Globe wins TM Forum Catalyst Award for Innovation, pushes for API standardization

Globe Telecom is taking the lead in setting standards for APIs with Project OAsIS having received the award for Outstanding Catalyst for Innovation in the recently concluded TM Forum Live! Asia 2017 in Singapore.

Short for Open APIs for a vibrant IoT ecosystem, Project OAsIS takes on bridging the fragmented IoT industry. The goal of Project OAsIs is to identify and adopt the best-suited APIs for Telco IoT applications, platforms and connected things to make them interoperable regardless of which protocol or framework they use.

At the TM Forum Live! Asia 2017 event, Globe Telecom demonstrated Project OAsIS through a workflow of working prototypes for a connected home and a connected parking use case. These prototypes included application management systems and mobile apps that were connected to devices including a fan, a lamp, and a motion-sensor for the connected home; and a demonstration parking lot with gantries, proximity sensors, radio-frequency identification (RFID) readers and an LCD screen for the connected parking scenario.

The mobile app for the connected home was also equipped with a security feature. This is an added user experience as the app notifies the user if motion is detected inside the home while the system is in "away" mode. On the other hand, the mobile app for the connected parking makes it easier for the user to search for and reserve parking slots. With the mobile app, it can easily track available parking spaces around the area and do mobile payments when leaving.

“We want to ensure that Globe Telecom can open ways to onboard new connected things and applications with less integration but, with great impact to our users,” Globe Chief Technology and Information Officer Gil Genio said.

The POC project proposed a standardized set of working APIs to interconnect different IoT ecosystems, aiming to bridge gaps in IoT. These OAsIS APIs will facilitate the interconnectivity of IoT applications, platforms and connected things. It will allow customers’ orders to be processed and billed, and devices to be controlled across platforms. “In terms of connected things and IoT applications, Globe through Project OAsIS, could provide more options to our users in making the IoT ecosystem an attractive package to other partners, which in turn could lead to a more comprehensive adoption of the technology,” Genio also said.

He explained that even without the award, the entire OAsIS team, led by the Enterprise Architecture Group, and Emerging Technologies under Solutions Delivery Division, Information Systems Group, is hoping to leverage on TM Forum's reach. “The award gives more focus on the importance of standardizing APIs as a building block in IoT, and also acknowledges the vision and effort of the OAsIS team. We're hoping that this will further motivate the TM Forum community in the adoption of these IoT APIs,” Genio added.

He further emphasized that device manufacturers, communications service providers (CSPs) and application developers can eventually benefit from the network effect, find ways to expand the IoT as a whole and accelerate the maturity of the market.

The TM Forum Catalyst Award is a rapid-fire innovation project that allows telco operators and solution vendors to participate openly and solve industry challenges. As a digital service provider, Globe Telecom has always aimed for a digital transformation through the power of technology. Earlier this year, Globe Telecom has endorsed TM Forum’s suite of Open APIs. To date, these Open APIs are now being used to enable a range of business scenarios and enable a wide range of revenue growth opportunities for communications service providers (CSPs) and their partners and suppliers.