Truphone’s Entitlement Server Platform: What it can do for you

Truphone’s Entitlement Server Platform: What it can do for you

Did you know that Truphone offers an entitlements server platform in addition to remote eSIM provisioning platforms for consumer and M2M? In this latest blog, our Head of Product Management, Scott MacKenzie, takes a look at what this handy solution can do for you.

What is an entitlement server?

An entitlement server is a set of specifications to allow mobile operators to enable and disable services and features on end-user devices. It is also used for orchestration of the flows needed to set up wearables, like the Apple Watch or the Samsung Gear watch.

We built our entitlement server platform about six years ago to serve our existing consumer and enterprise customers. It worked well for our internal use cases. Still, around three years ago, after launching our consumer eSIM RSP solution for mobile operators, we decided to re-engineer the entitlements platform from the ground up and include it as a single or combined offering with RSP.

By talking directly with mobile operators, we learned one of the most significant challenges they faced with entitlement servers was the cost and deployment complexity of the current solutions in the market. We wanted to create a solution that would act as a big step towards addressing this challenge.

We decided to use a cloud-native approach in our new entitlement server architecture to find efficiencies that would allow both big and small operators to access entitlements technology, without significant upfront costs. In doing so, it makes launching entitlements a question of integration rather than infrastructure for mobile operators.

We employ a secure multi-tenant model with features like encrypted data separation in transit and rest, role-based access control, OAUTH2 APIs, auto-scaling and built-in redundancy. We currently use AWS Europe as our hosting provider but can host on any major cloud platform.

We also recognise that not all customers want a fully cloud-hosted solution, either due to their policies or local regulations around customer data storage. Therefore, we also have a hybrid solution utilising cloud compute and on-prem data storage if needed. Later this year, for some markets we will also offer an entirely onsite solution.

What is happening in 2021?

This year, we are working hard to fulfil our vision of being the one platform covering the broadest range of entitlements specifications but with the least friction for our mobile operator customers. We don't want our customers to be caught up in the individual specifications and standards from Apple, Samsung, Google or the GSMA. Rather, we simplify the interfaces, such that a single integration can then use many different entitlement specifications and device types.

Currently, the Truphone entitlements platform is strong on the Apple entitlement ecosystem. Through 2021, we are quickly expanding out to other specifications as well. Last month we completed the integration of the Samsung specifications, with successful tests on Samsung Gear watches.

It took the team three months to integrate the Samsung specification into our base entitlements platform. We're now looking ahead through Q2 at the challenge of the GSMA TS.43 6.0 specification for MDM. By late Q2/Q3, we intend to support Google Wear OS wearables also.

Our plan over the coming two quarters should see us starting Q4 with support for Apple, Samsung, TS.43, and Wear OS specifications. We intend for our platform to support the widest variety of wearables and other entitlements on the market.

We look forward to sharing more updates with you throughout the coming months.

If you are curious about what entitlements can do for your business, please do reach out to our team of experts. For more information and demos check out https://www.truphone.com/entitlements.

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