Over-the-top (OTT) applications have long been seen as a threat to telco service providers, who are obliged to deliver on insatiable bandwidth demands without realizing any commercial benefit from either the consumer/enterprise or the third-party app. This needn’t be the case and the limited participation from service providers in recent years really stems from a shortsighted view of partnerships.

Arguing about “who owns the customer” or that “our customers expect a certain level of service” is so far behind the curve it’s laughable and service providers simply can’t derail innovation by imposing expensive and exhausting procedures. But to be clear, this is a competitive market and service providers will lose more ground unless a contemporary model for collaboration is adopted.

The Amdocs OTT Monetization Solution allows service providers to leverage network assets to create value for OTT providers and monetize service collaborations. Layer 7’s API Management Suite of products defines a new methodology for telco APIs, bringing interface, identity and developer management together in a cohesive platform that can serve mobile, enterprise and internal applications equally. Layer 7 and Amdocs will be working together to deliver a best-of-breed solution, addressing the full lifecycle of telco API needs.

This new approach will yield great results. We have already seen Spotify implement a flat-rate service with T-Mobile Germany. Also, network-enhanced enterprise tools (e.g. AT&T Business Services) are becoming commonplace as LTE networks expand. APIs are the fabric that ensures these collaborations are possible and can be brought to market quickly and efficiently.

Mobile World Congress – three words that strike fear into the hearts of marketing managers everywhere, for this is the largest mobile event of the year and we’re just a few days away from seeing 70,000 visitors descend upon Barcelona like a kettle of vultures, hungry for new innovations. This year, they will be treated to new hunting ground too, as MWC moves to a new, larger venue with more room for fresh meat. Before that metaphor gets completely worn out, let’s take a look at what we can actually expect from this year’s show.

As usual, we’re likely to see a very broad sweep across various areas of telco innovation and mobile strategy but there are some fundamental questions facing the community and these will dominate many conference sessions, seminars and exhibits:

1. Connected Living
   As the Internet of Things gains momentum, how can the service provider community deliver the kind of enriched connectivity the broader ecosystem increasingly demands?
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2. Mobile Commerce
   For years, mobile has been a key banking and commerce tool for certain markets. With the rise of NFC (near field communication) and success stories like the Starbucks mobile payment app, will mobile become the preferred payment instrument for us all?
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3. Next-Generation Communications
   The world of communications moves quickly – too quickly even for service providers at times, with the runaway success of technologies of iMessage, WhatsApp and – next – WebRTC. In this ever-innovating world of mobile communications, can service providers regain some ground and demonstrate their value?

Layer 7 has answers to these questions and will be at MWC, demonstrating a variety of solutions that can help service providers address the challenges ahead. For example:

1. We have been collaborating with AT&T and have planned an M2M solution that will capture anonymous information about visitors as they move around the exhibition halls. This information will be presented as intelligent APIs via the Layer 7 platform.
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2. Security and authentication are very familiar terms to Layer 7 and we’ll be showing how mobile payments can be easily and securely integrated with a mobile app without compromising the user experience.
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3. “Communications as a Service” opens many opportunities for service providers and the new partnership between Layer 7 and Voxeo Labs will show how easy it can be to capitalize on these opportunities.

Come and meet the team at booth 8.1A47 in the App Planet zone or email info@layer7.com to schedule a meeting. See you there!

APIs are the foundation of modern business. Everything we do, from buying a coffee to checking the weather or booking a flight, is supported by a robust API architecture in the background. Businesses likewise assume that they can exchange information and build compelling new services based on APIs.

This is causing disruption across industry sectors but also opportunity and it is having a particularly marked impact on the telecommunications industry. With the proliferation of next-generation communication services, consumers and enterprises alike are looking beyond their network service providers and finding exciting new ways to consume content, engage with businesses and communicate with friends or colleagues.

Telcos haven’t been ignoring this by any means, yet several iterations of failed API strategy have led not only to lost revenue opportunities but – in many cases – huge expense as well. However, now is not the time to cast aside these investments or ignore the exploding API economy – and in fact, we’ve heard plenty of success stories from companies that took the correct approach. Telcos must participate and open up more and more services to keep pace with this economy. And they must do so without compromising data and network security.

Layer 7’s new white paper, APIs & the Business of Telecoms, written by independent telecommunications thought leader Alan Quayle, aims to help telcos understand how they can quickly address the functional and non-functional requirements of a successful API exposure program. This is essential reading for all telcos – APIs really are the future!