ericsson White paper Uen 284 23-3213 Rev B November 2015 Operator service exposure ENABLING DIFFERENTIATION AND INNOVATION Operators can continue to improve the relevance of their networks by adopting an architecture customized for innovation. exposure enables integration of network assets into enterprise business processes, making it possible for operators to develop their position in the value chain and to create innovative offerings.
Introduction The ICT industry needs to find its role in the Networked Society, where everyone, everything and everywhere that can benefit from a connection will be connected in real time. This scenario will generate many new requirements and business opportunities, and those players with the ability to rethink, reinvent and innovate will be winners. This paper explores how operators can remain relevant to their customers in this rapidly changing business ecosystem. It examines how operators can expose their unique assets and interact with ecosystem players to maximize internal efficiency and productivity, as well as driving growth in new business models by adopting a structured approach to exposure architecture. SERVICE EXPOSURE To stay relevant and drive growth, operators need to change how they do business and serve customers. This includes interacting with customers; monetizing network assets; handling customer, product and network life cycle processes; innovating new services; and addressing new value chains. One essential element in this transformation is the operator s ability to expose its assets (capabilities and information) with the control and flexibility required to adapt to the diverse and changing needs of consumers and partners in the Networked Society. This is a required step to differentiate and drive business growth. Exposure enables operators to adapt their networks and other assets to ever-changing requirements for both internal and external business purposes. Figure 1 illustrates the role of service exposure in the Networked Society and how different actors can develop services. user (enterprise) Business Business APIs Design Developer (internal or independent) Deploy Code Execute Business Protocols user (consumer) provider Figure 1: exposure in the Networked Society. Exposure in a digital ecosystem is a space where interactions take place and relations develop between multiple actors. These include: > > app developers (as part of the service provider or independently), which provide new services > > operators, which expose their assets such as communications, connectivity and billing, and handle partner on-boarding and developer support OPERATOR SERVICE EXPOSURE INTRODUCTION 2
> > device manufacturers, which provide hardware and software, as well as development tools > > service providers (as part of the operator or independently), which deploy services and potentially mix these with other services (internally or from partners) > > private and enterprise users, who use the deployed services > > enterprises, which use exposed assets from service providers for internal business purposes. From an operator perspective, there are two levels of exposure: a southbound application programming interface (API) for network assets, and a northbound API exposure toward internal and external API-consuming applications. These can be defined as exposable services and service exposure. To provide relevance to API-consuming applications and to protect the integrity of underlying southbound assets, a control layer is needed to manage the API traffic. A business layer is also required to manage business process interactions such as subscriptions, Level Agreements (SLAs) and partner management see Figure 2. B2C B2B B2B2X Operator exposure Controlled exposure Business management Communication services Network functions Information and insights Content, identity Processes M2M/ lot IaaS/ PaaS... Exposable services Figure 2: exposable services and service exposure. exposure is used across operator business models in: > > B2C where the operator leverages service exposure for its own direct customer base either directly, such as when presenting real-time information of a user mobile data quota, or for internal purposes, such as when exposing real-time assurance information of a virtualized network service > > B2B where the operator exposes assets to be used by an external service provider and/or enterprise, such as communication services > > B2B2X where the operator exposes assets to be part of new value chains, resulting in new kinds of relationships with service providers for different industries (B2B2B), or with service providers that have the consumer relationship (B2B2C), such as for carrier billing, identity and sensor data. OPERATOR SERVICE EXPOSURE INTRODUCTION 3
What has changed? exposure already has a considerable history. It started with CORBA-based Parlay an object-oriented approach developed in the 1990s which has evolved from the use of SOAPbased APIs (such as ParlayX) to the now-ubiquitous REST-based APIs (including the GSMA s OneAPI). REST-based APIs are the preferred choice for web developers. While most of the developments of the past 15 years have been supported by standardization in different forums (including the OMA, GSMA, 3GPP and TM Forum), there is a clear need to offer composite APIs that mash together multiple exposable services in order to provide APIs that are relevant to the targeted partners. The emerging market of connected enterprises/industries requires these composite APIs to support their core business differentiation and drive innovation with cross-industry partners. This also means the original scope of service exposure has changed from being a purely telco network asset exposure to one focused on enterprise IT. Today s APIs are required to use real-time information to adapt to the context of the API consumer. In recent years, many marketing incentives within the industry have centered on the need to offer dynamic QoS and/or sponsored data manipulation to premium content providers through the use of exposed APIs. Many cases have been undertaken in the market, with mixed results. Furthermore, the net neutrality discussion and regulation in different countries have proven to be a real or expected future obstacle. Most current service exposure activities are in the area of digital identities (such as the GSMA s Mobile Connect service) and BSS, with clear examples of carrier billing and data plan information. Digital identities are particularly interesting, as telecom operators are among the few parties (along with, for example, the BankID solution in the Nordic countries) capable of offering a truly trusted ID. Such a trusted ID can be used for operators own offered services along with their branded and sponsored applications. Additionally, it can be used for various non-telco services similar to that of BankID. Direct carrier billing creates an opportunity for operators to offer their trusted payment channels and claim part of the revenues. This is relevant not only for service providers but also for large app stores such as Google Play. Providing data plan information helps social communities like Facebook (as part of the Internet.org initiative) and YouTube enhance the consumer experience. As WebRTC-based communication services are starting to be deployed, operators can open up WebRTC APIs to core assets such as IMS to extend service offerings to additional devices and be part of an expanded ecosystem of context-based offerings. The emergence of virtualized networks using software-defined networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) means the network programmability aspect requires service exposure. Together with network analytics, APIs are provided to offer this layer of programmability, which is used both by the operator s internal system and the operator s selected partners. The integrated OSS/BSS assets such as central catalog-based products offered through a storefront provide valuable information for network programmers. BankID is an electronic identification solution. It is frequently used by over 5 million individuals in the Nordic countries for a variety of services from online banking to logging into the Social Insurance Agency s website. OPERATOR SERVICE EXPOSURE WHAT HAS CHANGED? 4
Business incentives Operator networks are rapidly evolving. Besides increased performance, availability and capacity, NFV and SDN provide the possibility to offer far more dynamic functions that meet the rapidly changing and personalized needs of customers and partners. One way to achieve this is to partner with the external application ecosystem through service exposure. The needs of operators customers and partners include: > > Consumers want an easy-to-use and personalized experience when interacting with operators over digital channels. This includes self-service, digital storefronts and applications. They expect promotions and offerings to target their individual needs and specific situation. > > Enterprise customers are experiencing the same digital transformation as operators in terms of their internal productivity needs and commercial ecosystem. For many industries, this includes making their connected devices the Internet of Things (IoT) part of the ecosystem. > > Partners and developers want the ability to on-board their own services easily and to leverage operator channels to reach a new customer base. They also want to be able to easily subscribe to and use operator assets that enrich their own applications or services. Being able to bridge the gap between customer and partner needs and network capabilities is the main business driver for investing in structured service exposure architecture and adapting to an API-driven business. When this is achieved, new business opportunities will arise. Users, content and devices Applications and services platform developer producer exposure IT systems and platforms Connectivity and infrastructure Network developer enabler creator Figure 3: Operator and industry roles. exposure is fundamental in supporting the different business roles an operator can engage in, as depicted in Figure 3. These roles include: > > Network developer the operator focuses on maximizing the profitability of core communications and connectivity services. The service exposure role involves making network assets available for internal (B2C) usage and for operator partners, the service platform developers. > > enabler the operator focuses on extending the business value of connectivity and other assets, for example from operations and business support systems (OSS/BSS), for other industries to integrate into their business processes. The service exposure role is to make these assets available to cater for the customized needs of service producer partners. OPERATOR SERVICE EXPOSURE BUSINESS INCENTIVES 5
> > creator the operator enters into new value chains and provides end-to-end services. The service exposure role means making any operator asset available for the developers creating the service, or to enrich the service that the operator has on-boarded. At present, the most obvious drivers when it comes to accelerating an operator s need to invest in service exposure or modernize its existing environment are: 1. Meeting the need for a digital services ecosystem by becoming more relevant to the customer and improving time-to-market with controlled and flexible API exposure. This improves internal efficiency and productivity when developing and launching new services that benefit an operator s unique assets in a B2C business model. 2. Monetizing the new dynamic capabilities that come with NFV and SDN. Network efficiency and agility can be improved by using exposure to make the dynamic network capabilities available in order to adapt to continuously changing requirements dynamically. For example, in an SDN scenario, this means allowing the deployment of applications on top of the network infrastructure, automatically optimizing across heterogeneous network domains, and quickly instantiating a customized slice of the network catering for the individual customer, service or device needs. One example here could be an operator exposing platform as a service (PaaS), based on its own cloud infrastructure, including the exposure of relevant operator assets that incorporate the required policy and governance control. 3. Handling the varied needs of targeted enterprises, including the IoT, across the operator network and other assets. This drives innovation and requires new controlled business models that support the flexible exposure of operator network assets (capabilities or information) and leverage these for new service innovation for internal B2C purposes or external B2B/B2B2X value chains. For operators, it is therefore evident that service exposure is a strategic architecture in which to invest in order to remain relevant and to differentiate in a changing business environment. OPERATOR SERVICE EXPOSURE BUSINESS INCENTIVES 6
exposure realization Put simply, there are two ways for an operator to realize service exposure. The most common way in early deployments is the silo version, where each asset is packaged with different technology, individual integration, interaction logic and exposure components. The other option is horizontal deployment leveraging a common technology platform. Figure 4 summarizes these two options. Internal service provider provider provider provider Internal service API API API Operator domain API Logic Logic Logic Logic Integration Integration Integration Integration Asset 1 Asset 2 Asset 3 Figure 4: Silo versus horizontal service exposure. Assets The recommended approach is to use a horizontal technology platform for exposure: horizontal exposure layer service enablement. Having a common service enablement platform to handle internal and external use cases reduces total cost of ownership by simplifying management and maintenance of the platform, and especially by improving flexibility and time-to-market through reusing previously integrated assets and business logic. Another key benefit of a service enablement approach is its ability to support the exposure of a combination of assets as one API to an internal service or external actor efficiently and flexibly. Figure 5 shows a proposed architecture for exposure, including the following functions: Interface control, which is a mandatory function, as this is where the actual interfaces (APIs/ protocols) that offer specific (exposed) service/functionality are accessed. It provides termination of the exposure interface, authentication, authorization and exposure policy control such as throttling and SLA enforcement point, protocol and protocol version adaptation, security functions such as DoS/DDoS malware insertion protection, and privacy. adaptation represents the business logic needed for exposing a specific service. This includes service level transaction handling, service-specific charging and SLA enforcement when needed, and service-specific adaption logic between the interfaces provided by the resource adaptation and interface control functions. This is where the network capabilities are abstracted in order to make sense for the external application community. Resource adaptation is a function that includes components that support interfaces to network resources (exposable services) when these are using native protocols. The resource adaptation function is therefore not always needed, such as when a network resource exposes its capabilities in a way that can be directly consumed by service adaptation. In a long-term scenario, resource adaptation may no longer be necessary when all network elements produce easy-to-use abstractions in a coherent framework. However, while there are legacy and multivendor scenarios this layer will be required. OPERATOR SERVICE EXPOSURE SERVICE EXPOSURE REALIZATION 7
Exposure support is a set of common functions used by the service exposure functions, ensuring consistency across the network. These act as the decision point for a certain function, while the service exposure functions (primarily interface control) act as the enforcement point. Business management provides the business-process-related functions for managing the service exposure experience, such as consumer subscription management, partner (developer, service provider) management, and business agreement management. The business management function is used to configure the traffic handling components in the other functions. However, a single instance of service enablement handling all of an operator s specific exposure scenarios is not always optimal. For example, an operator can require internal exposure to enable improved programmability of virtualized network functions, direct carrier billing exposure for external service providers, and customized composite exposure targeting a specific industry vertical. The resulting architecture will then contain several instances of the core exposure technology, even though they are all part of an integrated system that allows synchronized offering updates and leverages common business management functions. External client External server enablement Interface control Business mgmt adaptation Exposure support Resource adaptation Exposable services Figure 5: The main components in the exposure architecture. Network element Network element Network element OPERATOR SERVICE EXPOSURE SERVICE EXPOSURE REALIZATION 8
Conclusion Operators need to assess their role in the Networked Society and focus on being a network developer, service enabler or service creator. They also need to transform their business to support API-driven delivery models. When operators expose their assets and adapt them to the ever-changing and unique needs of services, processes and consumers, they will become more relevant to their customers and improve their ability to differentiate and innovate in a highly competitive marketplace. The transformation toward a digital services ecosystem, the emerging focus on IoT, and the need to enable programmability in software-defined networks are the main drivers accelerating the need to invest in or modernize existing service exposure architecture and business approaches. From the perspective of an operator, service exposure differs from the general IT-focused exposure of an enterprise. Operators need to be able to expose single and composite assets that can be adapted dynamically and in real time, depending on the context in which they are used. A service exposure solution that supports an operator in differentiating and innovating in the Networked Society therefore requires a telecom-specific service exposure architecture approach matched with telecom-specific service exposure capabilities. OPERATOR SERVICE EXPOSURE CONCLUSION 9
GLOSSARY 3GPP API BSS CORBA DDoS DoS GSMA IaaS IoT M2M NFV OMA OSS PaaS REST SDN SLA SOAP 3rd Generation Partnership Project application programming interface business support systems Common Object Request Broker Architecture Distributed Denial of Denial of GSM Association infrastructure as a service Internet of Things machine-to-machine Network Functions Virtualization Open Mobile Alliance operations support systems platform as a service Representational State Transfer software-defined networking Level Agreement Simple Object Access Protocol OPERATOR SERVICE EXPOSURE GLOSSARY 10