SMS Gateways Save Lives
The City of London’s police force have recently launched a trial SMS service that allows residents to contact the police via SMS messages – a real-world example of how SMS gateways can be employed to save lives.
The City of London SMS trial is primarily about helping people with hearing or speech impediments, who, in an emergency, can send an SMS spelling out the emergency service required, the nature of the emergency and the location. The service sends the text to a voice-relay assistant, who speaks the text message to the emergency service, which then texts their reply back. If successful, the system will become permanent in early 2010.
The Rome-based World Food Programme (WFP) also recently launched a pilot initiative to distribute food vouchers to displaced Iraqis now living in Syria. According to reports, almost all of the estimated 130 000 displaced individuals own or have access to a mobile phone, while many have had to flee from their homeland without any of their other possessions. While in some regards this might echo our human need for constant communication and our reliance on up-to-the-minute information regardless of where we are, it does also serve to emphasise the fact that SMS Gateways offer far greater reach than through other established communication channels and ripe for use in relief applications. Closer to home, more UK residents own cellphones than landlines. It’s also a question of mobility – reaching people where they are at that moment and supplying them with real-time information and outbound communications that can save lives.
SMS Gateways allow for wholesale national and international distribution of texts from virtually any application. Where appropriate, they also allow you to receive SMS messages from mobile phones. In terms of supplying emergency information on a local, national or international scale, it can be as simple as logging onto a secure website, typing a message and sending it off to the appropriate recipients. The same applies to business-client communication.
From a more technical perspective, SMS Gateways provide a truly versatile communications solution. Through the use of the appropriate API (Application Programming Interface), you’ll be able to seamlessly integrate with the gateway without draining your budget on new software. Current API’s include HTTP/S – internet to SMS, SMTP – email to SMS, XML – application to SMS, COM object – application or ASP to SMS, SOAP – web application via XML to SMS, and FTP – text file to SMS. The only exception is the SMPP API that requires compatible software, but allows for extraordinarily large volumes of traffic.
A cursory look at the reach, ease of integration and communication simplicity make SMS gateways a key enabler of relief and care programs.
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Tags: APIs, application programming interface, bulk sms, Clickatell UK, mobile messaging, SMS, sms gateways, SMS messages, text messaging
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