Accelerate: First ‘scrum of scrums’ helps teams align their efforts

TM Forum Member professionals from communications service providers (CSPs) and their suppliers around the world gathered for Accelerate in Cascais, Portugal for a week of problem-solving.

The event kicked off with TM Forum’s CTO, George Glass, outlining the Forum’s three Missions: Composable IT and Ecosystems; Autonomous Network Operations and AI & Data Innovation. The Missions are designed to help CSPs and their partners create and participate in open ecosystems and implement autonomous network (AN) operations underpinned by AI, so that they can increase end-to-end operational efficiency and promote business growth.

Members then took part in Accelerate’s first ever ‘scrum of scrums’. This allowed participants in TM Forum’s 19 Collaboration projects to identify where and how they can align their efforts. Cross-mission collaboration remained a theme throughout the event, informing Members’ work within the following areas:

Autonomous networks – getting down to brass tacks

As CSPs advance in their deployment plans for autonomous networks, participants looked at the practicalities of adopting autonomous, intent-based network operations. Discussions explored:

• AN management, including cognitive cores, energy management solutions and intent-based approaches, emphasizing the need for transparency and measurable outcomes
• Intent ontology, which is a structured framework that categorizes and defines the functions and concepts related to intent management in autonomous networks
• The role of agents in building ANs, focusing on practical applications, interactions and operationalization
• Developing and implementing high-value scenarios for service delivery, assurance and complaint handling in the telecom sector, which align automation efforts with business objectives
• The challenges of standardization
• Successful deployments and plans for expanding autonomous systems across multiple domains and customers
• The roadmap for evaluation of AN levels and the use of certification to accelerate the adoption of autonomous networks.

AI & data – preparing for new horizons

As CSPs continue to deploy AI in operations (AIOps) to transform their operational landscape, participants discussed what is next for AIOps amid a swiftly evolving technology environment and a shift towards agentic AI. They explored:

• Key AI use cases and the pros and cos of using large language models (LLMs), predictive AI, machine learning and agentic AI to support them
• How autonomous operations maturity levels (AOMM) and AN levels complement each other in enabling AI automation, as well as where boundaries lie
• How adaptive governance, risk and compliance (GRC) frameworks can address the governance challenges faced by AI-native telcos, particularly as they integrate foundational models
• The ways in which a unified data ontology could facilitate better alignment and integration across TM Forum’s various frameworks.

Open APIs

API security was one of the principal themes in this year’s Open API workstream, and a key achievement of the group was the drafting of security guidelines. The team ran several joint sessions and special interest groups throughout the week with other projects to gather requirements and to ensure all project roadmaps were well aligned. Other focus areas were:

• Collaboration on Open APIs across the TM Forum’s Missions and Collaboration workstreams
• GitHub cleanup and the removal of unused branches and JSON schemas
• Defining API requirements for AI agents, AIOps, and model management and potential AI use cases across networks, BSS/OSS/ERP integration, and event-driven AI model consumption.
• The delivery of Open Gateway and Operate APIs.

Components, Canvas and Conformance

With the Open Digital Architecture (ODA) Canvas set for commercial availability in 2025, teams demonstrated the installation of the ODA Canvas v1.0.0 as well as the initial release of CTK tooling. In addition:

• The ODA Production and Wholesale Broadband teams presented two new components.
• Participants also examined how to manage relationships between components and frameworks and identified challenges with component conformance.

Standardizing Wholesale Broadband

Following the publication of the Product Model (IG1380 Wholesale Broadband Standardized Product Model & APIs for B2B v1.0.0) participants succeeded in:

• Completing an outline of a service model
• Agreeing to illustrate an end-to-end wholesale broadband delivery that effectively captures all relevant use cases.

Business Assurance

The business assurance team addressed several issues that straddle TM Forum’s three missions, including:

• AI & Human Interaction
• Data security and compliance ensure compliance
• Regulatory Challenges
• KPIs: Track AI-detected new fraud patterns.

Digital Ecosystem Management

The team explored the evolving demands of managing new digital ecosystems, including:

• Ecosystem value modelling when partnering in adjacent markets
• Strategies to expose and monetize APIs.
• Developing a roadmap for digital ecosystem management and integration and deploying relevant APIs

TechCo Organizational Design (TCOD)

The team emphasized the role of people, process and culture in autonomous networks, open digital experience and business architecture. They also undertook a series of interactive workshops which:

• Demonstrated how the maturity model can be applied to real-world transformations
• Explored the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within organizations and across the telecoms industry
• Addressed what sustainability means from a TCOD perspective.

Catalysts

The event provided a timely opportunity for new Catalyst teams to network and expand their proof-of-concept projects. In a fast-paced Cocktails and Catalyst session, 23 teams pitched their innovations to attract new collaborators.

During Catalyst Day, teams met in person to focus on innovation and co-creation, refining their projects for DTW Ignite in June 2025.

You can get involved in this valuable work - find out more and get involved in our Member projects and see the full list of Catalysts you can join.