Gemini's HyperScale® Messaging Center (HMC) enables carriers to expand their fledgling picture messaging offerings into revenue-generating multimedia messaging offerings. The HMC supports new applications designed to extend carriers' reach into different subscriber demographics pushing MMS usage far beyond its initial penetration. Our platform supports developers, value-added-service-providers (VASPs), and content providers, and enables them to integrate on one technology, giving carriers a profoundly powerful delivery mechanism for fresh, captivating services. The HMC supports applications that build on presence and location, including dating services, traffic management services, and marketing applications. The HMC supports the evolution of simple SMS voting into rich, interactive MMS voting, with subscribers and broadcasters now able to interact more meaningfully. Animated avatar messages can help subscribers reveal new dimensions and personalize their experience. The possibilities to attract new subscribers and boost revenue are enormous.

Short Message Service (SMS)

MMS service inherently increases the need for SMS delivery of message notifications in SMS format. Gemini's HMC has been deliberately built to handle such bursts in SMS traffic, whether they are MMS-generated or normal text messages. SMS still has a lot of growth potential as a technology – from texting, to mobile marketing, to notifications, to voting, to 'push' traffic, such as news services, and even into newer areas, such as customer support. The HMC platform ensures that carriers, content providers, and mobile marketers can create and distribute innovative applications and services via SMS by providing a highly scalable and flexible platform with consistent tools across all technologies. Gemini also supports innovative applications that readily move subscribers along from SMS to MMS, such as the ability to dynamically append an image to a text-based SMS message or even convert the text message into an engaging video using text-to-speech technology, avatar animation, and lip synchronization technology.

WAP Push

The Gemini HMC platform includes Push Proxy Gateway (PPG) functionality that readily supports full WAP Push functionality. Internal and external applications can take advantage of the technology to push attractive and interactive information and WAP pages to mobile users. Since WAP Push messages may include links to information and content available via WAP browsing, it is a very effective tool to get users to act immediately in response to a message. Internally, the HMC takes advantage of WAP Push as one possible mechanism to direct users to view messages via the WAP browser. This may include messages to devices that do not support a particular media type, messages to webmail subscribers, and consumer push email services.

Voicemail and Voice Messages

Why call the voicemail if the voice message can come to you? With multimedia messaging, traditional voicemail messages can easily be forwarded directly to a user’s mobile device. Gemini’s HMC has the capacity to deftly handle voice messages, adding personalization opportunities using animated avatars and lip synchronization. Converged services, across mobile and landline service providers, may be offered by consolidating voice messages at the user's device while graphically maintaining the identity of each operator. While some subscribers may elect to bypass voicemail menus and save on costly dial-in charges, others may prefer the traditional voicemail solution. The Gemini HMC addresses both preferences. Messages with audio components not only can be delivered as MMS or email, but they can also be deposited into a traditional voicemail box. Furthermore, the platform's support for an IMAP interface and multimedia messages can provide a complete unified messaging experience through integration with an off-the-shelf Interactive Voice Response (IVR) unit. These are but a few ways that Gemini's HMC can help carriers evolve voicemail toward a vastly more exciting and profitable realm of messaging possibilities.

Email

Some operators elect to provide their own email address to users to build subscriber loyalty and stickiness, while others elect to partner with high- profile ISPs or webmail providers. Some operators use SMS and MMS as the delivery mechanism for email, while others use WAP Push and other technologies to separate email messages from services that are typically billed by the message. The Gemini HMC is designed to provide operators with a wide range of choices while enabling the operator to add value in the email delivery process; value that is critical both for attracting new users to the email service and for fostering relationships with partners. To the subscriber, the Gemini HMC offers unlimited flexibility and control over determining when and where to receive messages, security, spam and virus control, personalization, and email aggregation services from external email services.

Instant Messaging

Instant interaction between individual users and chat sessions among groups has gained enormous popularity on the Internet using PC-like devices. Mobile subscribers that have used SMS in a very similar capacity are also adopting these services as they offer more attractive interfaces using graphics, presence and multimedia capabilities. Gemini foresees that much like other messaging services, Instant Messaging (IM) will become a foundation for higher layer applications. In particular, IM will become a key component in building virtual communities and facilitating interactive games. In fact, Gemini is leveraging its strengths in messaging, multimedia, personalization, and tools for content providers to allow mobile users to enter a fascinating 3D virtual world where they can interact with others, navigate jointly through content and services, and play interactive games, all while embodying their virtual personality. See eXplo®, for more details.