Leaders from both organizations and representatives from the Innovation Hub Founding Members including Accenture, Deutsche Telekom, Google Cloud, Orange, Telenor and Vodafone attended the ceremony at the Reliance Corporate IT Park in Navi Mumbai
Akash Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Jio Infocomm
FinTech BizNews Service
Mumbai, December 1, 2023: TM Forum tmforum.org , the leading global alliance of
telco and tech companies and Jio, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, today
held the opening ceremony for the first TM Forum Innovation Hub, located in
Mumbai, India. The Innovation Hub, the first of its kind for the industry, will focus its
first efforts on accelerating the development of Generative AI (Gen AI) and Large
Language Models (LLM) and Open Digital Architecture to benefit the whole industry.
Leaders from both organizations and representatives from the Innovation Hub
Founding Members including Accenture, Deutsche Telekom, Google Cloud, Orange,
Telenor and Vodafone attended the ceremony at the Reliance Corporate IT Park in
Navi, Mumbai, where hybrid teams made up of talent from across the telecom and
tech industry will collaborate to deliver breakthrough thinking and solutions for the
industry’s most pressing challenges.
Mumbai was selected as the location for the first TM Forum Innovation Hub in
recognition of India being the epicenter of global software development talent. Its
opening builds on the TM Forum’s long-standing commitment to India – where more
than 37,000 active Forum member professionals are based.
One of the hub’s first focus areas is the application of Generative AI and LLM to
priority use cases for telcos, including developing an architecture blueprint to simplify
responsible use of generative AI for brownfield telecoms technology landscapes,
including the related challenges of security, privacy, accuracy, performance and
scalability.
A second focus area will focus on accelerating the development and adoption of TM
Forum’s Open Digital Architecture. ODA underpins the creation of modular,
componentized, and reusable cloud-native software to replace traditional BSS and
OSS. Objectives include creating Reference Implementation(s) of the ODA
Canvas and components, as well as migration patterns and innovative approaches
to simplify migration from legacy software to ODA-compliant, cloud-native
components.
Commenting on the opening of the Innovation Hub: Akash Ambani, Chairman,
Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited: “The TM Forum Innovation Hub is about
delivering real-world solutions that will change our industry and there is no better
way than to lean on talent from across the industry to solve our existing challenges
as well as finding better ways to overcome future obstacles. We are delighted to see
the first innovation hub open on our Mumbai campus as I believe Mumbai is the
perfect location to foster the innovation needed. This is a really exciting time for Jio,
TM Forum and the wider telecoms industry and we are honoured to be at the heart
of this project.”
Dr. Steffen Roehn, TM Forum Chair and Partner at Bain & Company: “Rapid,
open collaboration is today more important for our industry’s future than ever before.
The TM Forum Innovation Hub will prove hugely beneficial as our members explore
new technologies, more radical approaches to transform their organizations and
strengthen their muscles. We’re delighted to be collaborating closely with Jio and all
the founding members on this first Innovation Hub in Mumbai and look forward to
seeing the first outcomes from the hub’s pilot projects.”
Nik Willetts, CEO, TM Forum: “I’m thrilled to see work begin at the first ever TM
Forum Innovation Hub here in Navi Mumbai. Our vision is to bring together our
industry’s best talent in a neutral, entrepreneurial environment to rapidly deliver
breakthrough thinking and answers to the industry’s most pressing challenges. The
first projects reflect two of the most important areas for rapid innovation: the
responsible and effective use of generative AI, and accelerating the pathways to an
Open Digital Architecture to drive growth. Our sincere thanks to all of our Innovation
Hub founding members – and in particular Jio, who have given our first Hub a
home.”
The Innovation Hub program was unveiled two months ago at the TM Forum’s
annual DTW – Ignite conference in Copenhagen. Founding members Accenture,
Deutsche Telekom, Google Cloud, Orange, Reliance Jio, Telenor and Vodafone are
all contributing a range of expertise and resources to the hub, including experts,
physical space, technology capabilities and professional services. The first
Innovation Hub teams will be made up of staff from these organizations working both
physically and virtually.
The outcomes of Innovation Hub projects will benefit the entire TM Forum
membership, and the wider industry in several ways:
· Providing a new way for the industry to collaborate at speed, solving
intractable industry challenges with ‘real’ results that can be practically
implemented – including working code or concepts proven at scale in operational
or shadow-operational environments
· Testing and iterating TM Forum standards, providing valuable
implementation experience to core standards development teams
· Accelerating the development of code assets (for example, Open Digital
Architecture components and Open APIs) to be contributed towards TM Forum
collaboration projects
· Industrializing concepts explored in the Catalyst program, sharing the
learnings with the broader industry
The pilot phase of the Innovation Hub program is expected to conclude in March
2024, with a third pilot project starting shortly. TM Forum Members will be invited to
apply to join an existing Innovation Hub project or propose a new one in 2024. To be
considered to join a project Member companies will need to bring the distinct
expertise the project requires, as well as meet the minimum dedicated resource
commitment. To keep updated on the work of the Innovation Hub program and its
first cohort of companies, visit https://www.tmforum.org/tmf-innovation-hub/.
About TM Forum
TM Forum is a global alliance of telco and tech companies, leading the industry in
defining the building blocks for new operating models, impactful new partnerships,
and advanced software platforms.
TM Forum helps its members unlock the value of data to create nearly endless
opportunities for players across the communications ecosystem. At DTW Ignite,
Accelerate and Collaboration events, TM Forum provides a platform for industry
change-makers to share groundbreaking innovation, market developments, product
launches and business transformation journeys.
We are the only industry body to count the world’s top 10 CSPs and all the key
hyperscalers as active, strategic members. With over 800 members, we are on a
mission to reinvent the telco industry as a vibrant part of the digital landscape – and
a driving force in shaping its future.
