SAMSUNG CERTIFIES UNIVERSAL PROFILE 2.0 CLIENT WITH MAVENIR’S RCS CORE

It’s no surprise that mobile business messaging will be a key enabler of brand-to-consumer digital engagements – and mobile network operators (MNOs) are taking note, further accelerating RCS worldwide.  According to the GSMA, 79 operators have launched with 257 million monthly active users (MAU). This acceleration is driving growth in the RCS ecosystem, as Mavenir’s recent announcement of 60 RCS Business Messaging Ecosystem Partners demonstrates.

In order to achieve GSMA’s forecasted 831 million MAUs by 2021, vendors of telecommunications equipment, software clients and handsets are constantly participating in GSMA driven certifications to ensure a seamless interoperability in the live environments. For example, Samsung, a market leader in Android-based smartphones, committed to RCS enablement via their Samsung Messages client—achieving GSMA’s certification with the RCS Universal Profile 2.0 for their Samsung Galaxy S10+ device running on Android 9.0. Included are enriched calling and application-to-person (A2P) capabilities for users.

In order to obtain the certification, an RCS client has to successfully pass tests with two different RCS network vendors. For Samsung, as can be seen in GSMA’s list of current accreditations for RCS client manufacturers, Mavenir was one of the two accredited RCS networks used for certification.

THE BENEFITS OF OPEN STANDARDS

Mavenir’s RCS Business Messaging solution is comprised of the RCS Application Server, required to enable peer-to-peer (P2P) messaging, and the Messaging-as-a-Platform (MaaP) component.  MaaP provides the RESTful APIs that allow businesses, brands, developers and chatbots to send and receive messages using the RCS service provided by the mobile network operator (MNO).

From the very beginning, Mavenir has been convinced that the success of RCS is tied to a diverse and open ecosystem of partners that includes MNOs, developers, messaging aggregators, device and OEM manufacturers, and technological enablers. For such an ecosystem to work seamlessly, a solid set of open standards needs to be followed by all parties. Mavenir’s RCS Business Messaging solution has been designed to fully comply with the GSMA and 3GPP standards and Samsung’s certification with our RCS core is further confirmation.

It is very satisfying to see that Mavenir’s commitment to open standards is paying out.  MNO customers can rely on Mavenir’s RCS Business Messaging solutions to work seamlessly with Universal Profile 2.0 compliant clients.

For device manufacturers, this demonstrates they can provide a consistent and reliable user experience to their customers, regardless of the carrier they utilize in their home country or when roaming abroad. And, most importantly, for brands this ensures their marketing investment into the RCS Business Messaging channel will provide a compelling brand experience to their consumers that will enhance customer satisfaction, protect existing business and generate new revenue.

UNIVERSAL PROFILE 2.0:  ENABLING BUSINESS MESSAGING

Universal Profile 1.0 laid the groundwork for P2P messaging with features such as group chat, audio and video messaging, location sharing and SMS interworking. But it wasn’t enough to provide a competitive solution for brand-to-consumer (B2C) engagement.

Universal Profile 2.0 introduces the key elements required to provide RCS Business Messaging services:

• Messaging-as-a-Platform (MaaP) with southbound and northbound RESTful APIs
• Person-to-application (P2A) messaging and chatbots
• Rich cards and carousels based on web technology (JSON)
• Authentication and security enhancements
• Username aliasing for enhanced privacy
• Spam reporting

Mavenir is not stopping at UP 2.0 and will continue to be at the forefront of RCS enablement.  New functionality has already been implemented from the latest Universal Profile releases (2.2 and 2.3) to ensure brands and consumers can obtain the best RCS Business Messaging experience possible.

To learn more about how Mavenir’s RCS Business Messaging allows MNOs to quickly go to market with a cloud-hosted offer that reduces the need for upfront costs, protects their existing A2P revenue, ignites P2A driven income (chatbots) and prepares their network to integrate new revenue-generating enablers (such as artificial intelligence, voice recognition, natural language processing, and mobile payments), visit RCS Business Messaging.

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