Implementing a Level 7 TCP/IP protocol for bulk SMS via SMPP services

Posted by shivangi on November 11th, 2019

Bulk messaging can prove to be a very effective marketing technique in today’s high paced business marketing arena with the use of SMPP service and SMPP server panel. Usage of this service enables business units to plan a marketing campaign using which they can interact with a large set of business audiences with the utmost ease. Let us explore the potential of SMPP services and the basic entities associated with it. 

To accomplish telecommunication throughout the globe, the industry has employed TCP/IP protocol -a standardized internet protocol that allows two or more computer entities to interact with each other using the power of the internet. Standardization adds a flavor of universal credibility and therefore makes this protocol socially accepted. SMPP services operate on the same protocol. 

The use of Level 7 TCP/IP protocol in SMPP services 

In technical terms, bulk messaging via SMPP services utilizes level 7 TCP/IP protocol. The protocol is composed of different hypothetical layers. Each of the constituent layers performs a discrete function and is completely transparent to the adjacent layers. Segregation of the networking process into various layers enables us to make communication far more easy, speedy and time-saving. Aligning with the given traits of TCP/IP protocol, SMPP servers can perform fast delivery and reception of bulk messages. With universally accepted standards used by SMPP server providers, the average throughput of SMPP services is close to 300 messages per second.   

Adding further, the studies confirm that TCP/IP telecommunication protocol is greatly interwoven with the closest model of the internet. This makes the protocol highly compatible with all kinds of mobile instruments and service applications. In other words, SMPP services can be easily utilized to send and receive bulk messages from and to mobile phones operating on any technology. Stating in general, mobile phones mainly work on mobile operation networks such as GSM, CDMA, iDEN, TDMA and UMTS amongst others. 

Elimination of GSM hardware for sending and receiving bulk messages

In the conventional days, messaging was majorly limited to the use of hardware. To communicate using SMS services, both the sender and receiver required a GSM mobile instrument. Needless to mention, if either of the entities failed to own the instrument communication could not be established. 

However, taking into consideration the use of bulk SMS in business marketing, using GSM hardware to send to the target audience shall be a tedious and expensive task. Furthermore, the use of GSM hardware will also greatly degrade SMS throughput. Implementation of TCP protocol in SMPP server panels eliminates the above-stated challenges of using tedious GSM hardware and degraded throughput. In other words, SMPP services enable the business units to send and receive millions of bulk messages to a large set of customers without integrating GSM hardware and still deliver high throughputs.

The role of GSM hardware is fulfilled by the use of internet protocols. With the text so far, it is pretty clear that SMPP services harness the power of the Internet to Trans-receive bulk messages. Elimination of GSM hardware on part of the business units also results in maintaining low installation and maintenance cost, which in turn reduces the overall marketing cost and make bulk SMS services an economical pick for business marketing. 

Integration with SMPP client-side entities

SMPP services majorly involve two entities namely, client-side and server-side entities. While the former system, better known as ESME represents the business applications, the latter unit responds to SMPP servers. To make bulk messaging via SMPP services a generic and convenient system to use, it is important to integrate and connect business applications with server systems. Various SMPP server providers in the marketing industry offer easy solutions for this. Connections between the servers provided by SMPP providers and ESME are developed using concepts of socket connections (or better referred to as port programming). Speaking in layman terms, socket connections are the set of port programming libraries that are readily used by developers in developing SMPP clients. The primal benefit of using these ready to use libraries lies in the fact that developers can directly develop client entities with these libraries and yet not bother themselves with the intricate details of port programming and TCP/IP protocols.