OPUCE: A telco-driven service mash-up approach

Telecom operators are facing major business challenges as Internet players are becoming an increasing threat in both new and traditional communications markets. Technologies like Web 2.0, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), and peer-to-peer (P2P) allow for easy integration of communication features in social networking applications. IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is a proposed solution from the telecommunications industry, but its architecture is complex and costly and still doesn't offer the Internet world the flexibility that end users expect. The Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) of the Information Society Technologies (IST) Integrated Project (IP) Open Platform for User-centric service Creation and Execution (OPUCE) addresses these challenges from a technical and business perspective. In this paper, we describe the OPUCE service execution architecture, which is designed to allow interoperation of telco and information technology (IT) applications in a seamless event-driven manner, and the service creation workbench that enables end users to build their own personalized service mash-ups and share them with the community.