Operators looking to cash in on API economy, IHS Markit says

LONDON (July 21, 2016) – IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO), a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions, today released excerpts from its new Telecom API Platforms Global Service Provider Survey, which explores in depth operators’ application programming interface (API) strategies, including the drivers behind their spending, how they plan to capitalize on their investments and their supplier preferences.

For the study, IHS Markit interviewed convergent, mobile and fixed operators that have deployed telecom API platforms or are planning to do so by the end of 2017.

“The API economy has become a big business, and operators are looking to cash in on it by deploying API exposure platforms that enable them to make better use of their assets. Time to market and revenue generation are the primary drivers behind these investments, but service providers are facing challenges around the integration of these new platforms with existing network and IT environments,” said Shira Levine, Research Director, Service Enablement and Analytics, at IHS Markit.

“The majority of respondents to our API survey view their API platforms as a consumer play, although half have implemented them to support small and medium business (SMB) services. We believe that number will increase over time as operators look to build up the range of services and capabilities they offer to the SMB market—and also sharpen their focus on the large enterprise and Internet of Things (IoT) players,” said Levine.

Telecom API Survey Highlights

• The most common deployment model among survey respondents is on premises with commercially available hardware; however, 44 percent are considering a private cloud deployment, and 28 percent are weighing deploying their API platform in a public cloud
• Respondent operators identified messaging as their top API in terms of traffic and revenue
• Apigee is the API platform supplier cited as a leader by most respondents, followed by Oracle and Ericsson