MEF18 Proof of Concept, 29 – 31 Oct – Blockchain-Based Carrier Marketplace for LSO Sonata. PoC Participants: Colt Technology Services & Zeetta Networks.
Speaker: Joan A. Garcia Espín, Director of Product Management, Zeetta Networks.
Today, carriers have to build formal agreements with every off-net provider with which they want to do business. This limits the commercial engagement to providers with whom we place a larger number of off-net orders. Engaging with more off-net providers with whom we only will place a handful of orders is expensive, and the cost (especially in terms of manpower) of doing so more than outweighs the potential benefit. As a result we pay more for off-net circuits than we could because we use larger providers as intermediaries to do business with smaller providers. These “aggregators” add their own margin in these transactions, which effectively acts as a “tax” that carriers pay for working in this model.
Blockchain could be used to establish a circle-of-trust that service providers, large and small, can join that gives each access to a larger market of suppliers with whom to do business with directly, whilst in tandem bringing about a massive reduction of the overhead of bilateral agreements.
We would achieve this by providing capability — building on LSO API work happening in MEF to which Colt is contributing — to be able to find a provider that can meet a specific off-net requirement, evaluate their track-record in the market in delivery and assurance (reputation), get quotes, and place orders on a fully automated basis. This would allow providers like Colt to ensure they are getting a good balance of price and quality of service when buying off-net services as well as using the reputation we build through the quality of IQNet and our service-centric approach in the market to increase the number of sales when selling.
Each transaction — and specifically SLA compliance in producing quotes, delivering orders, and in-life performance — will be stored on the blockchain so that operators can evaluate the performance, in a secure environment, of a potential partner in their own selection process. An opaque copy of the financial contract established between the providers will also be stored on the blockchain to later support settlement.
Save the date for MEF19, 18-22 November 2019, JW Marriott, LA LIVE, Los Angeles.
