A Shift Towards Open Source

Open Source is finding its place in telecom, completely reinventing the industry.

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Economists’ Forecasts Open Source in Telecommunications will be Mainstream by 2025

Telecom — a 140-year-old industry — has accepted Open Source as today’s industry standard for transforming legacy technologies. Telecom companies are learning from the computer sector to move away from their traditional, proprietary development models towards collaborative software-focused approaches to compete against web-based firms, which are transitioning into their space.

“Open Source Software has the high ground in the telecom industry,” wrote RCR Wireless News reporter Nathan Cranford. “Open Source solutions are more affordable, innovative, secure and agile than traditional proprietary programs.”

If Communication Service Providers (CSPs) don’t get on board, they will be left behind, in a market estimated to be a $29 billion industry by 2025, according to ABI Research.

Some companies from all over the world are embracing Open Source and modernizing their infrastructures. Other businesses are slowly realizing Open Source not only plays a critical role in Telecom but provides many benefits to their organizations. Among these are reduced development and operating costs, which in turn allows them to offer savings to customers. In addition, Telecom firms can further maximize their budgets by integrating Open Source Software (OSS) which reduces — if not, eliminates — licensing fees. Additionally, they realize such Open Source platforms such as Linux, OpenStack and Kubernetes are key components of almost every LTE and 5G network on the planet.

Here’s what a few of OIN’s telecom members are up to.

AT&T engineers and developers are contributing code that’s being used around the world and working on such major Open Source initiatives as ONAP, DANOS, Acumos and Akraino Edge Stack.

KDDI are top share companies in Japan and are investing in Open Source start-ups in Japan through its KDDI Open Innovation Fund which is $10 billion JPY.

SK Telecom | OIN Community Member

SK Telecom — South Korea’s largest wireless carrier — was the 1st telecommunications operator to adopt OpenChain ISO 5230, which is one of OIN’s community initiatives. This supports its mission to remain a global leader in such technologies as 5G, Artificial Intelligence (AI), big data analysis, the Internet of Things (IoT) and quantum cryptography communications.

Verizon | OIN Community Member

Verizon is committed to the Open Source community, participates in several open source consortiums — including OIN — and makes its Open Source code available to developers worldwide through its Free and OSS portal.

Vodafone Mobile Broadband for Linux — which is is mostly written in Python —aims to intelligently manage all manner of cellular networks, GSM, GPRS, 3G, HSDPA and LTE and took approximately 5 years to evolve.

OIN Telecommunications Industry Members

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Join Leaders from the Telecommunications Industry

Telstra
Reliance Jio | OIN Community Member
United Internet | OIN Community Member
Vonage | OIN Community Member
Sequans | OIN Community Member
Verizon | OIN Community Member
Vodafone | OIN Community Member
AT&T | OIN Community Member
SK Telecom | OIN Community Member
KDDI | OIN Community Member
Huawei | OIN Community Member

What Our Telecommunications Members Say

KDDI is committed to offering high-quality telecommunication service and a variety of IoT service, including vehicle telematics, smart meters and others. Linux and open source are critical elements in technologies which we are developing aimed at such services. By joining the Open Invention Network, we are demonstrating our continued commitment to innovation, and supporting it with patent non-aggression in Linux.  
Hiroshi KawanaGeneral Manager of Intellectual Property DepartmentKDDI