Welcome to the latest edition of the Airwide Solutions newsletter.  In this issue we will highlight some key industry developments, including: an introduction to Mobile Messaging 2.0, a concept that is gaining momentum in the market, and an overview of how the integration of Mobile Instant Messaging, MMS and SMS can offer significant operator and subscriber benefits.

The Product Spotlight in this issue will focus on AirMessenger Store, a pioneering approach to helping operators scale only the storage capacity they need when they need it. Announced just this week, the product is the latest element of Airwide Fusion Archirtecture, which is gaining widespread acceptance worldwide.

We also included a couple of real-world examples of the momentum Airwide’s tiered Fusion architecture is gaining in the marketplace.  Vodafone Ireland was recently announced as a customer actively using the Fusion architecture and we will provide an overview of the benefits they expect to gain through this approach.

Finally in our last issue we took a look at some of the interesting market dynamics in Asia.  Building on this, in this edition we will draw attention to the southern African telecom market with a set of six questions and answers.

Mobile Messaging 2.0 defined

Mobile Messaging 2.0One need look no further than the recent evolution of the Internet to see how mobile messaging will evolve in the next year or two.  Just as with Web 2.0, more powerful networks and more advanced hardware and software that run on them are enabling users to do more with messaging.   Mobile Messaging 2.0 is a blueprint for mobile operators to design their infrastructures going forward, giving subscribers more control over their messaging experience while cutting costs and growing revenue for operators.

Creating the path

Though the revolution is under way, the industry as a whole has much to do to make Mobile Messaging 2.0 and its advanced user capabilities pervasive.

Current infrastructures are built in silos – SMS, MMS, IM, e-mail, voice mail etc. – because conflicting standards and interfaces prevented operators from integrating them. So carriers had to deploy and operate each separately, which hampered overall network management. This also raised costs since operators had to over-buy capacity to accommodate peak traffic, rather than average traffic, for each service. Scalability became more of a cost than a profit.

Mobile Messaging 2.0 breaks down monolithic silos of messaging and accelerates operators’ ability to implement best of breed, multi-use products, enabling operators to create an underlying messaging infrastructure that is cheaper to manage and more flexible for service and feature deployment.

To learn more about Mobile Messaging 2.0 please visit Mobile Messaging 2.0 Blog to download the whitepaper written by Airwide CTO Vince Kadar.Back to index

Product Spotlight – AirMessenger Store

AirMessenger Store Logo

The recent attention being focused on Driving While Texting (legislation that bans mobile phone use in certain locations or requires them to be switched off in automobiles) is an excellent example of market dynamics that have the potential to significantly impact operators’ requirements for storage. 

Messages that are not delivered while subscribers are unavailable would have to be stored until their availability changes meaning that significantly more messages would need to be stored in operator networks.   However, since the actual requirements for storage remain unknown it is difficult to accurately predict exactly how much storage will be needed.  As a result, operators will increasingly require a storage solution like AirMessenger Store that offers the flexibility to add capacity easily and quickly.

AirMessenger Store is a modular storage repository that allows mobile operators to save money on storage costs while better managing messaging traffic. AirMessenger Store is the latest addition to Airwide’s next-generation Fusion messaging architecture, which breaks up monolithic legacy systems and delivers componentized products that support multiple messaging types. 

For more information on AirMessenger Store and to see how the product is currently being used at Cellular South please visit this link.Back to index

Mobile Instant Messaging, SMS and MMS Come Together

There is little debate that Mobile Instant Messaging (MIM) is a hot topic.  However, while users may want MIM, many mobile operators and vendors are scratching their heads about how to make it work. 

While the $60 billion global SMS market grows rapidly, new services such as MIM will also drive future revenue growth. MIM solutions can offer subscribers enhanced SMS services with better interactivity, functionality and features. The growing demand for social networking and multimedia content on mobile networks is also driving operators to a range of messaging options based on subscriber preferences, device type, messaging recipient, message type, network and service.

To address this, Airwide has teamed up with Colibria to provide a messaging solution that easily integrates SMS (short message service), MMS (multimedia message service) and mobile IM.

Using Airwide and Colibria technologies, operators can deploy a messaging environment in which subscribers are confident that their messages will be delivered regardless of their handset or network. In particular, new Mobile IM subscribers will be able to communicate with the large existing base of SMS subscribers and growing numbers of MMS users.  This messaging interaction can also be extended to SIP clients on mobile and fixed phones.

To learn more about Mobile Instant messaging and SMS/MMS please visit this link.Back to index

Vodafone Ireland Implements Tiered Messaging Infrastructure

Vodafone Ireland LogoVodafone Ireland is moving to a tiered infrastructure by implementing Airwide’s next generation AirMessenger Routers across its entire network. In addition, Airwide Solutions is upgrading Vodafone Ireland’s SMSC (short message service center) platform, enabling message storage optimization, delivering operational and capital expenditure savings, and protecting the investments Vodafone have already made.

Airwide’s next-generation Fusion architecture enables a separation of delivery, storage and policy management network elements, providing mobile operators with a high degree of flexibility and control of independently scalable network components. 

Declan Brennan, head of product and services development at Vodafone Ireland, commented, “To increase our messaging capacity while lowering delivery cost-per-message is critical to our business. By using Airwide Solutions’ next-generation routers and applications, we get a stable, scalable and flexible messaging infrastructure that enables us to cope with an increase in traffic from our customers.”

Look for additional market momentum for the Airwide Fusion architecture in the coming months.  To learn more about Vodafone Ireland’s tiered architecture please visit this link.Back to index

Six Questions on the South African Telecommunications Market

The telecoms market is truly global, with unique and rapidly changing dynamics in each region.  We developed a set of six questions and answers that sheds light on the southern African telecommunications market.

1. How would you describe the telecoms market in southern Africa at the moment?

The telecoms market in southern Africa is split between South Africa, where the market is reaching maturity, and the surrounding countries, which are emerging and in a phase of growth. In order to remain competitive, operators are focusing on a diversity of value-added offerings and quality of service. We are seeing SMS form an important value-added service for the entire region. Operators in South Africa are also focusing on enhanced services such as MMS, mobile commerce and mobile banking.

2. What are the key trends affecting this sector in southern Africa at present?

In southern Africa, all current trends are driven by applications and content. There are several that can be highlighted:

  • Mobile email and instant messaging (IM) platforms, such as Mixit, are proving popular. Service providers in South Africa will all be looking at IM and how presence information can enable it to be incorporated into existing messaging services.
  • Mobile advertising is a future trend in southern Africa, as it is in Europe. With the growth of the mobile internet and the popularity of content downloading, there is a question of funding that mobile advertising may or may not address.
  • The use of MMS is still low in the region but it is increasing. As content providers increase their capabilities for the mobile market in this region and the mobile devices increase in sophistication, MMS is likely to grow. A key driver of MMS growth may come in the lead up to the 2010 World Cup being hosted in the region. Users are likely to want to download and look at goals, or share a clip with their friends, driving the use of MMS.
  • Mobile commerce – both in terms of banking and payments – will take off before e-commerce does. The population in southern Africa has more access to mobile phones than they ever have to the internet so the ubiquitous mobile provides payments options that are unavailable elsewhere.

3. How is Airwide addressing these trends in this region?

Airwide is addressing the trends in the region in three ways.  Firstly, we offer an enhanced SMS experience through AirMessenger Personal, providing email and PC-like functionality to simple SMS, encouraging the interoperability of different messaging platforms. Secondly, we are securing the SMS environment through virus screening, firewalling for operators, and support of the Equipment Identity Register (EIR) to monitor handsets and their use. Finally, we offer a converged SMS and MMS gateway – enabling application providers to determine a user’s handset capabilities and target messaging delivery type to each customer individually.

4. Are there significant differences between countries in the region in terms of what is driving telecoms growth at present?

South Africa is a maturing market with a firmly established mobile telecoms presence. It is far more advanced than the rest of southern Africa. Neighbouring countries are plagued by problems of currency, which raise costs for operators offering international call capabilities. However, the motivations for purchasing a mobile phone are similar across the region – with limited fixed line capability, people want to use it as their first means of communication with friends and family. They also want to use it as a safety device to call for help if needs be. Southern Africa relies on its mobile phone networks to enable the widely dispersed population to communicate. Illiteracy in the region means mobile phones are used in different ways in different areas (voice calls are more popular than SMS in areas of low literacy) but the motivation for phone ownership and use is the same.

5. Do you have any figures for the region in terms of market penetration, subscribers etc

The whole of Africa: Total mobile subscribers in the region are expected to increase at a CAGR of approximately 22.5 percent during 2005-2011, resulting in a mobile subscriber base of over 378 million by the end of 2011. The corresponding mobile penetration rate for the region is forecast to increase from 14 percent at the end of 2005 to almost 42 percent by the end of 2011 (source: Blycroft's Major African Mobile Markets: Future Growth Prospects 2006-2011).
The region had a total subscriber base of 146 million at the end of March 2006 with the 5 largest markets of South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt and Morocco accounting for 64% of that total (source: Informa Telecoms & Media)
Southern Africa: 26% penetration in 2006 (source: Informa Telecoms & Media)

6. What do you think we will see developing in the future?

As mobile phones in South Africa get smarter and convergence becomes more commonplace, devices that can conduct payments and incorporate satellite navigation, for example, will enable the market to grow and eventually reach saturation. For security, everyone in southern Africa will want to carry a mobile phone so the entire region will see a phase of growth. The mobile phone is a means of communication that is viewed as essential in such an environment.

The rest of the region will follow in the footsteps of South Africa.Back to index