Open Source Summit: More openness in telco networks

A number of projects from the telco sector have also come together under the umbrella of the Linux Foundation. CAMARA is a very important, albeit little-known project: After several years of work behind the scenes, it presented concrete results at the Vienna Open Source Summit. The founding members included telco companies such as Telekom and AT&T, as well as hardware and software manufacturers such as IBM, Microsoft and Google Cloud. The list of members now includes more than 390 organizations.

From a helicopter perspective, – – CAMARA is all about standardized, cross-vendor APIs for telecommunications services. In Vienna, CAMRARA presented 25 APIs at once as part of a so-called meta-release. A good example of what this means in concrete terms is the recognition of a SIM exchange: every telco provider has an API for this. However, if you want or need to work across different manufacturers, you either have to do double and triple the development work or find an abstraction layer. Or you can use a standardized API – like the one from the CAMARA project. In fact, the SIM swap API is part of the fall 24 meta release, with the next one planned for spring 2025. In general, a release is planned every six months.

Cloud events from telco networks

The Fall 24 meta release contains four different categories of APIs. Some have reached version 1.0.0 and are now considered stable. Some are more advanced, others are completely new. These can be subdivided again. Firstly, more classic APIs such as the status check for forwarding calls from the telco service provider. And there is a new class: subscribing to notifications in cloud event format. One example is the already familiar SIM card swap. The CAMARA project is very well documented. There are wiki pages, GitHub repos and Swagger entries. There are also meeting minutes and other documentation. This makes it easier for newcomers to get started.

Open 5G core from Taiwan

Another announcement also fits in with this "democratization" in the telco sector. The free5GC project is now also under the auspices of the Linux Foundation. The name is made up of the 5G mobile communications standard and Core (short for core or core network). The origins of free5GC lie in academia. Developed at the National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taiwan, it was intended to facilitate research in the field of communication networks. It has since become an open-source implementation of a 5G core network.

free5GC benefits from the Linux Foundation in two ways. Firstly, it facilitates collaboration with related projects or even integration. In addition, free5GC can draw on the experience and existing structures for managing the project itself. This starts with hardware and software for testing or quality assurance. But it also includes structures for documentation, for holding meetings and certain supervisory bodies.

(dahe)