DUBAI, 2nd September 2007 – Across the Middle East, the overall success and uptake of existing and new messaging services depends on effective marketing and technological upgrades by operators, if a full range of possible new-age messaging and VAS are to be supported. Operators must also address the increasing threats from mobile malware, now.

These are just some of the views from leading suppliers of personalised messaging and media processing platforms to mobile network operators, Jinny Software, a company with a wealth of experience in the Middle Eastern mobile marketplace.

Already, effective marketing in the region has led to the success of some value added services such as corporate Ringback Tones, but others remain at lower levels of uptake, chiefly because the revenue mainstay for regional operators continues to be from established 2G and 2.5G network infrastructure and services.

However, the operators are aware of the growing need to be technologically innovative, as in places like the UAE, where both operators are now offering Mobile TV. Keeping services current and at the leading edge is simply becoming progressively more important.

In line with this, any new technological implementations across the existing 2G and 2.5G infrastructures need to be future proof. For Jinny Software, such future proofing has been fundamental in the development of its messaging and media platforms, in order to work across both legacy systems, as well as IMS and evolving 3G infrastructures. And as Middle Eastern operators increasingly come to rely on their vendors to supply 3G-ready systems, solutions with future resilience and scalability are the only option for those wanting to remain leading edge, at the same time as maximising revenues from existing infrastructure.

At the Dubai GSM 3G MEG event, one such future-proof system, Jinny’s Filtering Engine, will be highlighted by Jinny Software during the show. The system offers operators a total, network-based way of dealing with the rise in mobile spam and viruses, whilst at the same time providing a way of generating new revenues, which is a major competitive differentiator for operators. The revenue-generating capability sees VAS messaging driven by the system’s ability to enable sponsored content by attaching advertisements to SMS, MMS, WAP and Media traffic.

The Filtering Engine offers intelligent profiling, which feeds into the advertising engine. This is so that target groups of subscribers can be sent appropriate marketing messages based on, say, age, or interest profiles developed from usage data, e.g. sports, news, stock market downloads. The system can ‘learn’ over time that a particular number is associated with a particular service type. This marketing service can be offered by operators to advertisers and sponsors as an ideal channel across which to communicate targeted messages to their chosen markets.

For operators, uncontrolled spam and viruses like the CommWarrior virus, which sends text messages to all contacts in an infected mobile’s address book telling the recipient to click a link, resulting in chaos, have the potential to cause frustration for subscribers, and, for the operator, possible churn. Both these outcomes can be avoided using the Jinny Filtering Engine.

Declan O’Mahony, Chief Commercial Officer at Jinny Software, said, “In supporting operators across the region in their steps to deliver more innovative services, it is essential for vendors like Jinny to be able to offer longevity and full interoperability with legacy platforms in any VAS or messaging solution we provide.

“In the case of spam solutions, we believe strongly that these should be network based, allowing mobile operators to control the provision of security and maintain quality of service in the face of emerging mobile spam threats. An intelligent Filtering Engine like ours, which will monitor traffic and weed out certain types of spam and, if necessary, trace a message back to its source, would be ideal. Provide that system with a means of generating revenues as well, and any operator will have a win-win solution on their network,” O’Mahony concluded.