Telecom web services is for enriched applications with communication service capabilities in a Business-to-business (B2B) integration scenario. The telecom web services can be used for server-side applications with internet access connecting to a telecom web service provider such as mobile operator or service broker via web services technology. 
 

The telecom web services in this area are for B2B purpose and use the SOAP protocol. Telecom web services are not for client-based web services, for example using REST for Web 2.0 Mash-up and are not covered in this area. Telecom web services, however, can be used for Web 2.0 applications that connect to client REST web services. Enterprise applications can also use telecom web services. Another use case is for applications hosted inside mobile operator networks.

Telecom web services provide a high level of abstraction and simplification of application integration. These web services are intended to stimulate the development of next-generation services by IT experts who are not necessarily telecom experts.

Telecom web services provide simple telecommunications services that developers and the IT community can quickly understand and use to develop new, innovative applications.

One of the telecom web services gateways is implemented in the Ericsson product Service Integration Gateway (SIG). The SIG is the Ericsson Middleware product that exposes web services from the mobile operator telecom capabilities.

One set of open telecom web service standards is defined by the Parlay Group and it is called Parlay X. Ericsson is a member of the Parlay Group.

About the Parlay X from the Parlay Group 
The Parlay Group is a multi-vendor consortium formed to develop open, technology-independent APIs that enable the development of applications operating across multiple, networking-platform environments.

Parlay integrates intelligent network (IN) services with IT applications via a secure, measured, and billable interface. By releasing developers from underlying code, networks, and environments, Parlay open APIs allow for innovation within the enterprise. Parlay-based portable, network-independent applications are connecting the IT and telecom worlds, generating new revenue streams for network operators, application service providers (ASPs), and independent software vendors (ISVs).

At the moment, the Parlay Group has released the following Parlay X web-services specifications:

Third Party Call
Call Notification
Short Messaging
Multimedia Messaging
Payment
Account Management
Terminal Status
Terminal Location
Call Handling
Audio Call
Multimedia Conference
Address List Management
Presence

These are all free and can be downloaded from the Parlay Group website

Telecom web services model
Web services are the most important technology for Business-to-business (B2B) integration and Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) within the SOA concept. Web services can also be used for distributed computering as the Enterprise Service Bus via JSR-208 Java Business Integration (JBI).

With telecom web services, application do not need to reside inside the operator network, and the services do not need to be driven by the operator. This is the non wall-garden model (Open Garden), where the network operator can act as a channel provider in this new business. With this model, smaller service providers, enterprises and developers can now use more advanced mobile services in a simple way to provide specific end-user services.

Telecom web services provide server-side applications with telecom web services. Applications include mobile internet applications and web-based applications for the internet or intranets. These applications can be driven by content providers, service providers or enterprises: in telecom terms Value-Added Service Providers (VASPs). Telecom web services are a simple way of using a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) solution to access services provided by a mobile operator.

Here is a short use case for telecom web services, using the following Parlay X service standard::

• Presence (together with IMS/SIP)                           
• Short message (SMS)                           
• Terminal Location (Mobile positioning)                           
• Multimedia messaging (MMS)

This use case shows an end-to-end example using Java EE and Java ME. This is also a good example of how telecom web services and IMS may be combined in one converged scenario.

Scenario:
Business needs
A taxi company needs an enterprise application that knows when taxi drivers start and finish working and where their cars are located. Taxi drivers need to receive maps and driving instructions via MMS so they can pick up and deliver customers. When the journey is completed the taxi driver sends an SMS to confirm the finished assignment.

The taxi company needs to be able to communicate both with individual taxi drivers and with groups of taxi drivers without using trunk radio infrastructure. This is to guarantee coverage everywhere, without investing in trunk radio equipment.

Implementation solution
The enterprise application could be a common Java EE application with a web container and EJB container for the taxi company's central operators.

When a taxi driver starts working, he needs simply to log in to the taxi application from his mobile (an enterprise Java ME client with IMS application installed). The Parlay X gateway then sends a presence notification to the taxi Java EE application to notify that the taxi driver is on-line for work (Parlay X presence service). The taxi Java EE application checks the driver's location (Parlay X location service) by invoking the Parlay X gateway.

When the taxi operator gets the driving order from a customer, she checks the enterprise taxi application for the car closest to where the customer wants to be picked up. The application verifies the taxi position by comparing the position data in the application with data from the Parlay X terminal location service. The taxi driver receives an MMS with the pick-up address for the customer, sent from the taxi application (via Parlay X multimedia messaging service). The MMS also contains a map and driving instructions. The taxi driver confirms the order by sending an SMS back to the taxi application over the Parlay X gateway (Parlay X short messaging service).

While the taxi driver is on the road he can use the IMS Push-to-Talk (PoC) service on the mobile to talk to his colleagues (just like over trunk radio) and receive group messages as long as he is present and logged into the taxi application.

Web services for telecom services are suitable for server-side enterprise applications, where the Parlay X web-services standard has a central role for business processing - especially since subscribers are more mobile today.

Mobile browsing (or WAP browsing) and mobile client (such as Java ME client) are important mobile technologies, but they mainly solve only the presentation logic for the front-end side of a mobile internet application.  The back-end side of the server-side business logic is crucial to achieve true mobility in the end-user experience, using telecom web services.

One example is a stock alarm application, a mobile Java ME application, that presents share prices. However, if you suspend or turn off the application client, the mobile application cannot notify you to sell or buy stocks. For an application with true mobility, the service is not dependent on whether the client application is active or not. The business logic of the stock application is located on the server side and can still notify you with, for example, an MMS picture (over Parlay X multimedia services), SMS text (over Parlay X short messages) or just call you with a voice prompt (Parlay X Call Control) to notify you to buy or sell stocks.

The application even works when you turn off your business mobile phone and switch to a private low-end mobile (without WAP or Java ME). When the business mobile phone is turned off, the Parlay X Terminal Status services will notify the enterprise application, so that the application switches to the low-end mobile phone profile. This type of true mobility application can be developed with Parlay X web services. In this context we call it an end-user service rather than an application.
 

Enlarge picture

The figure above shows an example of end-to-end application architecture (N-tier model) from a mobile client (Java ME and WAP browser) and desktop client (Java SE and Web browser) to the server side (Java EE technology). The back-end side of the application uses telecom web services. This end-user service will become access and client agnostic.

True application platform independency with  telecom web services

Enlarge picture

The figure above shows an example of how a VASP application uses telecom web-services to connect to the network operator's  Web services gateway. With  telecom web services the server-side application does not need to be built on Java EE or Java SE standard as application platform. The application can, for example, be based on MS.NET or an open source alternative for .NET, such as Go-Mono or DotGNU (with ECMA-334 and ECMA-335), similar to Open Source for Java EE Application Servers.

SDK and tutorials
In the tools section you can find several free solutions for simplify Web Service development and integrations.