Several prominent hyperscalers, telcos and vendors have thrown their support behind TM Forum's Open Digital Architecture (ODA) during DTW23-Ignite.
ODA serves as the blueprint for a modular, plug-and-play telecommunications framework, built on agreed-upon industry standards, reusable software components and open APIs. This modern, cloud-native approach replaces traditional operational and business support systems (OSS/BSS), enabling telcos to streamline costs and accelerate innovation.
Embracing TM Forum's ODA includes major network operators such as Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telia, Telstra and the UK's CityFibre, bringing the total number of 'running on ODA' operators to nine. This achievement involves successfully passing rigorous tests related to deploying and operating a cloud-native, ODA-compliant architecture. Other operators in this category include Axiata, Reliance Jio, Vodafone, and Telus.
"The telecoms industry has a pressing need to change the way software is procured, integrated, operated and upgraded,” Nik Willetts, CEO of TM Forum, said. “ODA provides the blueprint for this, and we’re excited to see so much industry commitment behind it – from our ‘Running on ODA’ CSPs, to our ‘Ready for ODA’ vendors. This level of commitment is a testament to ODA’s growing impact, which is redefining how we think about software as an industry. It’s also a great example of how our CSP and vendor members are working together to improve the experience for end customers across the world.”
Moreover, eight vendor members of TM Forum, including Alvatross, CSG, Ericsson, Hansen Technologies, Huawei, Netcracker, Oracle and Whale Cloud, have developed products aligned with ODA's key principles and specifications.
In addition to telecom operators and vendors, hyperscalers like AWS, Google, Microsoft, China Mobile and Oracle have introduced cloud-ready ODA Canvases. These canvases standardize security, observability and other software management processes, simplifying software integration and expediting DevOps and Site Reliability Engineering without requiring extensive customization.
TM Forum estimates that over one billion telecom subscribers worldwide are now benefiting from networks running on ODA, underscoring its significant global impact.