The Aepona Wholesale Services Gateway allows Mobile Network Operators to rapidly connect to large-scale Wholesale Applications Ecosystems, complementing their existing retail Open Network API programs with a new wholesale dimension, extending their reach into un-served market segments and enabling a wide variety of B2B, B2C and B2B2C applications.
Existing Service Delivery Platforms (SDPs) and other Network Enabler exposure solutions that have been deployed by MNOs over the past several years were largely designed to support mobile operators’ own 3rd party API access programs, whereby partners connect directly to a single operator’s network enablers and are able to reach users on that network only.
More recently, demand from application developers for harmonized access to cross-operator network assets, together with industry initiatives such as the GSMA’s OneAPI and the Wholesale Application Community (WAC), have led to the emergence of a new model for API exposure through a cross-network API Cloud.
Existing single-operator solutions such as in-network SDPs lack the key functionality required to support this new wholesale model for API exposure. However, many operators do not have the option to “rip and replace” their current platform, nor do they wish to pay their existing vendor for expensive upgrades.
Aepona’s Wholesale Services Gateway solves this issue by providing a cost-effective, rapid-to-deploy solution that co-exists with existing SDPs, allowing operators to quickly connect to cross-network API Clouds, tapping into a broad community of application developers, enterprise solution providers and SaaS providers.
Key Features
- API Adaptation & Presentation
- Maps legacy/proprietary APIs to industry standard, Web 2.0 interfaces
- Allows operators to protect & future-proof existing SDP / Open API platform investments
- Identity Management
- Support for user identity across different access channels, e.g. mobile, WiFi
- Provides an anonymous user identifier (ACR) for use by applications
- User Authentication & Authorization
- Support for multiple authentication mechanisms
- In-Application Access
- Direct access to network APIs from within the app, e.g. to support in-app billing
- Wholesale Policy Management
- Fine-grained control over which clouds, apps etc can access which enablers
- Privacy and Consent Management
- End user privacy and permission control over enablers, e.g. location, payment, profile
Download the Wholesale Services Gateway brochure.
