Enhanced MMS Functionality for AirGate

Airwide Solutions, which provides next-generation mobile messaging and mobile Internet infrastructure, applications and solutions, has announced enhanced MMS functionality for the AirGate MMS messaging gateway. The enhanced MMS Direct Delivery functionality is designed to help operators grow their MMS business by enabling them to support high-value, performance intensive MMS applications, participate in mobile marketing, and support the convergence of mobile with Internet with social networking.   
In answer to increasing demand for application-to-person (A2P) and person-to-application (P2A) MMS applications like goal alerts and mobile marketing, Airwide has enhanced the MMS functionality of its AirGate offering to provide a low-cost way for operators to support this demand while improving performance and QoS for all forms of MMS messaging. Airwide says that these enhancements extend the feature-rich connectivity and service management facets of the product with high performance A2P MMS delivery, providing a cost-effective solution to the growing need for separately scalable A2P MMS capacity. Together with the campaign and reporting capabilities of AirGate, Airwides messaging gateway now enables a variety of new A2P MMS business opportunities, ranging from mobile marketing campaigns to content services to social networking and user-generated content (UGC).   
Application-oriented MMS represents a tremendous opportunity for operators, says Airwide, because key requirements for application-oriented multimedia services have fallen into place in many markets worldwide. The company notes that MMS-capable handset penetration is at or above 95% in many developed markets, such as North America, Western Europe and South-East Asia; that attractive pricing and creative service bundling approaches are for the first time making MMS affordable for the mass market; interoperability agreements are in place so that mobile operators can enable interworking between multiple carriers; subscribers, content providers and brands now recognize the vast potential and maturity of MMS as a medium; and finally, that Web 2.0 services like blogging, UGC and mobile marketing/advertising have created a need among both consumers and brands for a ubiquitous medium for multimedia messaging 
As a result of these key requirements finally being in place, says Airwide, MMS has been gaining momentum and shifting from a vision of the future to a real-world capability that can differentiate mobile operators and dramatically increase subscriber loyalty through rich multimedia services.
Person-to-person (P2P) P2P traffic in markets such as North America, Asia, and Eastern Europe is experiencing torrid growth, and other markets, such as countries in Western Europe, are also showing signs of significant growth. Mobile operators are also now finding that A2P and P2A MMS can stimulate high-value services, as well as incremental person-to-person (P2P) MMS uptake. A2P MMS is frequently used in educational and marketing campaigns, says Airwide, as well as multimedia alerts, and services are being created to stimulate viral adoption.
The advantages of using AirGate MMS for the direct delivery to handsets of application-oriented MMS messages include reducing costs by avoiding the expensive legacy licensing and hardware costs associated with conventional MMSCs; and providing a superior user experience by segregating application traffic from P2P MMS traffic. The enhanced feature set meets customer and industry demand, says Airwide, by providing best-of-breed, high-performance, separately scalable components for the messaging and mobile Internet challenges operators are facing today. Enabling the MMS direct-delivery capability of the AirGate gateway provides an easy and cost-effective way to support application-oriented MMS traffic for operators. AirGates functionality for VASP management and advanced service delivery, combined with sophisticated campaign and reporting capabilities provides an ideal solution for supporting high impact mobile marketing activities, the company says.