Reflecting on the ETSI SNS4SNS Event

The ETSI SNS4SNS Event, held from 12-14 November 2024 in Sophia Antipolis (France), brought together the OpenCAPIF community for an engaging and insightful conference. ETSI SDG OpenCAPIF was actively featured during the event through talks, panels, demos, posters, and the very first OpenCAPIF Hackfest!

The event was free of charge and open to all, and it successfully attracted a diverse audience.

SDG OpenCAPIF at the SNS4SNS Conference

The Conference on Software and Standards for Smart Networks and Services gathered experts and decision-makers from various standards organizations, open source communities, and research initiatives. They discussed synergies, best practices, and opportunities for collaboration in designing and developing sustainable and interoperable networks and services.

The conference included sessions on Access Networks and Services, Telco Cloud Infrastructure, Management, Orchestration and Operations, Network Exposure, APIs and Programmability, and concluded with a large operator panel to discuss conclusions and next steps.

Session 4 - Network Exposure, APIs and Programmability, chaired by David Artunedo, Chair of SDG OpenCAPIF, featured talks from CAMARA, ETSI MEC, and OpenCAPIF, followed by a panel with the speakers.

First SDG OpenCAPIF Hackfest (Tutorial)

The first OpenCAPIF Hackfest was an interactive beginner-friendly tutorial that explored the fundamental concepts and standards needed to publish, discover, and consume APIs using the 3GPP Common API Framework.

Participants have experimented with registering API Invokers and API Providers, as well as publishing and consuming APIs using OpenCAPIF. Additionally, attendees learned how to engage with the community to report issues, contribute code and request new features.

Learn more about 1st OpenCAPIF Hackfest @ SNS4SNS

OpenCAPIF Demos

Stand 3B — CAPIF Integration with OAI Network Exposure Function (Giulio Carota, EURECOM)

This demo showcased the integration of CAPIF (Common API Framework for 3GPP Northbound APIs) with EURECOM’s OAI Network Exposure Function (NEF), validated through a practical use case.

EURECOM has developed a cloud-native, containerized architecture for its NEF, which integrates seamlessly with CAPIF. This CAPIF API Provider microservice embedded in the NEF fully supports the key functionalities defined by 3GPP, including the API Management Function (AMF), API Exposure Function (AEF), and the API Publishing Function (APF).

The CAPIF-enabled NEF was deployed within a 5G network, along with vertical applications (API Invokers) and the OpenCAPIF framework.

During the demo:

The NEF registered with an OpenCAPIF instance and published its APIs.
A vertical application, operating outside the PLMN trust domain, requested user location data. It discovered and consumed NEF APIs via OpenCAPIF.
Simultaneously, the network operator used another application to retrieve logging and auditing data, facilitated by OpenCAPIF. This information enabled the operator to accurately charge the vertical for API usage, based on the volume and type of calls made.

This demo highlighted the seamless interaction between CAPIF, NEF, and external application functions, showcasing the value of standardized API management and exposure in 5G networks.

Stand 4A — SEAL Exposure and Operation through OpenCAPIF: A Mission Critical Approach (Iván González Muriel, Nemergent Solutions)

This demonstration highlighted how Mission Critical Services (MCX) could be exposed and interacted with through OpenCAPIF, following a Service Enabler Architecture Layer (SEAL) approach.

In a world where networking technology is evolving towards virtualization, “APIfication”, and service-based networks, the SEAL architecture concept makes a perfect match with CAPIF functionality of exposing APIs, since SEAL proposes a set of common functionalities or entities and their APIs to be used by a variety of verticals.

Handling the exposure of the different APIs that SEAL defines for interacting with the functionalities is a necessary step for the verticals that wish to make use of them. With CAPIF such step is possible, allowing the SEAL deployment to onboard itself as provider in CAPIF to publish the different SEAL APIs available, and also allowing a vertical to onboard itself as invoker in CAPIF in order to discover the published SEAL APIs and learn the possible endpoints and interactions available.

The chosen venue is a Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) scenario with an MCX solution operated over a 5G network as its foundation. Such an approach facilitates access to MCX technology for end-users, enables interaction between different services reinforcing their synergies, and fosters multi-disciplinary MCX deployments where each vertical can interact with the most interesting APIs for its sector. The demo showed the full process of publishing and discovering SEAL APIs related to MCX (what has been called MC-SEAL) and some interaction with those APIs as a practical example of OpenCAPIF usage.

Stand 5A — NEF and OpenCAPIF: Securing Exposed B5G Network Capabilities to Third-Party Apps (Dimitris Fragkos, Demokritos)

This demo demonstrated the integration of an Open-Source NEF solution with the OpenCAPIF framework, showcasing secure access control capabilities and enhanced development of 5G services.

The Open-Source NEF is an advanced experimentation framework designed to implement NEF APIs, enabling the evaluation of available vertical applications acting as Application Functions (AFs) that consume NEF APIs. The O-NEF, built on RESTful APIs, allows seamless interaction with third-party applications, proprietary equipment, and AI/ML services. Its compliance with 3GPP standards ensures interoperability with other solutions, making it a versatile tool for diverse integration scenarios. The key highlight of this demo is NEF’s compliance to OpenCAPIF standards. By functioning as an API Provider within the CAPIF ecosystem, NEF leverages the secure access control capabilities offered by CAPIF, ensuring robust security and manageability of interactions. This integration demonstrates how the combined capabilities of NEF and OpenCAPIF can enhance the development of 5G services.

Stand 5B - OpenCAPIF integration in IoT-Edge-Cloud Continuum Meta Operating System (Andreas Sakellaropoulos, NCSRD)

This demo showcased the integration of OpenCAPIF with an IoT-edge-cloud Meta Operating System (MetaOS), simplifying access to aerOS MetaOS services and enhancing service discoverability.

The demo aimed to achieve a standardized and secured MetaOS API exposure, enabling third parties to interact with the IoT-edge-cloud continuum requesting workloads orchestration and placement, as well as IoT data discovery and reuse. OpenCAPIF standardized APIs, on the one hand, provide the interface to register aerOS MetaOS APIs and on the other hand, offer the possibility to third-party applications to discover these APIs and integrate their functionalities. This simplifies access to aerOS metaOS services, including workloads smart orchestration, distributed AI processing, and abstracted resource management. The key feature of integrating aerOS with OpenCAPIF is enhanced service discoverability which renders aerOS services easily discoverable and accessible. This ensures that a multitude of applications can discover and take advantage of aerOS capabilities, including scalable and efficient IoT service deployment, over diverse computing and network resources across aerOS continuum from edge to cloud.

Stand 11 — API driven MEC Sandbox and Edge Native Connector Feature (Yann Garcia, FSCOM)

This demo presented advancements in the MEC Sandbox tool (V2X Predicted QoS), featuring API-driven Sandbox and new Edge Native Connector features. The demo included on how MEC Application and Edge Native Application consume/provide service APIs in MEC Sandbox thanks to OpenCAPIF.

Learn more about OpenCAPIF Demos @ SNS4SNS

OpenCAPIF Posters

OpenCAPIF Deployment and Integration in FIDAL’s Use Case on Haptic Sensing (Pelayo Torres Alonso, Telefonica)

The poster provided an overview of how OpenCAPIF was deployed within the Malaga testbed and its integration within the OWO Network Application in the context of FIDAL Use Case 1 (Internet of Senses / Haptic Sensing).

OWO Network Application registers as an API Provider in OpenCAPIF and OWO APIs are consumed by API Invokers in OWO Applications.

Learn more about OpenCAPIF Posters @ SNS4SNS

About ETSI SDG OpenCAPIF

SDG OpenCAPIF develops a Common API Framework as defined by 3GPP and this new version introduces several improvements and new features to deliver a more robust, secure, and efficient API Management Platform. These advancements are developed in tight collaboration and incorporating feedback from a growing Research Ecosystem including SNS projects such as 6G-SANDBOX, FIDAL, IMAGINEB5G, SAFE6G, ORIGAMI, ENVELOPE and SUNRISE6G.

We are grateful to everyone who participated in the ETSI SNS4SNS event and contributed to its success!