Practical Engineering & Showcases:

Note 1. DTW Ignite 2026 is TM Forum’s flagship global connectivity event focused on accelerating AI-native telcos, autonomous networks, and composable IT. The event is from June 23 to June 25 at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark.

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At the show, the TM Forum and its member alliance of over 850 companies across 180 countries, announced a major structural evolution for the Open Digital Architecture (ODA), shifting it from a cloud-native IT modernization blueprint into an AI-native execution environment. The core focus of these updates is to establish standardized, executable reference frameworks that allow operators to move beyond fragmented AI pilots and build an autonomous enterprise. The primary ODA updates and structural expansions announced at the summit include:

• • Governed Execution Layer: TM Forum members launched AI-native extensions to the ODA specification, adding a governed execution layer. This allows autonomous AI agents and large language models to run natively within the existing ODA component architecture and Open APIs.
  • Project Foundation & AI Canvas: Through the Demo ONE Catalyst project, tech leaders debuted an updated AI-Native ODA Canvas. This cloud-native runtime environment orchestrates data, AI models, and autonomous agents across fragmented BSS, OSS, and network domains to replace rigid legacy systems.
  • Model-as-a-Service (MODaaS): To solve the challenge of rising token costs and fragmented model selection, an ODA-aligned MODaaS framework was introduced. It establishes a unified control plane to govern, secure, and manage AI model usage across the carrier architecture.

• • Space-Telco Interoperability: In a major scope expansion, TM Forum officially launched the ODA for Satellite project. Supported by 16 foundational partners—including Airbus, Terrestar, and Vodacom—the initiative targets multi-billion dollar direct-to-device and space-connectivity markets. 
  • Unified Non-Terrestrial Frameworks: The project extends standard ODA components to satellite technology providers, standardizing how terrestrial mobile networks and non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) handle cross-industry billing, service delivery, and zero-touch roaming integrations. 

• Plug-and-Play Validation: TM Forum rolled out its newly expanded ODA Component Certification. This toolkit gives vendors a programmatic way to verify that their commercial software components are truly plug-and-play ready, lowering custom integration costs for telecom buyers.
• “Running on ODA” Milestones: The alliance celebrated that 18 global Communication Service Providers (CSPs), representing over two billion subscribers globally, have officially achieved “Running on ODA” accreditation—confirming that modular, componentized architecture has reached full scale in production environments.

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Vendor Announcements:

• Amazon Web Services (AWS) Expansion: Nokia and AWS expanded their partnership to run Nokia’s Autonomous Networks Fabric natively on AWS. The integration brings operators closer to Level 4 network autonomy, enabling networks to orchestrate, analyze, and heal themselves at machine speed. 
• Google Cloud Integration: Nokia deepened its alliance with Google Cloud to integrate Gemini models into the Nokia Assurance Center. They unveiled six specialized generative AI agents (including a Router Agent and Event Triage Agent) to automatically process data and isolate the root causes of service faults. It launches as a SaaS offering in September 2026.
• Databricks Proof of Concept: Nokia and Databricks announced the completion of a joint project showing a unified, cloud-agnostic data platform. This resolves a legacy pain point by unifying hundreds of fragmented operational silo data architectures so multi-agent AI can run seamlessly across networks.
• GenAI-Native Operations: Instead of relying on traditional rules-based code, Nokia’s new interfaces allow field engineers to query complex multi-vendor topologies, generate diagnostic code, and run natural-language root-cause analyses on real-time traffic faults.
• Autonomous Network Scaling: Nokia presented multi-party Catalyst project solutions targeting network optimization, zero-touch slicing, and automated enterprise edge deployments tailored for the 5G-Advanced landscape.

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• EIAP Core Expansion: The headline announcement from the Ericsson Cloud Software and Services division was the expansion of the Ericsson Intelligent Automation Platform (EIAP). Formerly restricted to RAN operations, the platform now fully integrates and unifies Radio Access Network (RAN) and core network automation systems.
• Introduction of cApps: Ericsson claimed a major industry first by rolling out core-specific automation applications (cApps). These decentralized apps allow operators to run automated routines directly on core architectures, streamlining cross-domain workflows to cut operations costs. 
• Business Value Pathways: Ericsson debuted a structured strategic blueprint designed to guide Communication Service Providers (CSPs) through the financial steps of scaling from Level 3 to Level 4 autonomous networks.

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• Addressing the “AI Trust Gap”: Responding to a TM Forum study revealing that only 14% of operators can prove their AI systems are fully reliable, IBM presented framework tools at DTW Ignite to address security and model bias. 
• B2B2X Monetization: IBM focused its platform showcase on orchestrating automated workflows for multi-enterprise B2B2X networks, enabling secure data federation across third-party hyperscalers and edge servers.

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• Telco-First Cloud Architecture: Stationed at Booth 334, Mavenir debuted its updated AI-by-design, cloud-native software portfolios built natively around TM Forum’s Open Digital Architecture (ODA) frameworks. 
• Closed-Loop Automation: Mavenir demonstrated actionable frameworks that handle real-time resource adjustments, shifting power and processing capacity across base stations based on AI-predicted user demand cycles.

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References:

https://www.tmforum.org/events/dtw/experience-dtw/new-for-2026

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