A phone call. That’s the point.

At first glance, what the audience saw during this CASA25 Showcase Challenge didn’t look very exciting. A phone. A dialer. A live call.

No app demo. No futuristic UI. No flashy slides.

But that was exactly the point.

What Adnan Saleem from Radisys showed was a real phone call—using the native dialer—backed by an agentic AI assistant that doesn’t live in an app at all. The AI lives inside the telco network itself. And once you realize that, everything about the demo changes.

This wasn’t voice calling plus AI. It was AI voice as a native network capability, available on any device, on any operator network, without downloads or friction.

For readers who want to go deeper into the architecture behind this approach, Adnan covered that earlier at CASA25 in his keynote: “Voice Is Back (and Smarter Than Ever): How Radisys Is Unlocking New AI Revenue Streams for Telcos.”

👉 https://casa26.amsterdam/2025/10/11/voice-is-back-and-smarter-than-ever-how-radisys-is-unlocking-new-ai-revenue-streams-for-telcos/

A personal AI assistant, reached through the dialer

Instead of opening with architecture diagrams, Adnan went straight into the experience. Using his native phone dialer, he called his personal virtual assistant.

The assistant already had access to private information Adnan had explicitly shared—documents, calendar entries, reminders—and could also draw on public data when needed. He asked about upcoming travel, reminders for purchases, and itinerary details, all through a simple voice interaction.

Turning a phone call into a shared AI experience

The pivotal moment came when Adnan asked the assistant to place an outbound call to his colleague Ralph.

The call connected like any normal voice call. No applications on either side. Once Ralph joined, Adnan invited the virtual assistant into the live call, turning it into a three-party conversation. The AI actively participated—suggesting restaurants near Amsterdam Central Station, answering follow-up questions, and staying fully aware of the context of the discussion.

Automatic summaries, actions, and memory

When the call ended, the system automatically generated a call summary, action items, and a full transcript. These were delivered instantly via SMS with a secure link.

Meetings were identified, dinner plans captured, and next steps outlined—without anyone taking notes or switching tools. Adnan then showed how the call transcript could be imported into the assistant’s private knowledge base.

To close the loop, he called the assistant again and asked about his upcoming meetings and dinner plans. The AI responded instantly and accurately, using the context from the call that had just taken place.

Why “native” matters

What made this demo stand out was not just the AI, but where it lived.

This wasn’t an app layered on top of voice. It was native to the network itself. There was nothing to install, no interoperability issues, and no reliance on high-end smartphones. The service worked on any device, on any operator network, wherever voice works.

That makes it always available—and inherently inclusive.

The operator opportunity

During the Q&A, the conversation naturally shifted to monetization. From an operator perspective, how does this turn into real revenue?

Adnan outlined two clear paths. At the consumer level, this becomes a value-added service—an incremental monthly charge for a powerful personal productivity assistant. At the SMB and enterprise level, the value increases significantly: automatic call summaries, embedded business intelligence, action tracking, and AI-assisted workflows tied directly to everyday voice conversations.

Questions around AI accuracy, data privacy, and enterprise readiness were addressed directly. These are real concerns, but also expected steps on the path to large-scale commercial deployment—not fundamental blockers.

The bigger takeaway

The broader takeaway from this CASA25 Showcase Challenge was simple but important.

Voice doesn’t need to be reinvented. It needs to be elevated.

When AI voice is built directly into the operator network, the network itself becomes the platform—unlocking a new class of services that are personal, contextual, and ready to scale.

Where CPaaS Meets American Idol

The grand finale of CASA25 wasn’t just another panel or pitch. It was a showdown. A live challenge. A little bit of circus, a whole lot of talent—and just a dash of demo chaos (because what would a live tech demo be without that?).

Welcome to the CPaaS Showcase Challenge: where four ambitious players took the stage not just to talk, but to show what CPaaS can do. Think “American Idol” for programmable communications—complete with judges, a live audience vote, and an evening reveal of the winner over well-earned beers.

And after the smoke cleared, Creo Solutions walked away with the top honors. But each contestant brought something unique to the stage—turning this into one of the most exciting sessions of the entire event.

💡 The Format: Live Demos, Real Judges, Big Stakes

Each contestant had 10 minutes to demo a live product or prototype. A panel of judges—Amy Cameron (STL Partners), Andrew Collinson (CPaaSAA), and Mike Mills (Gamma)—asked the hard questions. The audience joined as the 4th judge, voting in real-time across five criteria:

Innovation Ease of Deployment API/AI Integration Commercial Relevance Presentation Style

Let’s meet the four contenders and their demos:

🚀 Telnyx – “Ask Your Assistant, Not Your Developer”

Presenter: Pete Christianson

Telnyx opened strong with a vision for voice-first AI assistants that anyone—not just developers—can spin up. Pete demonstrated a scheduling bot built entirely by a non-technical product marketer. The voice AI handled calls, recognized users, and even interacted using natural language prompts.

Despite a hiccup during the live demo (we’ve all been there), the message was clear: self-serve CPaaS is moving from low-code to no-code to language-native.

🧠 Standout Insight:

“The future of CPaaS isn’t about asking your developer—it’s about asking your assistant.”

💬 Judge Reactions:

• Loved the infrastructure and vision.
• Strong voice-AI play, especially for SMBs.
• Questions about GTM, channel strategy, and fraud controls.

🧠 Radisys – Agentic AI, Natively in the Network

Presenter: Adnan Saleem

If Telnyx imagined a no-code CPaaS future, Radisys delivered the network-native AI reality. Adnan dialed a phone number—no apps, no installs—and activated a personal voice assistant that joined a 3-way call, understood context, answered questions, and sent a post-call summary via SMS.

Agentic AI, integrated directly into the IMS core, running on telco infrastructure. A jaw-dropper.

📲 Why It Mattered:

Fully app-free experience Personal and contextual assistant Works on any device, not just smartphones

💬 Judge Reactions:

• Monetization path for telcos is clear
• Real concerns around privacy, hallucination, and AI trust
• Strong vision with real-world use cases

🏃‍♂️ XConnect – The Global API-Driven Marathon

Presenter: Mark Harvey (Sekura.id, now part of XConnect)

XConnect brought the most creative use case of the day: a global marathon app powered by 12 GSMA Open Gateway APIs. From seamless login and geolocation to crowd control, KYC, and roaming detection—this app wasn’t just about running. It was about showcasing the power of layered APIs in a real-world scenario.

The app even triggered interest from a major sports brand. Not bad for a prototype built “just for fun.”

🎯 Big Idea:

APIs are like LEGO blocks—alone they’re fine, but together they build real value.

💬 Judge Reactions:

• Loved the story and ambition
• Pressed on go-to-market and monetization
• Disappointed they couldn’t see the live app in action

🧠 Creo Solutions – The Conversation Intelligence Cloud

Presenter: Robert Galop

Last up—and eventually the winner—was Creo with a vision for Conversation Intelligence at Scale. By ingesting VCons (voice conversations as structured data) across telco networks and apps, Creo provides call summaries, alerts, insights, and co-pilots for every type of customer—especially SMBs.

The demo? Seamless. Calls became structured records. Emotional alerts triggered owner follow-ups. Action items synced with apps. And everything was API-enabled for partners to plug into.

📈 Why They Won:

Business-ready product Clear revenue lift for telcos and UCaaS/CCaaS providers Strong vision, great execution, and killer pitch

💬 Judge Reactions:

“This doubles ARPU.” Concern over data overload addressed with usable dashboards Scalable, telco-friendly, and enterprise-relevant

🏆 And the Winner Is…

🥇 Creo Solutions

After the judges debated and audience scores were tallied, Creo was crowned the winner of the CASA25 CPaaS Showcase Challenge. Their conversation intelligence platform ticked every box: innovation, commercial relevance, scalability, and polish.

🎤 Closing Time: From Demos to Drinks

With the Challenge concluded, Rob Kurver came on stage to thank everyone—especially Nicolai Schaettgen for his brilliant emceeing and Laila van Hooff, the behind-the-scenes mastermind who made CASA25 run so smoothly.

The audience gave them a big hand—and then did what every great tech event should end with: walked next door to the Beer Factory for some final rounds, deeper conversations, and warm goodbyes.

CASA25 was a wrap. But the impact—and momentum—will carry into CASA26 and beyond.

Want more from CASA25?

Explore all the blogs, sessions, and videos here – including thought leadership on Agentic AI, Network APIs, Intelligent Engagement, and the future of programmable communications.

See you next year. 🧠📲🍻

How Radisys & Goshawk Are Bringing Purpose to Telco Innovation

At CASA25, one of the most powerful moments came not from a flashy AI demo or a multi-million-dollar partnership, but from a simple, deeply human story: how a phone call can reconnect people who have been quietly excluded.

Nicolai Schaettgen (Match-Maker Ventures) sat down with Ralph Page (Radisys) and Ian Buxton (Goshawk) to talk about Engage Clarity—a solution built for the one in five people currently affected by hearing loss. That number is set to rise to one in four by 2050. But this wasn’t a story about technology alone. It was about impact, dignity, and connection.

🔊 The Problem: Everyone Deserves to Be Heard—and to Hear Clearly

Imagine this: you’re 80 years old, trying to talk to your doctor. But the phone call doesn’t make sense. It’s muffled. It’s exhausting. So you stop calling. Maybe you even stop getting your prescriptions.

That’s exactly what happened to Ralph’s father.

“He’d say, ‘I can’t hear anything on this stupid phone’,” Ralph recalled. “It wasn’t his fault. It was the phone’s fault.” Eventually, he stopped speaking to the triage nurse and delayed renewing his medicine—because he couldn’t understand the conversation.

This is the real-world cost of hearing loss in a world that still treats phone calls as one-size-fits-all. And it’s just the beginning.

👂 Hearing Loss Is a Spectrum — And So Are the Challenges

You don’t need to wear a hearing aid to have trouble hearing. Hearing issues range from mild and undiagnosed to severe and treated with cochlear implants. And even with hearing aids, which can be expensive, conversations—especially over the phone—can be frustrating and tiring.

As Ian Buxton shared, “My wife has Ménière’s disorder. Even with hearing aids, she struggles. I can ask for the butter at breakfast, and she hears ‘putter.’ It’s not about loudness—it’s about clarity.”

And when clarity is missing, it doesn’t just affect understanding—it affects memory, confidence, and impacts human connection.

🌐 The Solution: Engage Clarity, Delivered Through the Network

Goshawk’s application was built to tackle this head-on. It starts with a 3-minute web-based hearing test, developed with Cambridge and Manchester Universities. This creates a unique audio profile—a fingerprint of how you hear.

Then comes the magic.

Radisys’ Engage Clarity solution applies that profile to your phone calls in real time. Clarity uses network-based processing—with more compute power and intelligence than any device.

The result? Voice calls that are customised to your hearing, not just louder.

So how does it work?

The user takes the 3-minute test on a telco-branded portal. A flag is set in the operator’s system. All calls are routed through Radisys’ media resource function (MRF). Clarity enhances the voice stream according to the hearing profile. The call is delivered—just clearer.

“It’s as simple as routing a value-added service,” Ralph explained. “The only hard part? Getting the telco website updated so users can sign up!”

🤝 Why Radisys?

Radisys isn’t just another CPaaS vendor. Their Engage Digital Platform is embedded in over 70% of telco IMS networks. That means they can manipulate the media directly inside the operator’s infrastructure—with regulatory compliance and native call handling already in place.

💡 Telcos, Take Note: This Is Inclusion and Innovation

Some operators ask, “How much can I charge for this?” Others see it as a feature for accessibility or wellness packages—bundled with fraud prevention or wellness services.

Either way, Clarity drives both differentiation and inclusion.

As Ralph said, “If I tell my dad this will cost £5 a month and he’ll finally be able to use his phone again, he’ll say yes without hesitation. The real blocker isn’t the customer—it’s whether the operator wants to charge for it.”

And beyond consumers, the enterprise use cases are compelling:

Contact centres: Improve agent hearing clarity, especially for older workers.

Employee wellness: Help staff with hearing challenges stay connected and productive.

Banking & retail: Keep experienced customer-facing employees after sudden hearing loss.

“This isn’t just a disability fix,” Ian added. “It’s about keeping people engaged—at work, with family, with life.”

🧪 Proof It Works: Clinical Trials & Real-World Results

Engage Clarity isn’t just a good idea—it’s a validated solution. Trials conducted with the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing showed significant improvement in comprehension across mild, moderate, and severe hearing loss categories.

Additional clinical work with university partners backs up its effectiveness—and showcases how telco infrastructure can be used for real impact.

🫂 A Telco That Connects Everyone

Ian closed with a reminder of why this all matters:

“A telco is about connecting people. Sharing information. Sharing love. And if that’s broken—if people quietly stop using the service—then we’ve failed. But if we can fix that? We’ve done something truly meaningful.”

✅ Ready to Launch

Engage Clarity is telco-grade, clinically proven, and easy to deploy. And with Radisys expertise in media handling, it’s already integrated into the heart of the telco network.

All that’s needed now is the will to act.

Whether you’re a telco executive, enterprise leader, or policymaker—the opportunity is clear. Let’s stop leaving people behind.

🔗 Get Involved

Radisys and Goshawk Communications are actively seeking operator partners and enterprise allies to scale Engage Clarity across regions and platforms!

Adnan Saleem’s CASA25 talk shows how voice can be telcos’ most powerful AI opportunity—built directly into the IMS core, no apps required.

For decades, voice in telecom was the sleeping giant. Outside of a few quality-of-life upgrades—from narrowband to wideband audio—it remained largely unchanged. Until now.

At CASA25, Adnan Saleem, CTO of Software & Cloud Solutions at Radisys, took the stage with a bold message: Voice is back, and it’s becoming the new frontier of AI innovation inside telecom networks. More importantly, it’s becoming a new revenue stream—right inside the IMS core—without the need for new apps, new devices, or developer ecosystems.

These are telco-native, AI-powered voice experiences and solutions. And they change everything.

The Opportunity Telcos Have Been Waiting For

We often talk about 5G, APIs, or edge compute as revenue enablers. But Radisys is doing something radically pragmatic: turning the 1 trillion voice minutes flowing through telco networks every month into high-value, intelligent services.

Let that sink in. One trillion voice minutes per month, globally, over traditional operator networks—not OTT. These calls already run through IMS cores, where Radisys’ Engage platform lives. That’s where AI meets voice, and telcos meet new monetization.

And it’s not theoretical. Five Tier-1 operators are already deploying or commercializing Radisys’ AI-powered use cases today.

AI-Powered Voice Without the Friction

Radisys’ approach is radically simple and refreshingly telco-centric:

• No app downloads
• No smartphone upgrade
• No change in behavior
• Mobile or fixed line

If you have a phone and a number, you’re in.

Everything is embedded in the network. The user just dials, picks up, or lets their personal AI assistant take over. AI is no longer tied to apps. It’s part of your core telco service.

Use Cases That Speak for Themselves

The Engage platform enables a full stack of AI-powered voice services before, during, and after the call:

📞 Before the Call

• Caller identification & branding
• AI call screening with summaries (without answering)
• AI virtual assistant answers the call on your behalf

🎙️ During the Call

• Live transcription and summarization
• Fraud detection and real-time whisper alerts
• Virtual AI assistants (personalized, eg Juno) that join, take notes, schedule meetings
• Real-time language translation across 100+ languages

📝 After the Call

• Transcripts, summaries, and action items delivered via SMS or email or other channels
• Agentic AI actions (like scheduling follow-ups, setting alerts or reminders)

These aren’t future concepts. They’re running in the IMS core, on real operator networks, today.

Meet “Juno”: Your Personal Assistant on Any Phone

The most compelling demonstration? The telco-native personal assistant.

Subscribers can talk to a private, AI-powered assistant over a standard voice call—just like calling a friend. Juno listens, knows the user’s preferences, understands context (from past calls, emails, documents), and takes actions: scheduling meetings, finding information, dialing contacts, providing suggestions when asked, or joining ongoing calls to take notes.

This is agentic AI, not ChatGPT with a phone number. It’s secure, sovereign, and subscriber-controlled. No data leaves the network unless the user wants it to.

Why This Matters for Telcos

Most telco innovations today require ecosystem-building, heavy IT, or new consumer behaviors. Radisys offers a refreshing alternative:

• It leverages infrastructure telcos already own.
• It creates differentiated, high-margin voice services.
• It works across all phones—even low-end devices.
• It gives telcos control and visibility, not Big Tech.

More importantly, it flips the script on voice. From being a declining utility to becoming the core channel for AI-powered services.

Fraud Detection: A Killer Use Case

One standout example is fraud detection.

Imagine receiving a suspicious call—“This is the Bank of Canada, we need your details.” Radisys’ AI listens, detects red flags, and whispers a warning in your ear. “Proceed with caution—potential fraud detected.”

Better yet, it automatically logs, transcribes, and reports the event—regionally tuned to local fraud trends. This is real-time protection at scale, with models trained for each market and updated continuously.

Why Radisys?

Radisys has quietly powered real-time media infrastructure for over 180 global operators. With more than 15 years of deployment experience, they’re already embedded where it matters: in the media layer of the IMS core.

Their heritage makes them a rare breed: a partner that understands real-time, IMS, telco-grade reliability, and AI. Combine that with a platform like Engage, and you get telco-native innovation without the integration headache.

This isn’t CPaaS or over-the-top voice automation. This is native telco AI voice, built for scale, built for privacy, and ready for monetization.

The Bottom Line

Radisys didn’t just bring voice back—they brought it forward.

With AI running directly in the network, telcos have a clear path to:

✅ Launch revenue-generating services fast

✅ Differentiate with in-network AI experiences

✅ Compete without giving up control to third-party apps

✅ Serve every user, regardless of device

It’s time to stop thinking of voice as legacy. With Radisys, voice becomes the OS of intelligent engagement—no app store required.

The energy around CASA25 keeps building—and we’re excited to share that Vonage has just signed on as a sponsor! A true heavyweight in the communications space, Vonage brings the power of Ericsson and a sharp focus on Network APIs, AI, and enterprise enablement.

Their support signals something bigger: CASA25 is becoming the go-to gathering for those shaping the future of programmable communications.

And they’re in good company.

🌟 CASA25 Sponsors (to date)

• Vonage – One of the industry’s most recognized names, with deep expertise in CPaaS and network APIs.
• Gamma – A European leader in UCaaS and cloud communications, focused on next-gen collaboration.
• Crexendo – North American UCaaS/CCaaS innovator with enterprise-ready solutions.
• McKinsey & Company – Strategic powerhouse helping define the telecom and AI landscape.
• Infobip – Global platform helping enterprises and telcos drive customer engagement.
• Radisys – Pioneering open telecom solutions and programmable infrastructure.
• GSMA – Industry-wide champion of Open Gateway and network API adoption.
• Sinch – Cloud communications leader enabling personalized customer experiences.
• 2600Hz (an Ooma company) – Empowering service providers with open, modular voice platforms.
• KPN – Dutch telco leaning into network innovation and open collaboration.
• CM.com – Messaging and payments platform bridging customer experience and communication.

🔥 Why It Matters

These sponsors represent the full ecosystem—from infrastructure and platforms to consulting and customer experience. Together, they’re not just supporting an event—they’re committing to a new phase of collaboration, innovation, and real-world execution in CPaaS, AI, and telecom.

🧭 What to Expect at CASA25

Visionary Keynotes – Hear from the leaders defining what’s next in communications, APIs, and AI. Workshops That Build – Leave the slide decks behind—these are hands-on sessions for co-creation and strategy. Real Conversations – No sales fluff, just direct, practical dialogue between insiders.

CASA25 is where the future of communications takes shape—and with partners like Vonage joining, the momentum is undeniable.

Let’s build what’s next. Together.

The countdown to CASA25 has officially begun—and we’re excited to share the first wave of confirmed sponsors and speakers helping us kick things off.

We’re proud to welcome Gamma, Twilio, McKinsey, Radisys, GSMA and Five9 as our first sponsors. It’s a powerful mix of innovation, strategy, and global influence—and it sets the tone for what CASA25 is all about: creating real impact in a fast-changing communications landscape.

From advanced cloud communications to strategic insight and telco transformation, these sponsors aren’t just backing the event—they’re shaping the future of CPaaS, network APIs, and AI-driven engagement.

Speakers

And to match that energy, we’re also confirming our first four speakers:

• Mike Mills – MD Service Providers at Gamma
• Hélène Vigue – Identity & Data Director at GSMA
• Al Balasco – SVP Communication Solutions at Radisys
• Ferry Grijpink – partner at McKinsey, specializing in Network APIs and ethical AI

Expect sharp insights, bold ideas, and fresh perspectives from these industry leaders. Each of them brings a unique angle to the CASA25 themes, including agentic AI, go-to-market evolution, programmable networks, and intelligent engagement.

This is just the beginning. More speakers and sponsors will be announced in the coming weeks, but if this early lineup is any indication, CASA25 is going to be unlike anything we’ve done before.

We’ll be back soon with more updates—including how to join, participate, or bring your team.

The full program is now online at casa24.amsterdam/casa24-schedule – I encourage you to check it out and see all the incredible sessions we have lined up!

In this blog, I’ll be focusing on Day One, which is packed with transformative insights specifically for operators, telcos, and MNOs – plus everybody looking to do business with them.

Morning Session: Telco Transformation – The Big Picture

We kick off CASA24 on Monday morning with an in-depth look at how telcos are transforming. Industry leaders from McKinsey, Infobip, GSMA, Radisys, S&P Global, STL Partners and more, as well as top-tier operators like e& enterprise, BT Group, Deutsche Telekom, Telin and KPN will share insights on what’s driving this change and why programmable telecoms are essential to their future.

This morning track will cover not just broad trends but also specific strategies telcos are adopting to stay competitive in an ever-evolving market. From the latest in digital transformation to the impact of emerging technologies, this discussion will set the stage for the rest of the day.

Whether you’re an operator adapting to new market demands or a business looking to partner with telcos, this is where you need to be.

Afternoon Tracks: Network APIs and Security & Trust

After lunch, the day splits into two parallel tracks, each addressing critical aspects of the future of telco in more detail.

1. Network APIs: The New Frontier
   The possibilities within network APIs, as standardized in Project CAMARA and brought to marketing through GSMA’s Open Gateway Initiative (OGI) are endless, and this track dives deep into how operators are harnessing this technology. Expect to hear the latest Network API research results from S&P Global, and energetic panels about cutting-edge use cases where APIs are driving innovation in areas like CX and 5G. There will also be practical discussions on API integration and how this is becoming a new revenue stream for operators. Learn from the innovators who are pushing the boundaries and discover how you can leverage these APIs to create new opportunities.
2. Security & Trust: Building Resilient Networks
   In an era where cybersecurity is paramount, this track focuses on the strategies and technologies that ensure secure and trustworthy networks and communications. Topics will include vCon (virtualized conversations), data privacy, and how operators are working to build trust with consumers. Hear from experts who are tackling these challenges head-on, and understand how your business can benefit from their insights.

Why You Can’t Miss Day One at CASA24

If you’re a strategist or technical or business lead in the telco space—or looking to enter it as a technology provider—Day One at CASA24 is unmissable. This is your chance to engage directly with the minds shaping the future of the industry, from strategic thinkers to technical innovators. The networking opportunities alone could be the key to your next big partnership or business breakthrough.