At the Open Source Summit Europe, the Linux Foundation’s CAMARA project, an open-source initiative focused on improving API interoperability within the telecommunications industry, has announced the launch of its first official release, named “Meta-Release Fall24.” This release introduces 25 APIs across 13 sub-projects, all thoroughly tested for quality, consistency, and stability through stringent release management protocols.
CAMARA was initiated in 2021 by a small group of telecom operators, vendors, and hyperscalers, and officially launched in February 2022 with 22 founding partners. Since then, the project has seen rapid growth, graduating to a funded model in September 2023 with 250 participating organisations and over 750 contributors. Today, the CAMARA community has expanded to include more than 1,100 contributors and 396 organisations, developing over 26 API families and sub-projects.
“CAMARA’s rapid growth is testament to the need for telco network APIs to become more open, more accessible and easier to monetise,” said Arpit Joshipura, General Manager, Networking, Edge and IoT, at the Linux Foundation. “The community’s first official, milestone release further enables active, open collaboration in the development and availability of more connected solutions. We encourage operators, cloud providers, application developers, hyperscalers, and aggregators, and technology vendors to partner with CAMARA in making these solutions even more accessible.”
The Meta-Release encompasses 13 sub-projects, introducing 25 APIs to the wider ecosystem. These APIs are part of a unified, high-quality set that has been rigorously vetted for release. The Meta-Release sets the groundwork for future API development, including APIs already in production. The CAMARA community has committed to providing twice-yearly updates to these vetted APIs, allowing network operators to plan for deployment with confidence, knowing they are receiving the most up-to-date and stable versions.
The Meta-Release also includes a Security and Interoperability Profile built on OAuth 2.0 and OpenID standards, ensuring developers can access network data and capabilities securely, with privacy in mind. Guidelines, API definitions, and documentation for the release are available at the project’s GitHub page.
The APIs featured in the Meta-Release include:
- Stable APIs with v1.0.0 versions, previously implemented by network operators: Location Verification, Number Verification, One-time Password SMS, Simple Edge Discovery, and SIM Swap
- Updated versions of previously implemented APIs: Carrier Billing, Device Reachability Status, Device Roaming Status, Home Devices QoD, KYC Fill-In, KYC Match, Location Retrieval, and Quality-on-Demand (with qos-profiles)
- New APIs ready for implementation: Call Forwarding Signal, Carrier Billing Refund, Connectivity Insights (with application profiles), Population Density Data, and QoD Provisioning
- New APIs to subscribe for event notifications in CloudEvents format: Connectivity Insights Subscriptions, Device Reachability Status Subscriptions, Device Roaming Status Subscriptions, Geofencing Subscriptions, and SIM Swap Subscriptions
“I am incredibly proud of the entire CAMARA ecosystem—from developers to members and partners—for achieving our community’s first Meta Release,” said Nathan Rader, Board Chair of CAMARA and VP, Service and Capability Exposure at Deutsche Telekom. “This milestone is a significant step forward in our mission to enable seamless access to telecom network capabilities through open APIs. The global support we’ve received underscores the industry’s focus on/commitment to simplifying API availability across telecom networks and countries.”
CAMARA creates new opportunities for collaboration between network operators, marketplaces, aggregators, and API customers. The project has been chosen as the Network API specification source for a recently announced partnership among leading global telecom companies. A key factor in CAMARA’s success is its alignment with GSMA Open Gateway and TMForum in establishing an open, global, and accessible API ecosystem.
This collaboration benefits both customers and developers by offering a consistent, user-friendly means of accessing network capabilities, helping developers deploy applications seamlessly across different telecom networks and countries. This avoids fragmentation and accelerates the development of portable global applications, driving broader industry adoption of new features and capabilities.
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