How Steve Jobs also helped the telcos and us.

Last night Steve Jobs passed away. A lot of things about him are being written at the same time we are writting these lines, let us try to thank him from a different angle.
We are not an "Apps" company and we just try to create the antagonic approach to create solutions, based on carriers enablers.

Carriers are facing a difficult challenge due to Steve impressive work, the risk of becoming pipes, they are also increasing the revenues from mobile data, as today to include a data plan is a must have for every telco customer to enjoy the devices Jobs pioneered.
These days, telco related services and technology, delayed and delayed during years, as RCS-e, have been accelerated due to the competition between the telco & OTT world that this generation of powerful devices created. It means that we have right now a chance to fix the problem that Steve created to the carriers. Sometimes creating challenges to the counterparts is the best way to help them to improve. Innovation and passion may be present at 2 sides.

Finally, but not less important, Steve Jobs is the example of how passion is what really matters to make feasible the difficult things, to make real the technology challenges, that management should be involved in technology, a valuable guidance for everybody in the industry.

Goodbye & Thanks Steve.

Solaiemes to speak at IMS Global Congress

We have been invited to speak at IMS Global Congress 2011 to be held in Madrid the coming 3-5, October.
Juan Mateu, Solaiemes co-founder will speak about the opportunities of RCS-e properly openned to the ecosystem with APIs as good opportunity for telcos to get new revenue stream and partner with the ecosystem.
We would thank IIR-Telecom this opportunity to explain our vision to a selected audience with carrier & telecom suppliers professional and analysts.

Oct, 5th. 15:30.  API exposure: a valuable asset to create application innovation and revenue generation?
* A secure and consistent exposure layer to maintain secure control over network assets
* How can API provide application developers with access to network functionalities, such as billing, location or connection optimization, to enrich new applications?
* Customised mashup APIs to optimize network access, improve privacy and differentiate your offer

RCS-e and OTT to create combined use cases. Demo: Couponing.

Here you have a new demo to point how telco messaging enablers as RCS-e can be used with API's (RCS-e Solution GW) combined with OTT APIs to create more powerful use case for mutual benefit. Yes, we firmly believe that telcos and OTT strengths could be mashed-up to build something better :-)



In this demo we used FourSquare App and the Twitter API to make arrive a chek-in to a couponing real time database, the coupon is sent using RCS-e, it means a common enabler.

regards
solaiemes team.

Looking for partners to deploy RCS-e Value Added Services worldwide!

We are looking for partners to distribute and deploy our RCS-e technology globally, we are eager to work together to IMS (CSCF) supplier and telco integrators making RCS-e happen.
Solaiemes is one of the most active companies in the RCS-e (Rich Communication Suite) space. We developed a layer of infrastructure (www.rcse.tv) to provide Added Value Services based on the RCS-e user experience (combination of chat, file tranfer and live video from your phonebook) and also to deliver RCS-e to all screens, not only mobiles.
We are interoperated with the leading IMS providers, and want to help MNO's and MVNO's to offer their alternative in the messaging area, once OTT messaging apps proved that users like enhanced IM.

Solaiemes RCS-e portfolio & trial as a Service

Are you a telco supplier or IT company looking to increase your offering to your telco customers? do not hesitate, contact us :-)

Telco Dilemma, Apps "toll" or new services to compete with smartphone apps?

Major telcos published by the end of July their results for H1 2011, showing benefits and worries about the future and how mature services as SMS are declining. Smartphones providing thousands of applications are moving the innovation outside the operator, sometimes to really small companies, using their services only as a data pipe (mobile broadband or Wi-Fi). And strong competition on mature markets forces to reduce the prices.

KPN presented on the Investor Day data that is important to take into consideration:  penetration of Whatsapp on Smartphone users is 85% (in April 2011). To reduce the impact of the loss of revenue they have announced an increase of the prices of Mobile Broadband on September 5th, as the regulator is defending the net neutrality. Maybe it is not such good idea just to try to get more money for the same services (connectivity) instead of offering their own OTT services to compete against popular applications as Whatsapp or Skype.

Incumbent operators have lots of customers, the whole population in fact, with different income levels that would continue becoming loyal customers of their telco if they feel that value for money of the services provided is great, no matter the device they are using.

RCS-e is the opportunity for MNO or MVNO to offer a wide range of new services "OTT" competing with other pure OTT alternatives, with the strengths that telcos are still keeping (user real identities, 100% penetration, interoperability).

Coming LTE will increase the mobile broadband capacity, no sense to complain about investing in LTE and others (OTT) taking the bigger slice of the revenue cake.
Carriers must invest simoultaneusly in access technology (HSPA & LTE) and in VAS technologies in order to keep the broadband business and increase their share of the over the top revenue cake. In terms of investment, RCS-e technology (RCS-e Core and RCS-e VAS platforms) is an affordable investment compared to the deployment of LTE & HSPA networks.
It's time for action !

David Culebras

Credit: image by Wiangya

Please, vote on what you think is the key for RCS-e success?

Hi, we created a poll to know what is perceived as the key for RCS-e success, you can vote and of course add more options and explain your opinion as a comment.
thanks in advance
solaiemes team

GSMA launches the Rich Communication Virtual Exhibition

The GSMA has just launched the Rich Communication Visual Exhibition. It is a virtual exhibition where vendors involved in the RCS / RCS-e technology can have a permanent virtual booth showcasing their portfolios.
Solaiemes is one of the vendors initially exhibiting (the others are Alcatel-Lucent, NSN, Tekelec, Huawei, Wit, Mavenir and Neusoft).
In our stand you can see our ppt evangelizing RCS-e and explaining briefly the 5 platforms to make open, ubiquitous and smartly monetizable  Rich Communication Suite, and several videos of how our technology works and the use cases that could be implemented on top of RCS-e using our approach and portfolio.
We congratulate GSMA, this idea was great and will let carriers to know the full potential of RCS-e, to know exactly what vendor is offering and also will make easier for vendors to find complementarities and search for partnerships/alliances.

See you there, visit our virtual booth :-)

Is RCS-e too late & too little? Our views.

Just read an interesting article from Strategy Analysis we would like to explain our views about the hype of mobile messaging and the competition between OTT & Telco approaches.

New OTT messaging market is getting hot, Whatsapp, Thrutu, Google Huddle, Apple iMessage and others are great and will help RCS-e to succeed once launched. Till now, big telcos acting did not want to cannibalize SMS setting up their own messaging alternatives with probably less revenue. But today, most of them are realizing that auto-cannibalization is better than being devoured by others.
Current OTT messaging alternatives on mobile, such as Whatsapp and soon iMessage and Google Huddle, are getting people used to see IM as their phonebook or phonebook alike. RCS-e can allow carriers to surf that wave to their advantage. RCS-e is arriving perhaps late but with nice assets:

- Carriers can get manufacturers to include RCS-e (messaging) client in mid, and even low, device tiers.
- Interoperability, use the IM with the same reliability than SMS: the IM will arrive whatever carrier is serving your contact.
- In many countries telcos are required to know real customer identities. Carrier-based IM can then be used to facilitate and intermediate transactions, especially interesting in countries where banking access is basically done through the mobile phone.
- Telco API's to easily create person to solution use cases, that can be accessed through phonebook entries. It may replicate the success of SMS for VAS: once the use of SMS is learnt, it is the same to send an SMS to a person than to a service (sms-to-tv, buy ringtones, voting, etc).
- RCS-e VideoShare is a very powerful feature to be used as tool for live streaming or multimedia user generated content, competing with advantages over current closed OTT solutions.
- Also, telcos can offer RCS-e as ubiquitous access, offering clients for screens where perhaps the connectivity is not theirs (i.e: a Widget capable TV connected to another telco DSL).

RCS-e is not only about personal messaging but a service enabler, and even, RCS-e and OTT offering may co-exist and be complementary in delighting the user/customers, then not too late nor too little.
Your views?

Solaiemes launches a new site explaining our RCS-e portfolio

We just launched a new company site focused in the RCS-e portfolio aiming to allow to undertand our proposition for RCS-e in 20 minutes combining short introductory texts and videos.
We explain our 5 RCS-e platforms to help carriers to offer more than a new messaging player but a powerful enabler of value added services, alternative to apps and mobile browsing.
www.rcseopenandubiquitous.com
also accessible as
www.rcse.tv

Solaiemes opens RCS-e VideoShare to internet use cases with LiveServe product

We are proud of the adaptation of our first product (LiveServe) to RCS-e to help telcos and ecosystem to build compelling use cases using telco features as communication enablers for 3rd party solutions.
The LiveServe RCS-e media server combined with the RCS-e Solution Gateway API's allow to create use cases as the below example, a live video streaming site created on blogger. No app needed in the mobile, no changes required in the core network, and soon, available in mid tier deviced powering RCS-e native clients. The power of real multimedia from your phonebook.



Feedback welcomed :-)

Monetizing RCS-e. Telcos as online security providers to 3rd parties.

Following our last post we now show how the RCS-e End User Confirmation Requests works and how it could be useful for 3rd parties needing to "securize" transactions in a more interactive and real time way that as it is done with SMS.



Solaiemes has an RCS-e End User Confirmation Request Server not only for internal billing messages of the Service Provider (Telco) but opened with API to enable 3rd parties to use the capability becoming a brand new monetizing stream for telcos.

A brand new way to RCS-e monetization: End User Confirmation Request API.

RCS-e includes an amazing feature "End User Confirmation Request" (section 12.3 of the spec ), implementing a new mechanism to communicate with the user about the service and query for confirmation (or not) for actions. In the client UI this might map to, e.g., a pop-up or similar UI element.
The original spec talks about a sample use case, accepting an "extra charge" for a large file transfer. Other RCS-e centered use cases can be thought: terms and conditions acceptance, etc.

But we believe this has the potential to much more, it can be extended to profitable, non-purely RCS-e use cases. With an appropriate API, any screen with RCS-e access can use this for any transaction requiring user confirmation or acceptance. With the carriers as trusted partner, and, of course, charging suitable fees.

In many countries SIM owners are legally identified and RCS-e is backed by the IMS security and AAA framework, the telco can send a "End User Confirmation Request" required by a bank to one of the customers making a credit card transacton to confirm (or to ask to introduce the PIN). With this approach telcos have the tool to become a security masterpiece of online transactions, fits naturally in their role as trusted parties, much more than OTTs are right now.

With an open End User Confirmation Request API, that makes easy to 3rd parties to access this capabilities, carriers can become a provider of "identified confirmations" to lots of services that need better mass market security for their mobile online services such as banking, online ticketing, micropayments...and it could be a new revenue stream generators for carriers. In many forums where the RCS-e pricing is discussed the alternatives are only about end user fees, but there is also the complementary alternative of business models billing 3rd parties for securized and registered transactions, a huge market in the "online" era.

The model is simple. The telco host the platform, and registered 3rd parties can request confirmations through RCS-e (using a simple REST-like API) and pay for them and telcos monetize one of the most valuable assets, subscriber relationship and identity, to provide more security for their own subscriber and helping the ecosystem to build more compelling solutions, win-win-win.

Solaiemes is working on this and will shortly unveil it to the world:

• RCS-e End User Confirmation Request Server with REST API.
• Support of RCS-e User Confirmation Request Server pop-up in the Web Clients served from the RCS Thin Client Server.
• Adding new API calls to RCS Solution Gateway to allow 3rd party developers creating services on top of RCS-e to request "securized" transactions trough the carrier "end user confirmation" service.

the Solaiemes team

RCS-e chat with Facebook & Google Talk by Solaiemes

Just to preview our new platform RCS-e <-> XMPP Gateway, an extension of our RCS Solution Gateway product to allow telcos to smoothly interconect their RCS messagin with popular OTT (internet) messaging tooks based on XMPP as Facebook Chat or Google Talk. Soon we will explain more about our platform that does not need hard integration with IMS or IM Server (it is core independent).

The IMS core used in this demo was the Acme Packet Net-Net SMX.
Feedback welcomed

The new Solaiemes RCS-e Web Client for smartphones

We just released a new version of RCS-e Web Client for smartphones served from our RCS Thin Client Server, with the same look&feel as apps, but with the advantadges of web technology (JQuery), no need to install apps, not permission needed from device or OS providers, just using the browser to provide enhanced messaging, person to person and person to application. Just 2 minutes, have a look.



The IMS core used was the Acme Packet Net-Net SMX.
You can also see the screenshots in our Facebook album here
Feedback welcomed