AT&T is committing up to $200 million to a venture capital fund that will invest in technologies to run on top of the Open Network Automation Platform (ONAP.)
In order to move the ONAP ball forward, AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is working with Coral's Communications Industry Platform (CIP) team to find and invest in startup companies that can solve some of the challenges -- and develop solutions on top -- of ONAP. (See AT&TJoins VC Effort to Spur ONAP-Based Tech.)
ONAP is an open source project that was created earlier this year by the Linux Foundation. (See AT&T's Chris Rice Details ECOMP & OPEN-O Merger.) ONAP merged AT&T's internally developed ECOMP platform with OPEN-O. ONAP provides an operating system for software-defined networks by implementing orchestration and enabling the automation of elements.
The goal is for ONAP to become the standard for virtualized networks around the world. Currently, in addition to AT&T, Orange (NYSE: FTE), BCE Inc. (Bell Canada) (NYSE/Toronto: BCE), Windstream Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: WIN), China Mobile Communications Corp. and China Telecom Corp. Ltd. (NYSE: CHA) are among the service providers that are members of ONAP.
"The purpose here is to invest in a VC, which is Coral, that is supposed to deliver solutions to solve some of our biggest problems in different areas," said Igal Elbaz, vice president of ecosystem and innovation at AT&T Services. "There are some tasks, some problems and areas out there that we want to solve, and we see this as another pillar of our innovation program."
Elbaz said it was too early to say which areas will be first addressed, but "there are many areas that are going to be built on top of ONAP."
AT&T and Coral will look for additional companies to invest in the fund. ONAP's first software release is scheduled for the fourth quarter.
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— Mike Robuck, Editor, Telco Transformation