Ozeki NG - SMS Gateway supports
the Universal Computer Protocol / External Machine Interface (UCP/EMI).
This protocol is often used by GSM service providers for IP SMS
connectivity. The currently used protocol versions (v3, v3.5, v4.0) can be
used to transfer high volumes of SMS traffic. It is used for both premium rate
and normal rate SMS messages.
One of the advantages of using UCP connections is that you can
specify the sender address of the message. The sender address can
be a custom phone number or a short word containing alphanumeric
characters. (See the instructions about the overridable checkbox
below.) Note, however, that some GSM service providers restrict the use of this
option.
Another advantage of UCP is that it allows sending messages of
every type the GSM network can carry. It can be used to send binary SMS messages
(operator logos, ringtones), WAP Push messages, as well as other types of
messages. (Check out the
Appendix for links
to pages about different message types.) Concatenated SMS messages and various
alphabets can also be used.
In order to use UCP to connect to an
SMSC over the Internet or other private TCP/IP network,
you need to subscribe to the service of a service provider.
If you wish to use UCP to connect to your service provider,
you need the following information from the service provider:
IP address of the SMSC
Port number of the SMSC
User name
Password
Some service providers require you to
set up an IPSEC VPN tunnel to connect to their SMSC (Figure 1).
Figure 1 - UCP connection with VPN
In most cases you need a fix IP address, which you have to let
the GSM service provider know so that they can give you access through their
firewall. In some situations, the service provider does not want you to be able
to set up more
than one UCP connection from your computer to their service. If this
is the case, they might ask you to use a specific source port for the
connection.