Why a frictionless inter-carrier ecosystem is the future of our industry
Published by Mirko Voltolini on June 24, 2019
The industry is getting ever closer to frictionless networking and Colt, along with collaborators – AT&T, the GLF and MEF – is leading the charge.
It was announced today that Colt and AT&T completed the first successful application of MEF’s LSO (Life Cycle Orchestration) Sonata APIs – signalling the beginning of a fundamental shift in how carriers interact across the industry.
From today, AT&T can place automated orders for Colt’s Ethernet Services using MEF’s LSO Sonata APIs. The integration of these APIs allows AT&T, via the use of their internal portals, to validate site addresses, check service availability, get a quote and place automated orders on Colt’s Network. It is expected that by automating such processes, service delivery times will be dramatically reduced, in some cases shifting from weeks to minutes.
For Colt, the adoption of the LSO APIs into our production network will lead to a reduction of manual processes, greater operational efficiencies and most importantly, a better customer experience. It is also an enabler for the greater utilisation of Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualisation (NFV) capabilities.
MEF’s set of standardised LSO Sonata APIs creates a service-agnostic approach, meaning that inter-provider service automation can be adopted and replicated across all carriers. We are optimistic that today’s news will lead to more carriers working towards this level of inter-carrier interoperability.
Giving customers greater control over their network has been a long-term focus for Colt, and projects such as the implementation of MEF’s LSO APIs, as well as the expansion of our On Demand offering, are key examples of this. We understand that the future of our industry lies in putting the power in the hands of the customer, allowing them to capitalise on business opportunities in real-time.
This is why we are also supporting MEF’s certification for inter-provider service automation, which will enable buyers and sellers of wholesale MEF services to quickly validate that their inter-carrier offering is compliant and aligns with MEF’s standards.
These announcements are the result of a long journey for all parties involved, but cross-carrier network integration highlights where the industry is headed. It is vital now that as a community we focus on working together, to not only create the ideal environment for inter-carrier operations but to be able to best leverage the innovative technologies we now have at our fingertips.
Mirko Voltolini is the Head of Network Demand at Colt
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