A number of service providers, including CBCcom, PCCW Global, Sparkle and Tata Communications, together with technology vendors Clear Blockchain Technologies and Cataworx, are building a Proof of Concept (PoC) to show how telcos can introduce next-generation services thanks to innovations in blockchain technology, artificial intelligence and intent-based customer interfaces.
The PoC uses MEF LSO Cantata and Sonata inter-carrier interfaces for automation of bandwidth-on-demand product discovery, service eligibility verification, quote, order and blockchain-based settlement of services that are delivered across automated, virtualized and interconnected networks in accordance with the MEF LSO framework. In the PoC, customers state their intent via the bot-based Cataworx Community Portal. Off-net quotes are then exchanged across a MEF LSO Sonata Interface Reference Point as product offerings are discovered across any number of carriers. Orders are encoded in smart contracts and services are automatically settled, including provisions for SLA, using private and shared blockchain interactions.
The commercial solution, provided by Clear, involves automated multiparty inter-carrier blockchain-based invoicing, payments, dispute resolution, SLA based remedies and settling. The process eliminates manual, labor-intensive and time-consuming elements of settlement, invoicing and clearing, accelerates quoting and invoicing and enables synchronized inter-carrier usage-based billing. With the elimination of a centralized orchestrator, neighboring carriers can transact directly, flexibly and automatically without revealing any sensitive commercial or operational information to a third party. This creates an equal-level bandwidth-on-demand play-field enabling any carrier to participate in the next wave of service innovation, based on their footprint and carrier-relations assets, free of vendor lock-in.
The PoC will be demonstrated between the 29th and 31st of October 2018 at the MEF18 global networking event (MEF18event.com) in Los Angeles, California.
Gal Hochberg, Co-founder and CEO of Clear Blockchain Technologies, said: “The telecommunications industry is producing one of the most exponential assets of the world today: bandwidth. With a growing demand for cutting-edge technologies such as cloud, VR, or self-driving cars, telecom companies have an opportunity to unlock new revenue-generating opportunities by offering data on demand for fixed and mobile subscribers. The Bandwidth-on-Demand PoC is the first step towards a guaranteed and secured new internet layer enabling new connectivity for people and organizations wherever they are.”
