My API Story: Accelerating the next generation of telcos

Tell us about yourself and your job

I have more than 20 years of experience in the telecoms technology industry and business and operations support systems (BSS/OSS) products and solutions for communications service provider (CSP) networks. As vice president at Inspur International, I lead technology and product teams which specialize in solutions that solve customer problems and deliver exceptional outcomes. Our customers include more than 70 CSPs in over 20 countries. In my long career, I have witnessed the development and transformation of the telecoms industry. Today, I am devoted to providing our clients with innovation and emerging techniques which include autonomous networks, digital twins, and agile platforms.

Why do you believe in TM Forum’s Open API program?

TM Forum’s Open API proposition has accelerated the pace of development, not only in telecom scenarios but also in other digital service industries. By aligning with TM Forum Open APIs, we can seamlessly interconnect IT environments to reform current architectures and construct an interoperable and transferable ecosystem for every CSP. Conformance to the Open APIs is a fundamental aspect of emerging innovations – such as the Open Digital Architecture (ODA), autonomous networks and digital twins – which will accelerate the next generation of telcos. We will relentlessly update our products to keep pace with TM Forum Open API standards as the prerequisite for CSP ecosystems.

What TM Forum Open APIs are most valuable to your company?

TMF622 - Product Ordering Management.

TMF641 - Service Ordering Management.

RMF652 - Resource Order Management.

Why did you choose to highlight those APIs?

As a BSS/OSS service vendor, these APIs enable us to lead solution-oriented innovation, greatly improve the cost-efficiency of customer integrations and operations and enable customer business growth. We have leveraged service and resource-related APIs to drive a unified service solution which interconnects CSPs’ operations and business support systems and enables them to better manage end-to-end customer service processes.

How do you use those APIs?

Our products leverage those APIs to integrate the different ecosystems of other vendors. For example, in the B2B2X business model, our product ‘Order Management’ provides interface conformance with TMF Open API specifications which can be used to integrate with internal systems, as well as interact with external systems. That supports management of processes ranging from sales to billing between enterprises, and management of engineering and operation processes within an enterprise.

How have you benefited from using those APIs?

We have found that nearly all CSP customers benefit from conformance with TMF Open APIs because, by standardizing every interface, they increase the efficiency of system integration and deployment. The result is not only enhanced competitiveness of individual products, but also acceleration towards a ‘next gen’ telecoms industry because diverse ecosystems work together cohesively.

Have you used them in conjunction with any other APIs?

Yes, for the service orchestration process, we combine APIs provided by customers with different TM Forum Open APIs including TMF633 - Service Catalog Management, TMF634 - Resource Catalog Management, and TMF641 - Service Ordering Management. We also support API modification in the case of those APIs provided by customers which do not align with TMF specifications.