We’re reviewing the presentations from the morning of TADSummit Day 2 (sponsors’ keynotes and MONeH Showcase). The second half of the afternoon of TADSummit Day 1 is here (service innovation and evening workshop), the weblog covering the first half of the afternoon is available here (service innovation with programmable telecoms), Day 1 morning sessions are available here (welcome and innovation showcase) and here (sponsors’ keynotes). The agenda is here. TADSummit is the telecom service innovation event, in its 5th year, it brings the programmable telecoms industry together to share insights, best practices, and help build an open global ecosystem.

CapGemini Keynote. CPaaS Solutions: The DNA of Telco Innovation by Patrice Crutel, Engagement Director, Communications

VoLTE and VoWifi bring new access and codec evolution, but no new services. There is an urgent need for evolution beyond MMTEL (MultiMedia TELephony) services, to plug the emerging revenue gap as mobile internet services approach saturation, and possible in decline.

Innovation is possible with 3rd parties AND customers: CPaaS (Communication Platform as a Service) is the mandatory step for telcos, opening of network resources via APIs / programmable telecoms.

We’ll review opportunities for xVNOs who are ideally placed to quickly deploy and monetize these opportunities using cloud computing.

In this presentation Patrice provides an important sign-post in the evolution of telecoms, as enterprises take control not only of their services thanks to IP; but also their networks, e.g. private LTE. The shift in attendance from telcos to enterprises, xVNOs and enterprise focused service providers confirms that trend.

Apifonica Keynote: What programmable telecom has to do with the imminent death of user interface as we know it, by Jouni Huotari, Director of Partnerships

There is no such a thing as a good user interface. It has always been a compromise between the limited possibilities of the machine and the comfort of its user. It is almost time to stop adapting ourselves to machines. Advances in AI, speech recognition and programmable telecom tech will make user interface as we know it today, obsolete soon. Apps, web, keyboards will lose their current importance.
Natural language will become the principal mean of communication with electronic services, devices.

The most “human”, natural means of communication – voice and texting – should become essential in any electronic service or connected device; developers should start incorporating it now, to be ready for the future and start gaining experience.

APIs, Apifonica included, provide a quick start to incorporate messaging and voice functionality into any electronic service or connected device, for a developer with 0 experience in telecom tech.
Upcoming API updates that suit this vision

Ribbon Communications Keynote: Kandy Marketplace: Helping Solution Providers Accelerate Sales, by Sacha Gera, Senior Vice President of Cloud Products, Kandy

Faced with an increasingly competitive landscape, service providers must uncover new strategies to remain competitive. Sacha shared insights on the three tenets of success: innovation, customer experience and agility, and how they enable rapid service creation and a new way to compete effectively. The digital transformation is happening whether you like it or not, learn more about the opportunities it offers.

Sacha’s presentation was aligned with many other presentations at TADSummit; with the growth and integration of UCaaS and CPaaS, coupled with a marketplace / showroom of off-the-shelf services that can he immediately used, configured and through APIs integrated into an enterprises business. With partner Five9, Sacha showed a compelling example of Kandy Marketplace in action.

DataArt Keynote: Security in Virtualized Telecom Networks, by Michael Lazar, VP Telecoms Practice

One aspect of Programmable Telecoms is the network becomes software defined, and thanks to virtualization with shared resources it can possibly achieve $32B in savings by 2020 according to SNS Research.

It is critical to understand the unique security issues of virtualization in telecom networks with multi-vendor and cross-vendor management issues that require a standardized architecture with complex management requirements.

This presentation covered critical security aspects such as shared memory, shared networking, timekeeping, attestation, hardware security devices, hardware security enclaves, software confinement technologies and more.

The objective is to deliver clear understanding of the challenges in securing SDN/NFV, and the steps telcos need to take in that migration. Security remains an open issue in NFV, telcos need to work with partners who have deep security and virtualization experience, like DataArt. The legacy telco suppliers lack the real-world experience in virtualization.

Wire at work?—?introducing teams beta by Siim Teller, Head of Marketing & Community, and Dejan Kova?evi?, Software Engineer

In September Wire launched teams (beta) bring end-to-end encrypted chats, file sharing and calls to businesses everywhere.

End-to-end encrypted communication has taken a big step forward in the last two years with many consumer apps introducing it to hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Wire was one of the first to launch encrypted calls in late 2014, and the first one to launch full end-to-end encryption, working across multiple devices, for all communication, back in March 2016.

Work-related communication tools, however, have been lagging behind. None of the popular options use secure communications, secured by end-to-end encryption, leaving the content of chats, files and calls open to access by service providers, and to exploits by hackers who can compromise the servers and get ahold of these details.

It’s time for businesses to upgrade the security of their communication! At TADHack we’re planning to move from Slack as it lacks basic management capabilities. We’re considering Wire and Matrix (Riot).

The MONEH Innovation Showcase chaired by James Body, Telet Research

The MONEH Innovation Showcase is aimed at fundamentally changing what it means to be a mobile network operator. James and the Telet Research team have been beavering away to implement a cloud based cellular core that supports Multi Operator Neutral Host (MONEH) operation. This means that any privately owned Radio Access Network with embedded Evolved Packet Core (EPC) will be able to accept inbound roaming traffic from other mobile network users.

The demo will include production ready Acceleran radios with an embedded EPC from Quortus providing an LTE service, so members of the audience will have the opportunity to join the demo with their own mobiles! We’ll have voice and SMS services running live, and a host of other network and end user services. It will support inter-carrier signaling and a few other surprises. Programmable Telecoms is changing every aspect of our industry.

Some of the partners making this live demonstration possible include: Telet Research, Accelleran, Quortus, Simwood, Telestax, NG Voice, and Flowroute.

The demo backed-up the presentations made by Patrice of CapGemini and Dean from Disruptive Analysis; enterprises and many enterprise-focused service providers can operate their own mobile network. Its getting very interesting in programmable telecoms.