Ericsson struck a deal to acquire a minority stake in US-based software company LotusFlare, as part of a wider partnership for the pair to accelerate the adoption of network APIs.

The Swedish vendor stated it will use LotusFlare’s cloud platform, which provides consent management and digital commerce solutions, to help it expose and monetise advanced network capabilities via APIs.

Both companies will use its partnership to provide “common solution blueprints”, designed to accelerate a communication service provider’s journey “towards network API monetisation”.

Niklas Heuveldop, SVP head of business area Global Communications Platform and CEO of Ericsson cloud subsidiary Vonage said it would utilise its own programmable networks, LotusFlare’s network abstraction capabilities and API supergroup Aduna’s aggregation capabilities to drive the API opportunity for CSPs.

“By further strengthening the industry ecosystem, Ericsson is accelerating the potential for CSPs, enterprises and developers to collaborate and innovate at hyperscale, leveraging the full potential of 5G and AI,” he said.

Ericsson added that Vonage would use the accelerated supply of APIs to boost the consumption of new network capabilities by enabling developers and enterprises to build network powered solutions “that turn advanced connectivity into competitive advantage”.

The value of the transaction was not disclosed.