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Ep 43 – Telco’s Pinball Wizard: Neil McRae
BT Chief Architect Neil McRae talks about the company's digital transformation and strategies for working with hyperscalers … and pinball, of course!
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Ep 26 – Avoid vendor lock-in with TM Forum Open APIs
TM Forum’s Open APIs are giving telcos a way to build IT solutions that are easier and cheaper to deploy, integrate, and upgrade. They give telcos freedom from vendor and cloud lock-in, driving lower costs and increased flexibility. They’re also a boost for disruptive startups (like Totogi!) that can use them to develop and deliver solutions with 10 times the functionality at one-tenth of the price.
I’m so psyched that telcos can now avoid lock-in – and even create their own applications – that I did a talk about them. It’s called, “Ride the public cloud dragon and avoid vendor lock-in by using the TM Forum Open APIs.” It’s so good that I decided to turn it into this podcast. Hit play to hear about:
- Why your current BSS sucks [3:42]
- Why API-based BSS is a far better solution [5:18]
- How leveraging the tech stack of the public cloud can be a game changer for your business [8:08]
- Why it’s time to change your thinking about the best way to build applications – and gain scalability, flexibility and cost savings along the way [11:39]
Are you at TM Forum’s DTW23?
Totogi’s cloud-first, SaaS-based monetization platform is purpose-built to drive new revenue opportunities for forward-thinking CSPs.
Discover more at DTW23 – Ignite.
Links and Resources
- You can find the transcript for this episode here.
- Here’s the video version of this talk.
- Learn more about TM Forum Open APIs.
- Take a look at TM Forum’s Open API leaderboard – check out who’s on top… Totogi!
- Piqued your interest? Then take it to the next level by attending our October 7 workshop where you can learn how to build applications in minutes using TM Forum Open APIs with Totogi BSS and AWS. Send us an email to register.
- Want to learn how the cool kids are using the public cloud? Then don’t miss our Formula 1-inspired virtual cocktail party on October 13, part of TM Forum’s Digital Transformation World Series. Register here or DM me on Twitter to get on the list.
- Watch AWS dump Oracle and AWS countdown and celebration when it turned off its last Oracle database.
- Having a hard time breaking up with your current BSS vendor? Get some tips on how to break up from the hit movie, How to lose a guy in 10 days.
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The Telco in 20 podcast won a 2022 Gold Hermes Award and was recognized on Forrester’s 2021 list of the Top 100 Channel Podcasts and Feedspot’s Top 10 Telecom Podcasts list.
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Podcast Credits
- Executive Producer and Host: Danielle Rios Royston, TelcoDR
- Executive Producer: Kristin Donelson, OneLouder Marketing
- Senior Producer: Lindsay Grubb, TillCo Media
- Editor/Producer: Alisa Jenkins Wilson, Springboard Marketing
- Audio Editing: Andrew Condell
- Music: Dyami Wilson
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Frequently Asked Questions
1. What are TM Forum Open APIs and why do they matter for telcos?
TM Forum Open APIs are a set of industry-standard REST APIs—over 75 defined to date—designed to make BSS solutions easier and cheaper to deploy, integrate, and upgrade. They matter because they give telcos freedom from both vendor lock-in and cloud lock-in, driving dramatically lower costs and greater flexibility. Nearly 20 CSPs have already committed to positioning the open APIs as a preferred requirement in their IT RFPs.
2. Why does Danielle Rios say legacy BSS systems are holding telcos back?
DR argues that legacy BSS systems are expensive to maintain, run on outdated Oracle databases, are difficult to upgrade due to heavy customization, and are unresponsive to business needs. The technology stack available through public cloud providers like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud has made the on-premise infrastructure these systems rely on obsolete. Making a move to a modern, cloud-native BSS is not just appealing, but necessary.
3. How is Totogi addressing TM Forum Open API adoption differently than legacy vendors?
While legacy vendors like Amdocs have certified only a single TM Forum Open API—a reflection of corporate unwillingness to disrupt its own revenue model—Totogi has aggressively pursued certifications, reaching more than 25 at the time of this episode, with a goal to support all of them by year-end. Totogi’s Webscale BSS is 100% API-based and built entirely on the AWS public cloud tech stack. Check out TM Forum’s Open API leaderboard to see where Totogi currently ranks.
4. What’s wrong with building a private cloud as an alternative to hyperscalers?
Danielle Rios explains that private cloud isn’t actually freedom from lock-in—it’s just trading one lock-in for another. Building your own private cloud means locking into hundreds of small decisions your team makes: which databases, runtime environments, and orchestration tools to use, plus the ongoing burden of training staff and keeping it all running. Hyperscalers abstract away that complexity so teams can focus on solving business problems instead of managing infrastructure.
5. Why is Oracle still a problem for BSS systems, and what’s the alternative?
Oracle was a reasonable database choice 30 years ago, but modern BSS requires multiple specialized databases: high-performance transactional systems for charging, data warehouses for ad hoc queries, in-memory databases for transient data, and low-cost storage for infrequent access. Forcing all of those workloads into Oracle produces the mediocre performance telcos experience today. The public cloud offers purpose-built alternatives like DynamoDB, Redshift, Redis, and S3/Athena—each as a managed service, just an API call away.
6. How can telcos get hands-on experience with TM Forum Open APIs and Totogi?
DR hosted a live coding workshop on October 7 as part of TM Forum’s Digital Transformation World Series, where attendees could learn to build applications in minutes using TM Forum Open APIs, Totogi BSS, and AWS. You can also watch the video version of DR’s talk, and telco execs can set up a meeting with the Totogi team to explore how the public cloud can drive business value.