AT&T says it will share its application programming interfaces (APIs) with enterprise customers, wholesale collaborators and solution providers. Its partners can use its APIs for programs like location-based marketing, video call facilitation, and video content management. The open APIs will be particularly useful to system integrators who are authorized to sell AT&T products and services.
Enterprise APTs will represent a $157 billion business within five years, according to research from Evans Data Corporation cited by AT&T. Last year the nation’s second largest mobile operator hired Laura Merling, formerly Alcatel-Lucent’s senior vice president of application enablement to head up its effort to transform its network into a software platform.
“It’s taking everything from the underlying core network infrastructure – think your wireless accesss all the way through to what we talk about as typical voice-type communication or messaging – to the underlying quality of service,” said Merling, describing her position to RCR Wireless News. “Across all of those, how do you make those programmable assets where AT&T may not be the provider of the finished service or finished product; someone else may be. That really means a mindset change for AT&T and how we approach product development.”
The announcement is the latest in a series of moves from AT&T aimed at finding new ways to serve enterprise customers. The company has recently announced partnerships with CSC and IBM to expand its offerings for enterprise customers. AT&T has already opened up its API program to developers of consumer applications, and says it now generates 7.8 billion API calls per month, more than any other wireless carrier.
