TADS 2016 - Blog @ TADHack - Telecom Application Developer Hackathon

What is TADS?

TADS is a grass roots initiative focused on building the telecom application development ecosystem to help businesses, developers, non-coders, really anyone who is interested use telecom capabilities in their applications, services and business processes. Telecommunications is a fundamental capability, now it is programmable it can revolutionize industries.

The purpose of TADHack, TADHack-minis, TADSummit, and TADMeetups in 2016 is to:

Build the telecom application development ecosystem from the grass roots;
Educate developers, non-coders, and enterprises on the power of telecom app development;
Distribute best practices from those working in the field;
Provide a pipeline of innovative services to the industry by promoting developers and vendor ecosystems;
Run down-to-earth, no-marketing-fluff events for the benefit of the ecosystem;
Help developers working in telecom app development be successful; and
Drive sales for developers, sponsors and partners through service innovation across APIs, WebRTC, communications service platforms, cloud communications, and many other web and IT-centric service platforms including cloud and open source telecom software.

TADS 2016 Timeline

TADHack-mini Tokyo 13-14 February (Saturday-Sunday)
TADHack-mini LATAM (partnering with “Hack for Good” in March 2016, http://hackforgood.net, which has over 1k attendees across Spain and LATAM.) – this one is to be determined.
TADHack-mini London 9-10 April (Saturday-Sunday)
TADHack mini Montevideo (Uruguay) 7-8 May
TADHack Global 14-16 October (Friday – Sunday, 2 out of 3 days as some locations would like to run Friday/Saturday than Saturday/Sunday)) – many locations around the world.
TADSummit 15-16 November (Tuesday / Wednesday) in Lisbon.

We run 2 types of events:

TADHack focuses on developers, technology and creativity. It is the largest telecoms focused hackathon, with 1400 registrations for TADHack Global in June and 2000 total registrations through 2015. We anticipate 2500 registrations in 2016. TADHack is globally distributed to raise awareness of telecom app development to developers around the world.
TADSummit focuses on the business aspects of making / saving money from telecom application development. It has become the industry’s main event focused on service innovation using telecom app development. We anticipate over 500 in-person and on-line attendees in 2016.

TADHack has 2 types:

TADHack Global – largest telecom application development hackathon
TADHack-mini – hackathons associated with telecom related events.

TADHack Global will run over the dates 14-16 October, we anticipate roughly 2000 registrations. We have moved to October to better fit the schedule of students and developers. We are running over 3 days so locations can run on Friday and Saturday, or Friday and Sunday, or Saturday and Sunday – to meet local preferences. TADHack Global has no physical center, apart from the Internet.

All locations are equal, and we anticipate sponsors will be involved in one or more locations. The Global prizes will be announced after all locations have completed their awards, it will be a live broadcast and recorded session where we review all the local winners and announce the global winners. This avoids people having to hang around after the local prize giving, and ensures the event is seen as a global community gathering.

The list of potential locations includes: Africa (Nigeria / South Africa), Amsterdam, Australia, Bangladesh, Bay Area, Berlin, Brisbane, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Dublin, India, Istanbul, Lisbon, Madrid, New York City, Paris, Poland, Singapore, Sri Lanka, your home (remote entry), and lots more.

TADHack minis. We are also planning 3 or possibly 4 smaller hackathons with one center, though remote entries are allowed for the minis as well:

TADHack-mini Tokyo on the 13-14 February. TADHack Tokyo winners will pitch to the Summit for greater exposure and hopefully a deal to two.
TADHack-mini LATAM (partnering with “Hack for Good” in March 2016, http://hackforgood.net, which has over 1k attendees across Spain and LATAM.) – this is yet to be determined.
TADHack-mini London on the 9th and 10th of April. Attendees will get access to the Global WebRTC Summit that will run after the hackathon, and the TADHack London winners will pitch to the Summit for greater exposure and hopefully a deal to two.
TADHack mini Montevideo (Uruguay) 7-8 May
Note TADHack-mini Chicago is now folded into the TADHack Global as IIT RTC Conference will run after the global hackathon. And likely TADHack-mini Paris will be folded into Global event.

TADHack attendee composition:

Technology providers: An important aspect of TADHack is the business generated between the sponsors and other technology / service providers in attendance. We are bringing motivated businesses together with a common interest who are creating new partnerships to win new revenue.
Enterprises: we continue to grow CIO and enterprise developer hobbyists attendance from many industries. This is driven in part by the on-demand movement and the important role telecoms app development plays, plus the rise of enterprise awareness in the programmability of telecoms.
Developers: TADHack has broken through being dominated by developers with a telecoms background in 2015, the majority of developers now have no background in telecoms rather they are web and enterprise focused developers. Many are new to hackathons given our open / inclusive approach.
Students: Will continue to be an important segment given their skills in the latest development tools and fresh approach to mashing-up telecom capabilities.
Telcos: We have brought a few telcos into TADHack, both to observe and hack. Generally we struggle to get telcos to attend TADHack, a common comment is, “I’m just not that committed to give up a weekend.”

TADSummit 2016

Top industry event focused on service innovation using telecom app development across developers, enterprise, telcos, and service providers.

TADSummit is unique, the event is streamed live and all the presentations are recorded and available on the YouTube channel to a global audience of thousands, not just the few hundred physically in attendance. TADSummit and TADHack are global online platforms for the everyone involved, not single events. We have some of the best minds focused on service innovation coming together in one place, the shared experience, insights, and recommendations are influencing the industry.

With TADHack Global in October and TADSummit in November Q4 2016 we will have an unique 1-2 punch on the industry, no other event can achieve this format. The build-up and results from TADHack will be a spring-board for global attention in TADSummit.

TADMeetups (fun / local meetings)

TADMeetups are funded locally on an event-by-event basis, and support the TADS objectives at a local level. They are generally used to raise local awareness of TADHack and TADSummit.