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A process or program that performs client requested tasks. Servers generally receive requests from client programs, execute database retrieval and updates, manage data integrity, and return responses to client requests. Sometimes server programs execute common or complex business logic. The server-based process sometimes runs on another machine on a network and provide both file system services and application services. In other cases, another desktop machine may provide application services. The server process acts as a software engine that manages shared network resources or performs back-end tasks that are common to similar applications. ... View more

This is third-party software for which we must purchase licenses. SENDXMS by default manages the four standard SMS protocols (UCP, SMPP, OIS, SEMA) and handles SMS messages as text files (MT, MOs and notifications). This software is used for sending and receiving SMS and supports a large range of protocols and SMS standards. ... View more

An SDK, or Software Development Kit, is a collection of tools, libraries and frameworks which are designed to make application development easier. SDKs enable software developers to build software applications faster and in a more standardized way.  SDKs can function as "wrappers" for functionality such as API endpoints (more on this later.)   If you're a developer reading this, the chances are that you've probably already used an SDK, even if you didn't realise it. For example, .Net developers use the .Net SDK to develop C# and .Net applications. Moreover, popular development platforms typically come with their own SDKs. Mobile developers use the iOS SDK to develop iOS applications and Android programmers use the Android SDK. For a programmer, an SDK is as vital as a box of tools is to a mechanic.   SDKs make APIs easy   Sinch uses SDKs as a complement to APIs. APIs make development easier but they can be tricky to use in their raw form. For example, let's say you are creating a Python app that sends a message  using the SMS API. You'd need to write a custom 'send' function containing the endpoint URL, headers and a payload. Moreover, having made all these elements, you would then need to bring them together in a post request. Getting this right will require extensive consultation of the API reference, and you're going to have to do it all again if you want to do something else, like create a messaging group.   The whole process is a different story when you use an SDK. The Python SDK comes with out-of-the-box methods.  These methods encapsulate the raw endpoints with "wrapper" methods that call the Sinch API to perform specific tasks.  Once you've imported the SDK library, you can do anything from sending a message to creating a group, simply by invoking the appropriate method.  Because an SDK is language specific, developers can leverage it using tools that feel comfortable for them. A Python developer can use Sinch's Python SDK the same way that they would use, say, the Python requests library.   Developing through DRY   Software engineers often use a principle called Don't Repeat Yourself (DRY). What it means is that when faced with simple operations, such as reversing a string or sending a message, programmers should avoid writing code from scratch but should instead package them into reusable methods.   A common way to achieve this sort of reusability is an open source library. A library such as Python requests is available through a package manager such as pip and provides methods such as `get` and `post` which developers can readily call when they need to. SDKs bring this convenience to Sinch's APIs. They are available through package managers such as pip and nuget. Their built in methods abstract away from the rigmarole of using raw endpoints. In short, they allow developers to harness the power of DRY in the context of an API. By leveraging an SDK, developers using Sinch to create mobile messaging apps can write code that is more readable, more reliable and more maintainable.   Sinch has SDKs in the following languages: Python   ... View more

Real Time Protocol (RTP) is a network protocol for delivering audio and video over IP networks. ... View more

Real-Time Lookup is based on real-time HLR queries only and is commonly used for authentication services where additional information in addition to MCC+MNC is needed. ... View more

Report Transaction Event. ... View more

Real Time Communication (RTC) is live, instant communication with minimal latency. ... View more

A routing class is a term used by Sinch to explain a collection of routing attributes that together define the overall quality and performance of the SMS product. For example, the direct routing class is a made up of all Sinch’s direct connections and its own SMSCs to create a very high-quality set of routes used for mission critical services. ... View more

When a subscriber travels outside their home operator service area, we say they are roaming onto another network. It is important SMS messages are still delivered correctly when a subscriber is roaming, and as such the foreign network’s VLR communicates with the HLR of the home network to ensure the location of the subscriber is maintained at all times. It should be noted that even while roaming, a subscriber will always send a message via their home SMSC. ... View more

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a technology using electromagnetic fields to read data store in tags embedded in other items such as ID cards. ... View more

Revenue Share is an integral part of Premium SMS. It is a billing mechanism that enables content providers to charge end-users to participate in mobile marketing events, also known as reverse billing. Charges are made by the wireless carrier directly to the mobile subscriber's account and share of charges or revenue is split between the operator, the content provider and the aggregator. Revenue Sharing message types include: - Premium SMS - Premium MO - Premium MT - Premium 2-way. ... View more

When an SMS message is sent to a recipient, it is expected it will be delivered to the handset within seconds. However, delivering an SMS is a relatively complex process, and an SMSC takes several measures to ensure a reliable service including retrying a message should it fail to deliver. An SMS may fail to deliver to a handset on its first delivery attempt for many reasons. These reasons can either be temporary or permanent, and if the latter, no additional retries will be attempted, and the delivery notification will be sent back to the sender to confirm the message failed. ... View more

REST (Representational State Transfer) is a set of architectural guidelines for implementing an API.  The principles of REST were formulated by computer scientist Roy Fielding in 2000 and have since become the dominant paradigm for implementing APIs. This is because the REST paradigm is flexible and adaptable to client requirements. Unlike alternatives it is language and framework agnostic. It works in the principle level rather than the protocol level. An API is described as “RESTful” if it implements the REST paradigm.  Sinch has plenty of RESTful APIs which allow developers to leverage capabilities like SMS messaging and automated email marketing. They get their power by having REST features like the following.   Client-Server Architecture Like most applications and sites on the web, RESTful APIs follow a client-server architecture. This consists of three components: Client – the API customer. This could be a developer writing an app or testing with Postman Server – backend which hosts the API platform Resources – capabilities of the API that developers can use to enhance their applications. Resources can be modified by create, read, update and delete methods. As an example, let’s look at the Sinch SMS API. Clients, which are typically Sinch customers, can access it by signing up to Sinch and receiving an API token for authentication. They can then send requests to the API through their code or using Postman.   The XMS server hosts four resources: Batches are sets of SMS messages that can be sent to one or more numbers. Inbounds are incoming messages. Groups are sets of phone numbers that can send or receive messages. Delivery reports tell customers whether their messages have been successfully sent to their destination. Sinch clients can access these resources through HTTP requests to add capabilities to their applications.   Hierarchical architecture RESTful architecture typically contains 3 tiers. REST layer – this is the tier that communicates with the client. It responds to HTTP requests, transferring data in the form of JSON. Service layer – this contains the business logic implementing API resources. Data layer – this persists data in a database such as MySQL. For example, the SMS API implements this in the form of a Multi Service Layer (MSL) platform. The REST and service layers are implemented by Spring-based component called Gateway and Adapter. Gateway has the ability to queue SMS messages for processing. Adapter is specialized to process MMS messages. In the SMS API, MySQL is used to implement the data layer, allowing customer data to be persisted and retrieved for later use.   HTTP Methods RESTful APIs are normally accessed through HTTP requests. There are 9 different types of HTTP request but the four most common are GET, POST, PUT and DELETE. For example, one of SMS API’s resources enables processing of batches of messages. This resource contains: POST methods to send and update batch messages. These tell Sinch servers to create and send a new message batch or to modify the parameters of an existing message batch, depending on what the customer wants to do. GET methods to retrieve a batch of messages and retrieve a list of batches. This allows clients to keep track of their message batches. PUT method to replace a batch DELETE method tells Sinch servers to cancel a batch of messages.   Unique Resource Endpoints One of the core principles of RESTful architecture is that API resources and methods are attached to URIs called endpoints. Endpoints have the same structure as a website URL, but instead of loading an application onto your browser, they enable you to send HTTP requests to the API.   Each endpoint specifies a particular resource. For example in the SMS API the endpoint https://us.sms.api.sinch.com/xms/v1/{service_plan_id}/batches specifies the resource for sending a batch of messages.  The ability to access API resources the same way you would access any other resources makes RESTful APIs an extremely powerful development tool and the backbone of modern web development.   Sinch REST APIs Sinch has REST APIs for: SMS WhatsApp RCS Voice Verification.   ... View more

An acknowledgement or status message created by a server that is received by a client. ... View more

A message created by a client that is received, acknowledged, and performed by a server. ... View more