Matching Apple’s App Store and Going One Better

Oracle points to SDP implementations at O2, Telenor, Telecom Italia and 3 as examples of its product-led approach to the SDP. James Parton, head of O2 Litmus New Product Development, a community project dedicated to finding and nurturing new mobile, wireless and internet-enabled applications and services, said Oracle’s SDP was a key component of the group’s project.

“[Litmus] is a place where anyone with a great idea for a new mobile application can find the tools they need to write network-aware applications ... and Oracle’s Service Delivery Platform is a key element in this approach,” Parton said, adding that the platform also helps developers make money from their applications.

Parton said the big challenge now that the project’s business model and framework are in place is to expose as many capabilities on its core network as possible. “For the first time, network operators are stepping out of the way and allowing [developers] to directly interact with customers. So developers will benefit from the insight customers can give ... and they can spend money much more wisely ... because they have a much greater certainty of the commercial success of an application,” he said.

Ultimately, that is the goal of any SDP no matter if it starts as a services play or software: to expose the network to as many developers s possible, Wang said.

HP, a leader from the services side that also happens to have a healthy dose of the applications required for a service delivery platform, thinks it does matter how an implementation starts and believes it begins with services.

“We have always felt that service delivery is more of a services-led engagement than it is product-led, said Peter Dragunas, director of worldwide network services and platforms in HP’s CME group. “When it comes down to it, the SDP has to adapt to the existing environment and every service provider environment is different.”

Because a key to differentiating services is personalization and to personalize services a provider needs unfettered access to information that exists all over the network, HP feels it is important to start with a design that integrates service delivery solutions, theirs or their partners, into existing environments while building in the flexibility to interwork with new third-party applications. And that takes some upfront professional services.