File Access

CounterPath Corp., a provider of desktop and mobile Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) software products and solutions, has announced the general availability of its Messaging Convergence (News - Alert) Gateway (MCG).

 

A carrier-based, core-network messaging server, MCG bridges VoIP and mobile network’s short messaging service (SMS) infrastructure. According to company officials, MCG allows service providers to enable their VoIP softphone subscribers to send and receive SMS text messages to and from mobile phone numbers.

 

This can be done by adding a non-intrusive gateway component to their existing infrastructure, said officials. MCG is designed for fixed VoIP systems with assigned telephone numbers.

 

Once it’s deployed in the VoIP operator network, it allows two-way text communication between company’s Bria softphone and mobile devices, and all this is possible without replicating the mobile operator’s SMS infrastructure. Moreover, short messaging service centre (SMSC), or home location register (HLR), is not required.

 

Officials said that this not only reduces capital expenditure but also reduces complexity of rolling out SMS services to VoIP users and provides an additional revenue opportunity for service providers.

 

Additionally, consumers need not leave their PCs to send and receive text messages with their mobile contacts and the texting experience is enhanced based on intuitive integration with the CounterPath (News - Alert) softphone.

 

Donovan Jones, CEO at CounterPath, noted that SMS has surpassed telephone calls to become today's most widely used means of device-driven communication.

 

He said that until now, consumers were unable to seamlessly send SMS text messages from their mobile phones to VoIP numbers, adding that MCG technology changes that by freeing SMS from mobile devices.

 

Jones said that this latest offering provides numerous benefits to VoIP service providers and consumers alike, most notably taking consumers one step closer to single-number identity, a key aspect of unified communications (UC).