Last week, I had the privilege of attending Orange Open Tech just outside Paris, an impressive three-day event that brought together over 3,000 attendees, including Orange’s own people, enterprise customers, developers, and business partners. The event, hosted in Orange Garden—Orange’s flagship innovation building—was transformed into a bustling showcase of telco innovation, featuring interactive demos, industry discussions, and a Network API hackathon.
This blog dives into the highlights, with a particular focus on the potential of Network APIs and their role in driving the next wave of telecom transformation.
A Showcase of Telco Innovation: Professionally Executed and Ecosystem-Driven
Orange Open Tech set the bar high, demonstrating what a telco can achieve when it fully embraces innovation. The entire Orange Garden became an exhibition space, with showcases spanning drones, interactive demos, and an impressive Network API hub that truly stood out.
What made this event different?
• It wasn’t just about R&D; it was about real, available solutions.
• Demos showed mature use cases for Network APIs, proving they’re ready for adoption while acknowledging the ongoing learning curve as new APIs are added over time.
• Every demo highlighted ecosystem collaboration, pairing Orange’s telco capabilities with business platforms and application developers to create innovative solutions.
For example, Nokia and Radisys showcased incident detection using AI cameras, while other demos featured applications for industrial security, pet tracking, and enhanced video streaming quality through Orange’s quality-on-demand APIs.
The Power of Ecosystem Collaboration
One of the most exciting aspects of Orange Open Tech was seeing the ecosystem at work. This isn’t like previous telco API attempts; it’s much broader, with CPaaS providers, hyperscalers, developers of all sizes, and telcos working together.
Why does this matter?
• Developers and founders are finding these APIs easy to use—simple, accessible, and functional.
• Once they start playing with the APIs, the creativity begins to flow. The new possibilities the network offers are driving real excitement in the developer community.
• Collaborative demos showcased the power of combined expertise—Orange as the telco, a business partner providing the platform, and a solution builder creating the final application.
Monetization: A Work in Progress
A major theme throughout the event was monetization. While Network APIs clearly add value, traditional API monetization models may not work for all use cases.
Take the example of industrial security: an AI-driven camera system might only call the API in rare emergencies. The value of that API is enormous, but the frequency of usage is minimal. How do we monetize that effectively?
These discussions are crucial, and it was fascinating to talk with partners like Nokia (Jonathan Kline) and Infobip (Viktorija Radman and Nina Knezevic) about these challenges and the potential paths forward.
The Hackathon: Turning Innovation into Reality
The event culminated in the Orange Network API Hackathon, where I had the honor of being part of the international jury. Over the past months, developers and startups worked on creative solutions using Orange’s Network APIs, and the results were impressive.
What stood out in the pitches?
• Significant progress since initial feedback two weeks ago—teams clearly listened and refined their solutions.
• Pitches were polished, demos were on point, and the solutions were much closer to market-ready.
The winning projects ranged from enterprise applications to consumer solutions, with highlights like a lost pet tracker in collaboration with a French pet organization, video streaming improvements using quality on demand APIs, and various security improvements using location and other endpoint information. Orange is already exploring how to take some of these innovations to market, showcasing their commitment to supporting the ecosystem.
Why Events Like This Matter
Orange Open Tech was more than just a PR moment for a telco; it’s a key part of building an ecosystem that works. Telcos need to engage directly with developers, partners, and enterprise customers to drive innovation.
My key takeaways:
1. Network APIs are real and ready – no longer R&D, they’re usable and delivering tangible value.
2. Ecosystem collaboration is critical – success depends on telcos, CPaaS providers, and developers working together.
3. Creativity thrives when the tools are right – developers are excited by the possibilities Network APIs unlock.
4. Monetization is a journey – we’re still figuring out the best models, but the industry is working on it.
Looking Ahead
As the CPaaS Acceleration Alliance, we see events like Orange Open Tech as key moments for the industry. They not only showcase innovation but bring together the ecosystem to tackle shared challenges.
What’s next?
• More telcos are hosting hackathons and innovation events, creating opportunities for collaboration. As the leading Alliance for programmable communications we help where we can.
• Orange and other Alliance members are working on monetization strategies, adding APIs, and developing more use cases, which eventually make it into our SP Playbook as best practices.
For me, this event was an inspiring reminder of the potential of Network APIs and the power of collaboration to drive the telco industry forward. I look forward to seeing what’s next!