The IP Development Network Blog

With Telco 2.0 fast approaching, it seems appropriate to devote some space to the trend that is sweeping across the internet. Fair play to Simon Torrence, Martin Geddes and co, they have been working on this thesis for a few years now.

My summary of the Telco 2.0 Manifesto goes something like "Telcos need to open their platforms to 3rd party service providers by providing hooks that allow the services to be made richer".

The first problem for me is one of definitions. Richer... I used the word (the Telco 2.0 Manifesto does not, to be fair), but what on earth does it mean? Of course, we all understand "richer" in the Bill Gates sense, but in terms of applications being "richer"? It is important because if the aim is to deliver "richness", we should probably have a clear view of what we mean. Unless it is a cop out - a bit like "added value"? I'll leave that thought hanging.

While the above is my interpretation of the manifesto, this comes directly from it: "There are many “leaks” in the abstraction of Internet Protocol that the operator can exploit: network topology, geography, location, identity, relationships between edge nodes, distribution, billing, and so on. Every one of these gaps between theory and reality is a business opportunity."

These may be areas where the Telco has inherent advantages, but assuming that these advantages are everlasting is a mistake. Already, over the top applications are finding other ways to get the information they need: Facebook for example is an identity application that knows as much about you as you care to tell your closest friends. If you have ever used their checkout service or their autofill toolbar, Google knows your location.

Platforms Everywhere
Facebook, WordPress, Joost... all offer platforms, as do many, many other Web 2.0 companies. Platforms for what, exactly? In these three cases, I think we are clear (social interaction, blogging and IPTV respectively) but every day a new platform is announced. Google is a platform too, but defining it is somewhat more complex. Many of these new platforms are platforms on platforms.

Is this simply a game of Tetris? Are we are building layers where once one is complete, it disappears from our consciousness because we have to focus on the next brick falling from the sky? What about the gaps, where a new platform that comes along that relies on an old platform that is not quite complete (VoIP perhaps)?

What is a Platform Anyway?
Just for fun, I looked up the dictionary definition of platform. The first result is "a horizontal surface ... raised above the level of the surrounding area". The eighth is "a set of principles" and the ninth "a place for public discussion". The last in the list is "a scheme of religious principles or doctrines" - more food for thought.

The Telco is clearly a hardware platform, "a group of compatible computers that can run the same software", in this case IP. The problem is that this row of blocks has been complete for many years now, it is now invisible (until it breaks) and the product is clearly a commodity.

The new platforms are software platforms, "a major piece of software, [such] as an operating system, an operating environment, or a database, under which various smaller application programs can be designed to run". These new platforms are operating systems that run over the top of the telco hardware platform.

A Troubled Legacy
Telcos already have their own software platforms - in fact each one probably has many software platforms. These have been kept away from customers because that is the best way to hide the industry's dirty linen, but if the 1.0 Telco is to evolve beyond the basic commodity hardware platform, these software platforms need to be opened up.

But is it already too late? Have the new software platforms bypassed the need for the Telco's own software, or have they simply given up hope that something ubiquitous will ever exist? Even if it does come to pass, how is a ubiquitous Telco 2.0 platform going to retro-fit below the layers that have been built on top of the gaps? Tetris 1.0 vs Tetris 2.0...?

So what is it that Telco software platforms can offer that make Web 2.0 software application richer? What reason can the telecoms industry give developers to fight through the layers of history and start working backwards rather than forwards? Or, is the Telco platform like witchcraft, an outdated set of doctrines beyond which the world has evolved?

Labels: platforms, Telco 2.0

# posted by Jeremy Penston @ 10/02/2007 12:00:00 PM

Tuesday, 2 October 2007

Platforms, Platforms Everywhere