TM Forum members reach new landmarks in 2022

As 2022 comes to a close, we have been taking stock of TM Forum members’ multiple achievements throughout the year. TM Forum is where communications service providers (CSPs) and their technology partners worldwide collaborate on innovative ways to deliver on business goals through technological and operational transformation.

One of our notable achievements this year was the launch of the ODA Components and Canvas (ODA C&C). Co-created by TM Forum member companies, ODA provides a new approach to building software for the telecoms industry, based on standardized, cloud-native software components. ODA C&C takes the Open API principles to the next level, allowing operators and vendors alike to create a truly unique plug and play service environment. During 2022, we released 17 detailed component specifications, along with the ODA C&C directory prototype. This enabled 44 software providers to map their solutions to ODA, making it easy for telcos to find conformant vendors.

Axiata, Jio and Vodafone have all demonstrated their commitment to the ODA, and earlier this year became the first CSPs to achieve our new Running on ODA status, which was announced during Digital Transformation World (DTW) 2022 in Copenhagen. Fully 112 companies have now signed the ODA Manifesto, which ensures the guiding principles of ODA are used to design, build, and operate their systems. And a total of 144 companies have signed the Open API Manifesto, which provides the conformity that allows companies to reduce IT implementation time and cost. To date 2,518 organizations have downloaded 550,000 APIs and more than 54 companies have certified 521 Open APIs, with Verizon achieving the 500th API certification in October.

Catalysts for change

DTW 2022 was the first time that members were able to gather under the same roof since 2019. More than 3,100 people attended the event at our new venue to exchange ideas and to hear from industry leaders and experts from around the world, making it our largest in-person event for a decade. You can still catch many of the keynote speeches on our DTW on-demand channel.

Among the highlights of DTW 2022 was the presence of TM Forum Catalyst teams on the show floor. Catalysts are at the heart of what we do and draw on a structured, agile and collaborative process to prove the application of new technologies and validate emerging standards. This year 739 unique team members from 146 member companies took part in 40 Catalyst projects. During DTW 2022, 27 Catalyst teams were able to demonstrate their proof-of-concept work and share their findings live, and a further 13 were shared their progress virtually. In addition, our member projects published more than 250 assets for use by other members.

A wealth of knowledge and training

TM Forum is also a rich source of industry analysis, and our in-house analysts published 23 research reports and 11 e-books on our Inform website, providing insight into a wide range of subjects, from autonomous networks and network lifecycle automation, through to microservices and sustainability in networks, as well as a comprehensive benchmark report Telco revenue growth: taking it to the next level.

Our portfolio of training and certification services help give members the skills they need to excel in a rapidly transforming industry and to validate products worldwide. It is a very popular feature of TM Forum membership, used by companies around the world, and this year individuals from more than 200 organizations completed 8,366 training courses in total.

Members also collaborate to address the cultural challenges of digital transformation. This year they made progress on our Inclusion and Diversity Score (IDS) with the launch of a beta trial. During 2022, more than 15 companies piloted the IDS, including Accedian, Bain, BT, Colt, CSGI, Delta Partners, Detecon, Infosys, Red Hat and Telia. Their work, which draws on more than 180,000 data points, is helping TM Forum to define and refine the score, as well as the data collection and analysis methodology, all while ensuring the anonymity and data privacy of employees.

We wish all of our members a happy new year and look forward to working with you in 2023 to bring about more positive change in our industry.