Sometimes during these long summer days things can appear a bit “sleepy". This is definitely not the case in the domain of Converged Messaging, where, in fact, things are sizzling!
These are exciting days with a lot going on, and this is reflected in the growing global interest in this domain. At this point in time the stars seem to be aligned to allow the Converged Messaging revolution to begin!
Comverse Converged Messaging offering is the right solution at the right time to leverage this wave of interest.
What’s Hot
Here are highlights of some top converged messaging stories:
RCS Initiative Moves Converged Messaging Forward
The Rich Communication Suite (RCS) Initiative is a combined effort of leading industry players (vendors and carriers) to speed up and facilitate adoption of applications and services that provide an interoperable, convergent, rich communication experience that includes a presence-enabled address book, conversational messaging and more. This is very similar to the Comverse Instant SMS offering, with similar features. Comverse was pleased that our vision is so in line with that of other key players in the market.
Actually, it is only a matter of time now before what Comverse envisions as the future of messaging will become more common. The major handset vendors recently announced that embedded clients will be launched by the end of this year, a major step in bringing the new messaging experience to consumers.
Comverse’s solution is compatible with the standards mapped by the RCS group. Currently we are working with other vendors on interoperability certifications between our platform and theirs.
Comverse’s solution supports both IMS and pre-IMS environments; this allows carriers to launch the services today with no major network investments and then grow in a natural manner as they implement IMS.
Action in North America
CTIA: The USA’s "Enhanced Messaging" solution is currently being designed by the local top five carriers (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, Alltel). The first step is being finalized now — almost as you read these lines — in an RFI that was issued by CTIA to design the group messaging solutions for what they consider a key messaging capability of the Enhanced Messaging service.
Tier-1 Accounts in the USA: Tier-1 operators in the US are in the process of designing and evaluating their strategy for “the future of messaging,” concentrating both on the user experience and on technological aspects of this evolution.
The Growing Profile of Instant SMS in Europe
“Instant SMS-like” services have been launched recently in Europe, enabling users to view their friends’ presence status, and send instant messages to all the members in their address book.
Operators are specifically targeting the youth who are heavy IM users on PCs and also heavy SMS users on mobile handsets. This segment is proving quick to adopt new services.
These operators see the importance of bringing the current messaging experience to its next level while defining the path towards converged messaging.
So far, these launches have been delivering high benefit for the carriers; indeed, some carriers have reported that these Instant SMS offerings have helped them to re-invent their SMS services and gain a new revenue source on top of the saturated and flattened messaging revenues they have had to deal with in the prior months.
Things are Warming Up
Now is a good time to get more familiar with Comverse’s cutting-edge Instant SMS solution and to show your customers how Instant SMS can help them gain a competitive edge and better meet their business goals.
Converged Billing Forum
Indonesia Telecoms Summit 2008 
GSMA Mobile Asia Congress