishing links:platform models in the Open API economy March 2023TM Forum,2025Significant benefitModerate benefitInsignificant benefitCSPsShort te

156、rmLonger termVendors43%41%16%57%37%21%67%12%39%49%12%6%It allows CSPs to(more easily)builda platform/marketplace businessTM Forum,2025Significant benefitModerate benefitInsignificant benefitCSPsShort termLonger termVendors63%29%8%77%21%55%26%19%61%29%10%2%Quicker time to market for new products and

157、services18section 2:Assessing the business case for openness and composabilityinform.tmforum.orgBenefjt 5 It reduces the risk of vendor lock-inThe ultimate vision of the ODA as a plug-and-play architecture with CSPs able to swap in and swap out individual components with relative ease is necessarily

158、 one which avoids vendor lock-in.But as we have noted earlier in this section,that vision is still some way away from being realizable.Indeed,vendor lock-in has been a major frustration for CSPs for many years,with the time,cost and risk of transforming from one system to another often outweighing t

159、he benefjts of making the switch.The term“vendor lock-in”infers deliberate approaches from the vendor to make it diffjcult for the CSP to change supplier.But it is not necessarily as calculated as this implies and can just as easily be an issue in a public cloud environment as with an on-premises le

160、gacy deployment.Vendors have difgerent ways of architecting their software,all of which may have their own merits when assessed individually.And even if this software and architecture is based on modern cloud-native principles microservices running on Kubernetes and using TM Forum APIs the fact that

161、 one vendors software infrastructure approach is difgerent from that of another vendor creates challenges for the operator.“When they deliver the software to us,it will come with reams and reams of documentation about how to deploy,manage and operate it,”says Thomas at Vodafone.“And thats where the

162、cost comes in,because then were paying humans to take all of that documentation and understand it.And its slightly difgerent from the same vendors previous generation of software.Then we go and spend months and months confjguring difgerent environments,testing it and building the CI/CD continuous in

163、tegration and delivery pipeline.”Thomas would like to see more collaboration between CSPs and vendors and for vendors to accept that there may be instances when their software needs to support more than one approach to how it is architected.And when it comes to documentation,he would like to move to

164、 an environment where everything is machine-readable.Unsurprisingly,there is a big difgerence between CSP and vendor perspectives around the issue of vendor lock-in.Only 26%of vendors see the ability of ODA to reduce the risk of vendor lock-in to be a signifjcant short-term benefjt,compared to 39%of

165、 CSPs.But the difgerence between the short-term and the longer-term benefjts as seen by CSPs is equally striking.This represents a recognition from CSPs about how long it will take to evolve to a plug-and-play architecture.Benefjt 6 It allows CSPs to change/upgrade difgerent domains of the architect

166、ure independently of each otherThis question relates back to the observation that the ODA represents a transition to a best-of-breed rather than a best-of-suite approach to selecting vendors and vendor solutions.It is worth pointing out that a“domain”in this context means a part of the ODA,such as c

167、ore commerce management or engagement management.Each of those parts,or domains,might include multiple Components.Perhaps the most striking data point from the survey is the fact that CSPs see this as much as a short-term benefjt according to 63%of respondents as a longer-term one(67%of respondents)

168、.Even though they are not buying at the component level yet,there is a strong trend already towards buying smaller building blocks TM Forum,2025Significant benefitModerate benefitInsignificant benefitCSPsShort termLonger termVendors39%45%16%63%31%26%60%14%46%44%10%6%It reduces the risk of vendor loc

169、k-inVendor lock-in has been a major frustration for CSPs for many years.19section 2:Assessing the business case for openness and composabilityinform.tmforum.organd,in some cases,putting together groupings of two,three or four vendors with the help of systems integrator(s)to deliver a transformation

170、solution which may in the past have been delivered by a single vendor.This is consistent with the ODA-in-a-box concept,described in section 3,which proposes taking ODA Components and confjguring them into larger,more effjcient,already integrated macro modules.Benefjt 7 It is a proven industry-develo

171、ped architecture that helps us to future-proof investmentsThe newer elements of the ODA the ODA Components and Canvas are still a long way from reaching the levels of support and adoption of TM Forums Open APIs,but they are gaining strong momentum.And the fact that ODA builds on the highly successfu

172、l Open API program gives it huge credibility.TM Forum in March 2025 announced that its Open APIs have now been downloaded more than one million times by some 3,000 organizations and more than 50,000 software developers.Many of the largest tier-one operators in western Europe,North America and Asia a

173、re now actively deploying ODA-conformant systems and architectures,and that is giving the ODA strong recognition.Multiple CSPs have built their own versions of the ODA Canvas as we saw in section 1.Interestingly,a higher proportion of vendors than CSP respondents recognized the industrys endorsement

174、 of the ODA as a signifjcant benefjt in the short term.This is recognition of the fact that ODA compliance is increasingly a requirement in CSP RFPs(although we found a huge variation in the estimates from vendors of how many RFPs specifjcally referenced ODA-compliance as we see in section 4).Creati

175、ng a business case for ODA complianceEven though,as we saw in the graphic on p.14,two-thirds of our industry respondents say they feel“able to make a strong business case for ODA compliance”in their organizations,many of our industry briefjngs,even with the ODAs strongest advocates,revealed that in

176、practice this is challenging.“Its just too big,too diffjcult to create a business case for ODA that you can articulate down to fjnancial metrics,”says Thomas at Vodafone.“But you do need a vision,a business vision of where you want to go.And then you have to build a business case that you take to th

177、e business for the fjrst few steps of that vision.”The signifjcance of those fjrst few steps is that when it comes to complying with ODA for early use cases it may be more costly,and perhaps even slower,than other solutions.“The initial adoptability cost of ODA conformance is high,”says the director

178、 of a large systems integrator.“CSPs existing legacy landscape is not built for such an architectural change,and ODA components still need to prove that they are equivalent to todays OSS/BSS applications.”Much of what the executive is describing here relates to the potential cost of integration of m

179、igrating from a best-of-suite to a best-of-breed approach(more on this in section 4).However,it is not a view that is universally shared or accepted.And even if some upfront set-up costs may be higher,ongoing costs as API and software TM Forum,2025Significant benefitModerate benefitInsignificant ben

180、efitCSPsShort termLonger termVendors63%29%8%67%31%36%52%12%51%37%12%2%It allows CSPs to change/upgrade different domainsof the architecture independently of each otherTM Forum,2025Significant benefitModerate benefitInsignificant benefitCSPsShort termLonger termVendors35%55%10%58%36%51%39%10%49%46%6%

181、5%It is a proven industry-developed architecturethat helps us to future-proof investments20section 2:Assessing the business case for openness and composabilityinform.tmforum.orgcomponents are shared and re-used are likely to bring the overall cost down.Some CSPs say they have been able to reuse more

182、 than a third of their Open APIs in new projects and a further third by updating them.Vodafones Thomas points to two other opportunities to save costs.The fjrst is what he calls simplifjcation,and the capabilities defjned in the ODA that can be reused across channels and customer segments.In a pre-O

183、DA environment,operators IT systems are often duplicated across difgerent segments and channels.The second relates to the catalog-driven approach to ODA which enables new products to be launched through confjguration changes to the catalog rather than requiring code development.The only additional c

184、osts referenced by Thomas relate to the upfront costs of setting up an API factory or a Canvas platform team.And because the benefjts will come further down the road,when more use cases have been deployed,its important that the business celebrates early successes that validate the strategy.These may

185、 be expressed,for example,in terms of the speed of a deployment,effjciency gains or fewer errors in the software.In the next section we look at what the ODA adoption journey looks like for operators.Because the benefjts come further down the road,when more use cases have been deployed,its important

186、that you celebrate early successes that validate the strategy.21section 3:What does the ODA journey look like for operators?inform.tmforum.orgHowever,just over half our CSP respondents(57%)work for companies that have not committed to ODA or are at the very early stages of embarking on the journey(s

187、ee graphic).Interestingly,some of these responses came from individuals working for operating companies that are part of CSP groups that are strong supporters of the ODA.Many of these will not commit in earnest until there is a competitive market for ODA-conformant products from their vendors.The Di

188、gital Transformation Director of one ODA-conformant European CSP recognized that smaller operators are likely to be later adopters.“If I was a tier-two telco Id probably be waiting,”he said.“I wouldnt be building my own platform internally.Id be waiting until I can go to Microsoft or Google or Aliba

189、ba and use their hosted,managed Canvas platform.And then Id be waiting for the vendors out there to develop a suite of ODA components.”The evidence so far is that while larger operators,which are insourcing software and integration skills and capabilities,aspire to transition to a plug-and-play envi

190、ronment and partner with many difgerent(component)vendors,smaller operators are keener to partner with fewer vendors that each provide a broader set of applications and functions.Recognizing that smaller operators may be daunted by the challenge of transitioning to ODA at a time when the industry is

191、 still waiting for a competitive Many of the largest operators in the world have committed to ODA and are now on the(gradual)journey to transitioning to an ODA-conformant architecture.These CSPs were among those that completed our survey and,as such,provide evidence-based insights into how that jour

192、ney is panning out.Because they are either large national operators or companies with operators in multiple countries,the drive for ODA conformance typically is led by the group,which takes on the role of developing a vision and a roadmap for the technologies and architectures to be deployed across

193、their footprint.BENCHMARKCSPs Is TM Forums Open Digital Architecture anattractive and viable approach for your organization?TM Forum,202541%31%26%2%Yes,and weare enthusiasticallymoving to ODAYes in principle,butwe are only at the early stages oftransitioning to ODAOnly when it is fullyembraced by ou

194、r key vendor partnersWe dont know what an open digitalarchitecture is22section 3:What does the ODA journey look like for operators?inform.tmforum.orgmarket for ODA Components to emerge TM Forum members are developing proposals for an“ODA-in-a-box”solution.This takes ODA Components and confjgures the

195、m into larger,more effjcient,already integrated macro modules,or“Duplo blocks”,made up of multiple components or“Lego pieces”.Such a solution is designed to reduce integration costs.For vendors this means that,if the proposals are approved,as long as the outside boundaries of a product are fully ODA

196、-compliant it is acceptable for that product to comprise,for example,three components which cannot be decoupled.Prioritizing functionsThe ODA journey looks very difgerent from large transformations of the past.Operators generally conceive of it as a series of relatively small transformation projects

197、 undertaken over a period of time.There is good reason why CSPs are moving away from large transformations.“We did an analysis of our transformation projects and we found an absolutely linear correlation between the size of the project and the likelihood of success,”says the Digital Transformation D

198、irector of the large tier-one CSP.“It is clear that the larger the project the greater the chance of failure.”Whats more,not every operator is prioritizing the same applications and functions.In our survey we asked operators to select the applications they are prioritizing,and vendors to select the

199、applications which CSPs should prioritize(see graphic above).Service management/fulfjllment and product management(catalog,ordering fulfjllment)came out as the leading two functional areas in both the CSP and vendor surveys,followed by customer management and front-end customer/user experience.Howev

200、er,we came across some difgerent perspectives when it comes to applying ODA more closely to functions relating to OSS versus functions with BSS.One popular school of thought is that the catalog-driven nature of the ODA makes it most attractive to prioritize functions relating to product management r

201、ather than the resource or the service layer.“Rather than having a full stack or a custom stack for each product or confjguration you can have a single catalog that you can run all your products ofg,”said the Chief Architect of one European CSP group.“And when you bring new products to market you ca

202、n run them through the same interfaces,the same APIs,the same standards.”Which functions and applications are/should be a priority for running on ODA(choose all that apply)?TM Forum,2025Customer managementBilling and paymentsProduct management(catalog,ordering fulfillment)Service management/fulfillm

203、entService assuranceResource management/fulfillmentKnowledge managementOther(please specify)Front end customer/user experience56%52%61%63%46%59%68%74%63%80%37%46%29%43%20%20%7%4%VendorCSP23section 3:What does the ODA journey look like for operators?inform.tmforum.orgAs such,it is in areas such as CP

204、Q(confjgure,price,quote)and product management where CSPs can derive most benefjts to their business,when bringing new products to market,and where it makes good business sense to conform with the ODA.Other CSPs are prioritizing the customer and digital experience layer as they endeavor to engage mo

205、re of their customers via digital touchpoints and migrate away from contact center and physical retail support.Vodafone,for example,has recruited several thousand software developers as part of its technology insourcing initiatives and has built a new digital experience layer.However,one other Europ

206、ean operator group we spoke to for this research said it was having problems applying ODA to its B2B operations because there were such high levels of product and service customization in difgerent markets and it was proving diffjcult to identify enough common processes to make functions ODA-complia

207、nt.Conversely,in OSS functions where there was more uniformity,the telco had taken big strides towards ODA conformance.In practice,even those CSPs which are most committed to ODA will only deploy systems and architectures that conform with it as and when they need to be replaced because they have re

208、ached end of life or because they want to introduce new services or functionalities which are seen as strategically important for the business.The CTO of one of the worlds largest OSS/BSS vendors gave us his perspective on the pace of change in the CSP journey to ODA compliance.“I would estimate tha

209、t the percentage of operators transitioning to ODA is in the region of 15%-20%.But some of these operators are further ahead in some areas than others.The challenge you have in any telco is they invest in platforms and then they need to depreciate and sweat that asset for 10 to 15 years.So theyre no

210、t out transforming their entire estate every year,”he said.“The pace at which each operator changes is dictated by when was their most recent investment and how much market pain theyre experiencing Thats the reality of the investment cycle.”Governance and organizationMany of the CSPs that have taken

211、 the lead in ODA adoption express concerns about whether their organizations have the right governance in place to ensure that transformation projects across difgerent parts of the organization conform to the ODA.“Theres a difgerence between having standards available,having an open architecture and

212、 having a governance program which says yes,you will follow the standards,”noted the CIO of one US telecoms group.“Theres a delivery governance that is required to make sure that the ideal solution that was put in the RFP is followed through.A lot of projects will just take shortcuts.”Only one in th

213、ree of our respondents said they had a governance program in place which would ensure that new systems and architectures are fully compliant with ODA.However,closer examination of the data shows that all respondents whose companies are enthusiastically embracing the ODA said they have a governance p

214、rogram in place,and two thirds of them expressed confjdence that every governance program would demonstrate compliance with the ODA.But even a strong governance program may not be enough to ensure that all the technology teams across the entire organization are on the same page and committed to a co

215、mmon,shared technology vision.One Lead Enterprise Architect in a large,ODA-conforming European telecoms group expressed his frustration that the whole organization had not been transitioned into an ODA Canvas deployment environment.CSPs Do you have a governance program in place thatenshrines a visio

216、n and a roadmap for ODA and ensuresthat new systems and architectures are compliant?TM Forum,202535%39%26%Yes,every newtransformation projectand all of our procurementmust demonstratecompliance with ODAWe do have a governanceprogram,but I am notconfident that it is fullyadhered to acrossthe organiza

217、tionNo24section 3:What does the ODA journey look like for operators?inform.tmforum.org“There is such an opportunity to reduce costs and to make everything work more quickly by moving everyone into the same environment,but instead we still allow everyone to do their own thing,”he said.The only way of

218、 changing this,he continued,was to put ODA and the ODA Canvas into action and ensure that the results of the deployment were shared and highlighted across difgerent parts of the business.Whether an IT delivery team sits centrally,or is dispersed across the organization,can also make a difgerence whe

219、n it comes to ODA conformance.In our CSP survey,59%of respondents said their IT delivery teams sit centrally,with the other 41%saying their teams are spread across the organization,which can make sharing,reuse and adopting a fmexible approach towards budgeting diffjcult(see pie chart top left).The o

220、verall culture of the business also has a huge bearing on the speed and scale of ODA conformance.When a CSP commits to simplifying its business in terms of the products that it ofgers as well as its sales,marketing and distribution process,this can strengthen the case for ODA compliance.“Telecoms op

221、erators have complex networks,complex sales processes,complex business models and complex rules across the organization,”said the OSS/BSS vendor CTO.“So the ability to simplify is no longer a technology issue.Its a change management issue within the telco.You can create an IT environment that can be

222、 simple,but then the reality is that service providers still make it complex.You have to simplify all layers of the business,you have to simplify the network,you have to simplify your business processes,and you have to simplify how you go to market.And then at that stage the IT simplifjcation is fai

223、rly straightforward.”Skills and insourcingMany tier-one operators have come to the view that they outsourced too much of their technology competence and skills in the period 2000-2010 and that they now need to build up their internal capabilities.Indeed,many of the ODA pioneers have insourced hundre

224、ds or thousands of software developers in recent years and are deploying them in roles that enable them to comply with the ODA.In the case of Indian telco Jio,for example,there is a clearly stated strategy to develop its own software components,and we can expect to see it competing in the future wit

225、h some of its existing suppliers.CSPs such as Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom have also undertaken large insourcing projects,but their aspirations are confjned to supplying new software,solutions and capabilities to operators owned by their organizations or,in Vodafones case,to operators that are part

226、 of its partner program.But do all CSPs need to insource a strong talent pool to conform with the ODA?In our research we spoke to the CIO of one Scandinavian telecoms group which has been one of the biggest supporters of the ODA.But she did not believe that ODA required a strong insourcing capabilit

227、y,or indeed that CSPs should become software developers.“Im completely against doing development in-house.Its another set of skills,”she said.“Ive been developing products all my life,but only in the last fjve years have I worked for a telecoms operator.You can have a bright idea and you think its g

228、oing to be more cost-efgective to do it in-house.CSPs To what extent does your organizational structure and how IT is funded present an obstacle to the deployment of ODA?41%59%TM Forum,2025Our IT delivery teams are spreadacross the organization whichmakes sharing,reuse and adoptinga flexible approac

229、h towards budgeting difficultOur IT delivery teams sit centrallyas a single budget,so it is easy tojustify reusing applications fordifferent products and servicesCSPs To what extent will your transition to an ODA involve a transition to more technology insourcing?36%9%55%TM Forum,2025We are already

230、insourcing more ofour technology and we expect thistrend to continueThere will be some insourcing but it will be relatively insignificantWe do not expect it to have any impact25section 3:What does the ODA journey look like for operators?inform.tmforum.orgBut the challenge is how to maintain it the a

231、pplication and evolve it and have something that is compelling for the next 20 years.You need to have an R&D mindset which we do not have.”Based on the results of our survey there does seem to be a general trend towards insourcing at those CSPs which are conforming to the ODA(see pie chart top right

232、 on previous page).However,it is only the largest operator groups and those operators which see the potential to build commercial products,or to reuse the software across multiple operating companies which see it as part of their ODA conformance program.“ODA has.been incredibly successful in buildin

233、g software that we use across all our eleven operating countries in Europe,”Deutsche Telekom Group CIO,Peter Leukert,told TM Forums Inform in late 2024.“We have now a lot of software that we only build once,and one source code that we use in eleven countries.And you wouldnt get there if you didnt ha

234、ve a guideline like the Open Digital Architecture that harmonizes across the difgerent countries.”A fjve-year journey?Most CSPs are only at the early stages of embarking on their ODA journeys and do not have a clear idea of when all the difgerent functions within their architectures will be ODA-comp

235、liant(or indeed whether they all will).Our surveys revealed a signifjcant difgerence of opinion and outlook between CSPs and vendors,with operators much more confjdent that full conformance can be achieved within the next fjve years(see chart above).While many operators have a vision to fully transi

236、tion to the ODA,the very nature of the transition which relies on each individual transformation conforming to the overall architectural vision means that there is a chance that it will be diffjcult to make a strong business case across all functional areas.However,this could change depending on the

237、 success of early projects.If ODA projects result in signifjcant improvements such as in cost,speed or customer experience we will likely see an acceleration in the pace of deployment and conformance as the return on investment becomes clear.Conversely,if ODA is unable to demonstrate its worth it wi

238、ll be increasingly diffjcult for CSPs to maintain their early momentum.For many tier-2 and tier-3 operators the speed at which they transition to ODA Components will depend as much on the commercial availability of ODA-conformant products as their ability to demonstrate that it is bringing business

239、benefjts.Indeed,26%of CSP respondents said ODA is only viable for them when it is fully embraced by their key supplier partners(see graphic on page 21).However,it is worth noting that the ODA Components and Canvas are much less mature than other parts of ODA.Tools such as the Business Process Framew

240、ork(eTOM),Information Framework(SID)and Open APIs have been adopted widely and have been proving their worth for many years,with tier-1 as well as tier-2 and tier-3 operators.In the next section we look at the impact of ODA on the vendor community.How long do you expect the transition toa fully Open

241、 Digital Architecture to take?TM Forum,202512%33%33%38%2-3 years53%19%More than 5 years2%10%Other(please specify)4-5 yearsVendorCSP26section 4:the impact of ODA for vendorsinform.tmforum.orgTodays market is shaped by large vendors predominantly providing best-of-suite solutions,and a large proportio

242、n of operator spend goes on customization and integration of services.If the ODA becomes the established architectural approach,there is every chance that best-of-suite will likely be replaced by best-of-breed and spending on customization will fall signifjcantly.This is not necessarily as damaging

243、as it might seem.Change requests can often be a bone of contention between CSPs and vendors,and there are instances when CSPs cant or wont pay for customization work.Whether there will be an important decrease in spending on integration due to automation,simplifjcation and use of APIs remains to be

244、seen,although as we saw in section 2 many ODA advocates in the operator community are convinced that this will be the case.When and how AI shapes the evolution of the sector and the IT software and services market is still unclear.As such,large best-of-suite vendors with strong services ofgerings co

245、uld see the size and shape of their businesses impacted by ODA.The challenge for them is to optimize the performance of their current products and services portfolios,while at the same time meeting the needs of those operators most committed to ODA.It is a tough balancing act,but one which could ult

246、imately serve them well if they can enable CSPs to build more profjtable businesses.Vendors,after all,ultimately need CSPs to be successful.If the ODA vision comes to fruition across the entire telecoms sector there is every chance that it will have as big an impact on vendors as operators.To that e

247、nd,many of the responses to our vendor survey show a somewhat conditional endorsement of the ODA vision.BENCHMARKVendors How do you expect CSPs compliance withODA to impact their systems integration requirements?TM Forum,2025The need for systems integration will remain constant and there is nothing

248、to suggest that the overall requirement from third parties will reduceIf anything the need for systems integration will increase,particularly if CSPs increase the number of vendors they buy products fromThey are likely to lessen their requirements as products become more componentized and as they mi

249、grate to an ODA Canvas DevOps environmentThey are likely to lessen their requirements as they will have more in-house capabilities3%42%40%15%27section 4:the impact of ODA for vendorsBig vendors express support for ODAIn general there has been strong support for the ODA from the technology community,

250、with 142 software vendors,systems integrators and cloud providers having signed the ODA Manifesto.This commits them to building and marketing their products and capabilities“in a manner consistent with the ODA component defjnitions and supporting the relevant Open APIs in their products”.But commitm

251、ent to the Manifesto does not necessarily mean that a vendor believes it is in its best interests to build and market its products to be conformant with the ODA.For example,a vendor may feel that it needs to publicly support the ODA because this gives it a better chance of winning business with ODA-

252、supporting operators.Despite the outward show of support for ODA from vendors,a common complaint of many of the CSPs we spoke to in our research was that many of the large,established vendors are paying “lip service”to ODA compliance.Indeed,half of CSP respondents said that their experience was that

253、 vendors were pushing their own standards(see graphic below).Furthermore,one in three CSP respondents said they thought vendors were not moving quickly enough to introduce ODA-compliant products.Nevertheless,six out of ten respondents said vendors were making“some progress”.inform.tmforum.orgTM Foru

254、m ODA and APIs at a glance178CSPs and vendors signed upto the ODA Manifesto(142 technology companiesand 36 CSPs)1MOpen APIs downloaded morethan one million times by morethan 50,000 software developersin 3,000 organizations205companies signed up to theOpen API Manifesto(162 technology companiesand 43

255、 CSPs)CSPs When you consider the whole vendor community,which of thefollowing statements would you agree with(choose all that apply)?TM Forum,2025They are making some progress but we accept that it may take time for some vendors to build new productsThey are making great progress.We already see a st

256、rong market developingThey are not conforming quickly enough.We lack choice/availability for a number of different functions and applicationsMany claim ODA alignment or compliance,but our experience is that they are still pushing their own standards49%34%59%5%28section 4:the impact of ODA for vendor

257、sVendors have taken difgering approaches based on their existing businesses and relationships and the perceived opportunities of becoming an ODA champion.For many,the decision to commit to delivering ODA-compliant components means refactoring products at a time when they are still delivering their l

258、egacy ofgerings and marketing them to new customers because not every CSP is ready for ODA.The CTO of one large OSS/BSS vendor we spoke to for our research said that its approach was to customize products based on the requirements of the operator.“Its very simple.We evolve our product set the way we

259、 need to evolve it,and then we adapt it to the environment were implementing in,”he said.“So,if the environment is ODA-compliant and leverages Open APIs then its very straightforward.If its not,then we have to do some extra work,either to abstract,to map or to implement non-compliant interfaces.What

260、ever the case may be,we are a very customer-centric organization,so were not going to go in and demand that,you know,our customer X changes to be completely ODA-compliant.We have to fjt to their environment,and thats just the reality that we live in and that we have to compete in.”(How)is ODA impact

261、ing vendors businesses?One of the questions in our vendor survey specifjcally asked how ODA was impacting their businesses.In follow-up interviews they said it was still too early to make defjnitive assessments because even the most committed ODA operators were moving relatively slowly.Nevertheless,

262、49%of survey respondents agreed that ODA compliance is helping them to win business,while a further 44%neither agreed nor disagreed with this statement.The challenge in analyzing these results is trying to understand why vendors might have chosen the“neither agree nor disagree”option.The most likely

263、 reason is that they consider that this represents commercially sensitive information they are not prepared to disclose.For example,44%of respondents chose this option in answer to the question asking whether support of the ODA was pushing up their costs.But when inform.tmforum.orgVendors How is CSP

264、s adoption of the ODA impacting your business?TM Forum,2025It is pushing up our costs because we are having to support both our legacy and new(ODA-compliant)product linesIt is making it more difficult for us to differentiate our products and services from our competitorsIt is helping us to win busin

265、ess because our products are ODA compliantAgreeNeither agree nor disagreeDisagree7%44%49%46%39%15%32%44%24%It is a threat to our business because operators want to transition away from our current product and services portfolio63%34%3%Our expectation is that we will evolve to a narrower product focu

266、s but our market share for these products will grow32%39%29%49%of survey respondents agreed that ODA compliance is helping them to win business.29section 4:the impact of ODA for vendorswe removed the respondents who gave“neither agree nor disagree”answers,43%of the remainder agreed that ODA was push

267、ing up costs substantially greater than the 24%shown in the chart.“In the short term,deploying ODA might increase the cost of a project because legacy systems have to be adapted,but this will reduce the longer-term total cost of ownership for both the CSP and the vendor as maintenance becomes simple

268、r and cheaper,”says Tiller at TM Forum.Choosing the“neither agree nor disagree”option may also be because ODA conformance sometimes helps to win the deal or to get shortlisted but other times does not.The reality is that while ODA represents a challenge for some technology providers it presents an o

269、pportunity for others,including:Best-of-breed software vendors,which do not have a services business.The ODA plays to their strengths,particularly if it enables CSPs to lower their integration costs.Pure systems integration suppliers.CSPs will need specialized systems integration regardless of how q

270、uickly they transition to ODA.Indeed,some systems integrators have been among the most enthusiastic supporters of the ODA.Best-of-suite vendors with services businesses that specialize in delivering professional services that support their own legacy products.This is the category of vendors most cha

271、llenged by ODA.It is in their interest to retain the status quo,at least in the short term,unless they can build new value propositions for example,ones that leverage the power of AI.Best-of-suite and best-of-breed vendors which are struggling with their existing business and product portfolio.ODA m

272、ay present them with an opportunity to refactor their products and reposition themselves in the market.Will ODA reduce difgerentiation?One of the comments we received in our vendor survey was that ODA“creates a perception that vendor products will become commoditized”.But is there any truth to this

273、statement?To the extent that the ODA defjnes a functional mapping for software components it could be argued that it is compelling software suppliers to commoditize their products,but this is a misunderstanding.The focus of ODA is partly on clarifying product categorization to simplify procurement,b

274、ut mostly facilitating software interoperability;it doesnt limit the functionality of commercial software to a lowest common denominator.“ODA does not represent some sort of straitjacket;it is designed to have precisely the opposite efgect,”says Tiller.“IT standards like ODA must give scope for oper

275、ators to innovate with their product and service ofgerings and to difgerentiate themselves through the customer experiences that they ofger.Software suppliers can support this with advanced functionality while still conforming to the ODA standards that simplify procurement and deliver easier softwar

276、e integration,operations and management.”If,as part of ODA adoption,best-of-breed does become the preferred approach to choosing vendors products and services,best-of-suite vendors may need to revise their market positioning and product focus.However,this is not the fjrst time that the industry has

277、mulled over the merits of best-of-breed versus best-of-suite.Large best-of-suite vendors would need to see far greater evidence of a long-term shift to best-of-breed procurement before changing their focus.Furthermore,the adoption of a modular,componentized architecture will not necessarily result i

278、n CSPs buying components from a larger pool of vendors.Indeed,many CSPs are committed to reducing their number of vendor partners and suppliers as part of simplifjcation programs.Again it is interesting to consider how the Open RAN market has evolved.The expectation that breaking the RAN into difger

279、ent product categories would usher in a new era of competition has not materialized to any great degree.In a Heavy Reading survey at the end of 2024 just half of 91 respondents said the vendor ecosystem“is vibrant with enough suppliers for Open RAN to thrive”.inform.tmforum.orgIn the short term,depl

280、oying ODA might increase the cost of a project because legacy systems have to be adapted,but this will reduce the longer-term total cost of ownership.”Andy Tiller,TM Forum30section 4:the impact of ODA for vendorsODA and procurementOur CSP and vendor surveys give very difgerent perspectives about the

281、 extent to which ODA conformance is now a condition of the requests for information/proposals(RFIs and RFPs)issued by CSPs for the procurement of new IT systems and services.In our vendor survey 58%of respondents said that less than 20%of RFIs/RFPs mandate ODA compliance,and only 22%of respondents s

282、aid that more than half of RFIs/RFPs require vendors to be ODA compliant.But in our CSP survey,fully 57%of respondents said they are making ODA compliance a condition of their RFPs(see graphics).The discrepancies in these two sets of results can,in part,be explained by the fact that ODA-conformant C

283、SPs outweigh non-compliant operators in the sample that we surveyed.However,this is not enough to fully explain the difgerence.Based on conversations with CSPs and vendors it seems that there is a difgerence between,on the one hand,referencing ODA in RFIs and RFPs and,on the other,making ODA complia

284、nce a condition of purchase.In other words,a CSP may enter into a procurement process with an intention for the preferred vendor to be ODA-conformant,but when hard decisions are made during negotiations and bid selection ODA compliance is sometimes a requirement that is dropped.It is also worth noti

285、ng that there are many difgerent parts of the ODA for which CSPs may request vendor compliance.For example,an operator may request conformance with eTOM or Open APIs which if we had singled them out might have got higher responses but not the newer,less mature elements such as ODA Components and Can

286、vas.In the next section we provide some case studies that show how CSPs are using ODA in practice.inform.tmforum.orgVendors What percentage of the RFIs/RFPs that you currentlyreceive make ODA compliance a mandatory requirement?TM Forum,202523%20%15%18%2%22%Less than 5%5%-10%10%-20%20%-30%30%-50%More

287、 than 50%CSPs Are you making ODA compliance a conditionof your RFIs/RFPs?TM Forum,202557%YES43%NO31section 5:How CSPs are using ODA in practiceinform.tmforum.orgHere are some examples most of which focus on CSPs that are Running on ODA followed by links to other content exploring the use of ODA.Aust

288、ralian operator Telstra was a pioneer in developing and using Open APIs and ODA to create an ecosystem of digital IT and network services that can be composed,consumed and reused.The operators implementation of ODA is its API-fjrst,Telstra Reference Architecture Model(TRAM),a service-based architect

289、ure that spans network,cloud,IT and data to defjne the operators technology building blocks.Telstra was certifjed as Running on ODA in September 2023 and won a TM Forum Excellence Award in 2024.Using ODA,product experience development teams can now use components to build products that customers can

290、 access via an API or user experience.“This gives them a lot of agility.They dont always have to go back to the network or IT team to make changes,”says Chief Architect Mark Sanders.“They can keep reusing the components and the APIs and they can keep improving the product and customer experiences.”B

291、uilding on its ODA-based reference architecture,including TM Forums best practices for deploying network-as-a-service(NaaS)and digital twins,Telstra has also invented a new way to model relationships between network components and encode knowledge,enabling it to move beyond scripted network service

292、automation to an intent-driven approach.It is using an in-house knowledge graph and“Knowledge Plane”to enable more intelligent,dynamic network operations,which has led to:the capability to process a higher volume of orders;reduce processing time by 30%;reduce service creation and onboarding time fro

293、m 12-18 months to 3 months;and increase its Net Promoter Score(NPS).Many of TM Forums Catalyst proof of concept projects demonstrate the use of ODA by operators and vendors.In addition,many stories on our Inform website show how operators are using ODA and the ODA Canvas in their architectures to de

294、liver new and innovative services and streamline operations.BENCHMARK32section 5:How CSPs are using ODA in practiceIn another interview with TM Forum,Sanders expanded on the challenges of implementing ODA.“Architecturally it was relatively simple to get the company on board because everyone througho

295、ut the organization can pretty quickly understand the advantages of a Lego building-block,composable way of working,”he said.“It was bringing it to life that was exceptionally challenging.We had to change a lot of our skills and our thinking around how composable building blocks serve a purpose for

296、several products.”BT has been accredited Running on ODA status for both its business and consumer lines of business and is using ODA to put in place an architecture to serve its entire B2B,B2C and B2B2X customer segments.Colin Paterson,BTs Telco Architecture Director,explains in an interview with TM

297、 Forum how ODA helped establish a shared language that enabled better communication and collaboration between vendors,telcos and partners;enabled the operator to be more agile in developing,delivering and scaling new products and services quickly;and how it also played a major role in improving cust

298、omer service by enabling zero-touch services.Paterson says ODA has enabled the operator to create a common product and service model across all its commercial units,which simplifjes trading processes and eliminates duplication.ODA allowed BT to rapidly onboard new products and partners and plug-and-

299、play capabilities enable it to integrate new components faster,he adds.“If a vendor doesnt meet our standards,we can seamlessly swap them out without disrupting our operations,”he says.“From a technical perspective,the use of standard reusable APIs across the architecture,including 27 TM Forum APIs,

300、has drastically reduced our integration efgorts.”Vodafone Greece is pioneering the use of the ODA Canvas in a live,commercial environment.Since adopting the ODA in 2022,the company has modernized its core IT systems as part of Vodafone Groups broader efgort to streamline and automate its IT infrastr

301、ucture.Vodafone Greeces ODA-based canvas enables the reuse of microservices across difgerent clusters,ensuring seamless compatibility and functionality.It has already led to signifjcant benefjts,including higher productivity and lower costs through automation.For instance,confjguring an API gateway

302、now takes just three seconds,compared to two weeks with the previous manual approach.“The ODA is a company-wide accepted architecture,”says Christos Sotiriou,Principal Architect,Platforms Design,at Vodafone Greece.“We have already been in talks with other countries about what the ODA and the ODA Can

303、vas have to ofger in terms of reusability,infrastructure,automation and development effjciency.”Asian operator Axiata has been using TM Forums Open APIs to expose its IT core capabilities for use internally,as well as externally by partners and enterprises,since 2018.It has also built on its“API-fjr

304、st”approach by adopting the ODA and the ODA Canvas.The company has created templates of 50 TM Forum APIs,ODA components and business cases for its implementation of the ODA Canvas.Pre-built components mean it“can gain speed,and promote the reusability and standardization”,says Namal Jayathilake,Chie

305、f Technology Offjcer,Axiata Digital Labs.“Theres no limitation,and now we are basically replicating the same success story to CSPs”within the Axiata Group.Now Axiata is experimenting with harnessing generative AI(GenAI)to further accelerate development and implementation.The Group has developed a Ge

306、nAI-based module made up of two components:a design studio for solution engineers and a studio for DevOps engineers,running on top of the ODA Canvas implementation.SES Astra was the fjrst satellite provider to achieve Running on ODA accreditation in June 2024.inform.tmforum.org33section 5:How CSPs a

307、re using ODA in practiceDavid Villegas,Director of Digital Architecture at SES,explained in a TM Forum interview that the main drivers for adopting ODA were to accelerate and provide better product delivery and self-service to customers as well as deliver more effjcient operations.Some 60%of its pro

308、duct portfolio now runs entirely on the ODA architecture.Among the highlights of its ODA implementation,Villegas says SES has automated 90%of the processes for service fulfjllment,which means it can activate services fjve times faster than previously,as well as enabling self-service for customers to

309、 order and update products.Villegas views ODA as helping SES accelerate its digital transformation by leveraging telco standard processes developed over many years as satellite operators become more like CSPs.“We need to adapt to the current times.The industry is being reshaped,”Villegas says in ano

310、ther interview with TM Forum.“We are going to be able to be faster at providing the services that our customers expect.”Deutsche Telekom has used ODA to help develop its Open Telekom Integration Platform,an open-source,cloud-native integration platform that supports a multi-cloud approach to managin

311、g the full API lifecycle.According to Christopher Braun,Product Manager,Integration Platform,and IT Architect,the platform fosters true loose coupling of the IT landscape and supports every aspect of the API lifecycle stages:defjne,design,test,deploy,observe and discover.“We have open sourced the co

312、re of the decoupling and integration layer of Deutsche Telekom IT,”he says.“Its highly scalable and fjts with the execution environment of the ODA Canvas.”ODA is also helping Deutsche Telekom innovate in how it sources and uses software.“ODA is really cool,because it is leveling the playing fjeld fo

313、r those smaller companies that dont need to do a huge investment in integration for each of the telcos they want to work with,”says the operators CIO,Peter Leukert,in an interview with TM Forum Inform.“ODA has also been incredibly successful in building software that we use across all our eleven ope

314、rating countries in Europe.We have now a lot of software that we only build once,and one source code that we use And you wouldnt get there if you didnt have a guideline like the Open Digital Architecture that harmonizes across the difgerent countries.”Bell Canada is using ODA,including TM Forum Open

315、 APIs and data and AI governance best practices,to implement an ambitious Customer 360 transformation program that has already helped the company grow adoption of B2B services by 1.3 times.The operator won a TM Forum Excellence Award in 2024 for“Excellence in ODA Implementation”.Bell Canada was faci

316、ng challenges in its B2B division that are familiar to all large CSPs.Data silos and massive legacy IT debt had led to revenue stagnation and an inability to adapt to technological change.When the company began its Customer 360 transformation program in 2022,customer data was highly fragmented acros

317、s dozens of systems.This meant there were duplicate names,incomplete phone numbers,non-standardized addresses and other discrepancies,which resulted in poor customer experience.Bell Canada began its transformation by creating a blueprint based on the ODA,emphasizing the use of Open APIs,ODA Componen

318、ts and information models inspired by the Information Framework(SID).The company used a dozen Open APIs to automate many processes involved in ordering,fulfjllment and assurance of B2B services across multiple domains.It is also working with AWS on development of an an ODA-compliant canvas.The resul

319、ts of the transformation have been impressive so far:Average handling time improved by 20%Customer acquisition time reduced by 15%Order fallout ratio improved by 8%Customer Satisfaction(CSAT)increased by 15%Net Promoter Score(NPS)increased by 20 points.Indias Jio wears two hats in that it is both a

320、large mobile operator serving more than 500 million subscribers and a cloud-native platform company that sells OSS/BSS components.The company has its own ODA-compliant canvas,and it also hosts TM Forums Innovation Hub.inform.tmforum.org34section 5:How CSPs are using ODA in practiceJio has“a clear ro

321、admap and technical pathway towards complying to the Canvas and components 100%”,Dr.Sudhir Mittal,EVP&Chief Architect,Jio Platforms,said in June 2024.“This cultural shift in terms of thinking in a componentized manner is very important,because that is going to really bring the agility,fungibility an

322、d scalability we need,”he added,pointing out that Jio has collaborated within TM Forum on standards since its inception as a mobile operator nearly a decade ago.To accelerate the shift,Jio invested with TM Forum in the Innovation Hub,which is located in the Reliance Corporate Park in Mumbai.Now,the

323、companys focus is on co-innovation and socializing,or globalizing,the results,according to Mittal.He points to the ODA Canvas as a key initiative in globalizing innovation:“It provides an opportunity to standardize all the software components and run them in a standard manner,so that along with Open

324、 APIs,component observability,security andthe whole CI/CD pipeline and run time everything gets standardized.And it provides an excellent opportunity to interoperate,interwork,globally with multiple operators.”Canadian operator Telus is another operator that has achieved Running on ODA status.Prior

325、to adopting an ODA-based composable architecture,the operators IT teams“were fjnding that we had to implement something seven or eight times and it was just insanity,”Hesham Fahmy,CIO at Telus,said in a presentation at TM Forums DTW23-Ignite event.But with an ODA-based approach the development teams

326、“suddenly realized the pain is gone Its building once,and youre good to go,”he added.“Theyre all fantastic advocates for the whole decoupled,componentized architecture thats actually delivering reusable services across your lines of business.”And because they are no longer building on multiple syste

327、ms,IT teams are able to fulfjll business requests much more quickly.“In the last 12 months or so some of the biggest initiatives weve really been able to deliver in half to a third of the cost and time,”said Fahmy.“ODA transformation is a business transformation;this is not an IT transformation,”he

328、added.In this video with TM Forum CEO,Nik Willetts,Fahmy expands on how the ODA has played a key part in Telus ability to reduce costs and time to market for services,and the importance of creating a standard industry architecture like ODA.“You need industry adoption because you can create an ecosys

329、tem around it and if everybody invests in it all the boats rise and all of us will benefjt from it.It creates interoperability from systems providers and vendors,and ISVs and companies like us can start sharing platforms with each other if were adopting industry standards.”Orange is an ODA and Open

330、API pioneer.The company was one of the fjrst CSPs to collaborate on development of the Open APIs more than a decade ago,and it signed the ODA Manifesto in 2019.Orange was also the primary champion of the Business Operating System Catalyst,which turned into the ODA Canvas,and is a founding member of

331、the TM Forum Innovation Hub.In explaining the digital transformation challenges that CSPs face,Oranges Group CTO and EVP of Networks,Laurent Leboucher,has often compared operators legacy architectures to a Jackson Pollock painting,whereas the goal is to move to an approach that favors artist Piet Mo

332、ndrian.“IT legacy in telco environments very often looks like a Pollock painting,”Leboucher explained during a presentation several years ago.“Its hard to identify through hazy building blocks,and there is almost no loose coupling.Data records are very often duplicated several times,and everything s

333、eems to be tied to everything else.This is often the result of many years of silo fragmentations and various attempts to fjx those fragmentations with technical projects,which created this entropic technical debt.”By contrast,Mondrians art is much simpler with shapes that can be clearly identifjed.“ODA is similar,”Leboucher said.“It is characterized by cohesion and loose coupling,with functional b