The interaction between startups and service providers was on display Thursday at Telecom Council Carrier Connections, an annual event put on by Silicon Valley's Telecom Council and held this year near Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR)'s headquarters.

The event gave application developers and startups a chance to mingle with telecom representatives -- in particular, executives from the innovation labs that operators have been running in the Bay Area. Well more than 20 of these labs have popped up, acting as incubators and coaches to a wave of startups, particularly in the mobile space.

Throughout the day, speakers from telcos and mobile operators described what they're doing for developers and how they've been handling partnerships with startups. (Light Reading missed the Wednesday sessions where the entrepreneurs were center stage.)

Click the photo below to start the slideshow, or click here for a set of thumbnails.



— Craig Matsumoto, Managing Editor, Light Reading