Twilio Joins the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) Board of Directors

Twilio (NYSE: TWLO), the leading cloud communications platform, today announced that it has joined the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) board of directors. As a member of ATIS, Twilio will help drive the development of technology solutions aimed at mitigating unwanted robocalls, among other initiatives.

ATIS brings together more than 150 of the world’s top information and communications technology companies to address IoT, 5G, smart cities, artificial intelligence, unwanted robocalls, cybersecurity, and much more. Member companies share information to fast-track development lifecycles with regards to design and innovation through standards, specifications, requirements, business use cases, software toolkits, open source solutions, and interoperability testing. 

Specifically, ATIS has developed the Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs protocol, which, paired with Secure Telephone Identity Revisited developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force, is better known as SHAKEN/STIR. SHAKEN/STIR is a protocol and framework that tells the recipient of a phone call if the caller has the right to use the calling number. This information can be used to display a green checkmark or similar indicator on the recipient’s screen, or to help call-blocking apps to better identify spam/scam calls. The technology provides users with more information to decide whether to answer a call or not, increasing the chances of avoiding unwanted robocalls. The telecommunications industry is in the process of implementing SHAKEN/STIR for callers in the United States and Canada.

As part of ATIS, Twilio’s Christer Fahlgren, lead telephony software architect, Voice and Video Business Unit, sits onthe organization’s board of directors. Fahlgren will be in attendance and participating in ATIS’ upcoming November board meeting in Washington, D.C.

“ATIS epitomizes the type of industry partnership and coordination needed to establish trusted communications amidst the incredibly rapid pace of innovation of new technologies impacting user information and data on their electronic devices,” said Fahlgren. “The SHAKEN protocol is a crucial element for empowering users to decide which calls to accept or decline and give them more control of what happens on their phones. We look forward to working with ATIS members to further contribute to the SHAKEN/STIR specification to help stop unwanted robocalls once and for all.”

“ATIS takes input from a diverse group of companies to generate innovative approaches for complex industry challenges like unwanted robocalls,” said ATIS President and Chief Executive Officer Susan Miller. “We welcome Christer Fahlgren to our board of directors. It is through the insights of leaders like Christer from companies such as Twilio that ATIS is able to advance the most critical technical and business objectives of its members.”