The Metaverse won’t just be about wearing VR goggles while our legless avatars play online games. It’s much bigger than that. The Metaverse will become the next iteration of the Internet – what’s being referred to as Web3.0. And just like the current Internet, it’s not a single company or product. It will impact everything, and take decades to evolve, leading to innovation in areas we can’t yet fully imagine. The immense power behind it will allow us to blur the boundaries between today’s physical and digital worlds.
But what will it take to get there? Do communication service providers (CSPs) have what it takes to become a full participant in the metaverse? I’d like to highlight three areas that, if we’re not careful, could become ‘potholes’ along the way.
#1: The Metaverse requires an ecosystem of innovators
Consumers won’t be the only ones who will benefit. Enterprises will likely be the heaviest users of the Metaverse, depending on it for AI and industrial manufacturing processes through applications built around augmented reality and the concepts like digital twins and blockchain.
To drive demand for the new data speeds that 5G, 6G and Web3.0 will enable, some CSPs have already begun providing ways to attract an ecosystem of innovators by allowing them to test out new services and applications.
The Telefónica Metaverse Innovation Hub in Madrid hosts a 5G laboratory that provides an end-to-end testbed built on Meta and Telefónica’s network infrastructure and equipment. Meanwhile, Verizon, SK Telecom, and others have all built platforms that work towards combining the digital world with real-life environments.
According to Marty Resnick, research vice president at Gartner, "Enterprises will have the ability to expand and enhance their business models in unprecedented ways by moving from a digital business to a metaverse business. By 2026, 30% of the organizations in the world will have products and services ready for metaverse."
Laying the groundwork for innovation is critical, but what else will it take to get there?
Do we really have the business processes in place to create the future world we all envision? And how will we work with hundreds, or possibly thousands, of partners in the seamless way future services will require?
#2: Outdated business processes hamstring progress
The Metaverse will be powered by network connectivity that seamlessly flows across an entire ecosystem of endpoints, applications, technologies, data centers, service providers, and consumers. But…no single operator can offer connectivity everywhere. Delivering service to these 'off-net' locations should be a frictionless process of leasing network circuits from other operators. But that’s not happening today.
“Today, if a company wants to open a new branch office or factory, it can take weeks - or even months - to get them online, especially if the new office is located outside of their operator’s network footprint
Seemingly simple - but critical – functions, like the way carriers buy and sell network services from each other, are horribly outdated.
Today, if a company wants to open a new branch office or factory, it can take weeks - or even months - to get them online, especially if the new office is located outside of their operator’s network footprint.
That’s because all the behind-the-scenes commerce that happens between service providers: the circuit orders, inventory, workflows, contracts, payments, SLAs and KPIs –are all currently being managed in an ad-hoc way, often through separate siloed systems, phone calls and emails. Mistakes happen. Orders get delayed. Productivity is impacted - and enterprise customers get irate.
#3: Inter-carrier collaboration is critical
Changing long-entrenched processes requires fundamental shifts in how networks are architected and deployed, which in turn will mean a huge industry-wide collaboration spanning tech companies, mobile network operators, internet providers, and everyone in between.
Fortunately, the industry is beginning to make progress through efforts by industry forums like MEF and their work to develop APIs that enable a more seamless interface between carriers – but not every carrier has the resources to build and maintain these complex APIs, so it will be important for technology partners to help ease this effort.
What we need is a better process for managing inter-carrier commerce. One that is:
- Smart: Intelligent workflows that reduce the need for in-house expertise
- Fast: Services bought and sold in real-time, on demand
- Global: Providing seamless connectivity around the globe
- Reliable: Zero order fallout, and services that are backed by KPIs
- Seamless: Standards-based ordering, built upon open APIs to foster a seamless and secure integration with wholesale partners
- Automated: Automated ordering and provisioning, moving towards zero-touch
- Transparent: Dashboards that provide full transparency across the ecosystem into performance and QoS by all stakeholders
- Secure: automated, secure commerce, with real-time margin and cost analysis
Connectivity has become like oxygen to the business world. There will be a growing requirement to buy and sell wholesale connectivity to meet the needs of enterprise customers as they migrate towards the metaverse, but if we only focus on overlying services and ignore the hurdles related to underlying connectivity, we’re creating an immense bottleneck. To help ensure the road to the metaverse is as smooth as possible, the time to fill these potholes is now.
Visit our website to learn how Universal Order Connect helps automate and streamline the buying and selling of network transport and access services – an important step for building the road to the Metaverse.
