Today there was a press release that the “big four” US mobile operators are collaborating to provide a universal two-factor authentication system. And we applaud their effort. The real news here, though, is not technical, nor even limited to authentication – it goes to the heart of business opportunity and growth for CSPs in the digital collaboration (services) era. If they get it right, this is a terrific opportunity for the major mobile operators on several fronts: It has major implications in terms of their customers’ security and user experience If CSPs succeed, it will greatly enhance their reputations as trusted suppliers of secure services, and of security itself – a major opportunity in enterprise Two-factor authentication plays to network operators’ “core competencies” including the existing hardware and software authentication that exists on SIM cards, and the complex tuples behind them It may provide a stepping stone to the “value added” APIs (digital services) that CSPs so desire to provide, but have had only modest success in In short, it can launch them into the digital service business they crave, and move them beyond “simple pipes”. And its a realistic objective that builds on acknowledged strengths. There is no question […]