GSM stands for Global System for Mobiles. This is a world-wide standard for digital cellular telephony, or as most people know them Digital Mobile Telephones. GSM was created by Europeans, and originally meant “Group Special Mobile”, but this didn’t translate well, so the now common more globally appealing name was adopted. GSM is a published standard by ETSI, and has now enjoys widespread implementation in Europe, Asia and increasingly America.
WHAT IS SMS
SMS stands for Short Message Service. It is the ability to send and receive “Short Messages” to and from GSM handsets, or as they are named by ETSI ‘Mobile Terminals’ (MT).
A “Short Message” can contain up to 160 characters in one message, which is quite a lot when you think about it, most messages are simply a call me back, or pick up the parcel from here. The biggest problem with SMS is getting a big screen big enough on the mobile phone to be able to read them easily.
SMS is a really nice feature of GSM, being able to give someone a message without actually speaking to them is a great time saver, and results in less misunderstanding; it is kind of like e-mail in your pocket.
CURENT/EXISTING UM SMS APPLICATIONS
Current UM SMS hosts following functions accessible to UM Undergraduate student:
EXISTING UM SMS ARCHITECTURE CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING:
1.
UM SMS Application Server – located in PTM and managed by PTM
2.
SMS Centre – located in PTM and managed by vendor
3.
UM SMS Application server is the server where we put UM’s customized application.
a)
The server will receive the username and password from a student and query the required result and then send it back to the user via SMS through the SMS gateway.
b)
UM SMS Centre server is the gateway that passes the result from the application server to the SMS gateway and vice versa.
4.
The SMS GATEWAY is a server which is connected to several GSM modem. This is the point where result from UM SMS Centre is sent before it is sent to the GSM networks subscribed by the user.
5.
Both UM SMS Centre and the SMS GATEWAY are being managed by the vendor. Therefore, to cater for other SMS application server, extra customization will be required to be done to the server itself. This is beyond the boundary of UM system administrators.
STEP FOR UM STAFF OR STUDENT WHO ARE INTERESTED IN USING THE EXISTING UM SMS GATEWAY :
There are 2 options to consider:
a)
Obtain your own GSM Modem (e.g Wavecom FASTRACK Modem with your own SIM card)
b)
Use existing UM SMS Gateway.
If you are a UM student who would want to use the SMS as part of your project. It is advisable that you choose option A. If you need consultation on how to set up, you can contact our PTM personnel, Encik Adnan Yahya, at 03-79674005.
Otherwise, if you decide to use the existing UM SMS Gateway (option B) then you will need to:
1)
write to Pengarah PTM stating your request. (PTM will arrange discussion and meeting with the vendor who are responsible for the SMS Centre)
2)
prepare your own server to host your own SMS Application.
3)
prepare your own budget for the usage and extra customization needed to get your sms applications running.
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