Insights

From Talk to Text, Part 3: Texting & Smart Services Registry System Requirements

Jun 08, 2015

Somos has released the Beta version of its Texting & Smart Services (TSS) Registry. It is designed to be the authoritative registry used to enable the provisioning and routing of texting and future smart services associated with Toll-Free Numbers. Last month, in part 2 of From Talk to Text, we spoke to Alan Stiffler, Somos’ VP of Business Development, about how the system will work and the introduction timeline.  Now that the Beta release is live, we talked with Ryan Karnas, Director of Product & Services, to get his insights on the core system requirements and some of the technical features of the new registry.  

What is the most important requirement for the TSS registry?

The foundational requirement for the TSS Registry is to be a single authoritative source for text enabled Toll-Free Numbers and other Toll-Free smart services in the future. All the major and regional wireless companies and thousands of application providers offer companies seemingly unlimited choices for texting and other smart services on Toll-Free Numbers. For these new features on Toll-Free Numbers to be successful, there must be a master directory that is easily accessible to all appropriate organizations and managed by a trusted and neutral party.

How exactly does the TSS registry maintain the integrity of Toll-Free Numbers?

One of the most important aspects of the TSS Registry is making sure that we are acting as stewards of the Toll-Free industry.  To do this, the TSS Registry implements a robust Letter of Agency (LOA) process, which authorizes Service Registrars to enable texting, and ultimately other advanced services, on Toll-Free Numbers on behalf of the Toll-Free subscriber.  The LOA process also notifies the Responsible Organization (Resp Org) of record in the SMS/800 voice platform, providing complete transparency of the transaction.

The LOA gives the Toll-Free subscriber the power to authorize the enablement of non-voice multimedia services, even if their current Resp Org does not offer the service. In this way, consumers can have multiple services enabled on a single Toll-Free Number, across multiple service providers. 

Do many of the texting providers already have an LOA process in place?

We’re aware of many that do. However, these are done on a best-effort basis, and likely don’t completely conform to the Wireless Association’s (CTIA) published guidelines on text enabling Toll-Free Numbers.  Our process does two very important things that other processes don’t. We use a direct connection to the SMS/800 voice platform to identify whether the Toll-Free Number is a working number. Then we notify the Responsible Organization of record in the SMS/800 voice platform for approval. 

Additionally, with the TSS Registry, all LOA information is stored in one central location rather than being dispersed across potentially limitless service providers.  This makes traceability extremely convenient in the case of a dispute.

How will your technology decisions shape the customer experience?

The TSS Registry will serve a large constituency, so a critical objective is to ensure the TSS registry is simple to use. The TSS registry will have a Web-based user interface along with two Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), one for automated text enablement of Toll-Free Numbers, and another for efficient distribution of text enablement status to message routing database providers.  Since all interfaces will be open source and standards based, our customers can connect to our registry with relative ease.