However, the modern telco is expected to be both a service provider and a service enabler for customers. The latter means they have to be positioned to turn on a particular service as soon as the customer requires it, in order to enable the end-customers’ own agility in the marketplace.

It’s for this reason, says Bruce Busansky, key account manager for the Telco Vertical at Red Hat, that their networks will need to adopt a software-first approach as this significantly increases their flexibility and agility in terms of bringing new services onboard.