European researchers say welcome to the Telco 2.0 era
1 min read
European researchers have created a platform that allows users with no specialist knowledge to generate telcom plus Internet services, paving the way for the so-called Telco 2.0 era of converged internet and telecom, according to ICT Results.
That’s the view of the OPUCE project researchers, led by Telefonica I+D, who have now introduced an eponymous service development platform that makes two key breakthroughs.
First, it offers a way to create converged telco-Internet services from scratch or using existing basic services. Second, it is so simple to use that surfers with no programming skills can create their own services, reportedly in minutes.
OPUCE allows users to create converged services by combining Internet technologies, such as instant messaging, email, maps, photo albums and directories, with telco services, such as SMS, MMS and voicemail.
Project’s coordinator Alberto Leon Martin says they work just like application mashups: small, software-driven services on the Internet that combine data from two or more sources to create new information and/or insights – such as those that combine Google maps with estate agents’ listings.
Says Martin: “Users access the front end via the web, but the back end is still controlled and kept secure by the network operator… In the past, the internet has been about user-generated content: photos on Flickr, videos on YouTube and blogs everywhere. OPUCE is about enabling user-generated services.”
He expects a huge impact on IT: “Users are, as a mass, enormously creative, adaptable, dynamic and imaginative. It is impossible to predict what new services will emerge, but there is every probability that some of them will be killer apps – those pieces of software that are so appealing, useful and simple that they completely change culture and society, like SMS and blogging have done before.”
