Sybase, Syniverse partner for international SMS

By Giselle Abramovich

June 4, 2008

Tony Holcombe is president/CEO of Syniverse

Sybase 365, a subsidiary of Sybase Inc., and Syniverse Technologies have expanded their existing North American peering relationship with a new agreement for international SMS text messages.

Peering has been open for years between Syniverse and Sybase in the United States. This expansion of their existing agreement provides for full global peering between wireless carrier customers through the opening of more interoperator SMS routes.

“As Syniverse continues to grow its business globally, finding ways to provide a more expansive messaging reach for operators remains a high priority for us in a mobile data environment that has been growing exponentially around the world,” said Tony Holcombe, president/CEO of Syniverse, Tampa, FL.

“This agreement is simply one more way in which Syniverse is able to provide its customers with the ability to offer their subscribers messaging access to even more of the world,” he said.

The interconnection of SMS hub providers is essential for the GSMA Open Connectivity initiative. Sybase 365 and Syniverse are allowing unregulated exchange of SMS messages between their companies.

Syniverse sits between carriers whose subscribers send text messages to each other. Before this peering agreement, some messages, especially international ones, were unable to be delivered to their final destination because of pockets, or gaps, in global coverage.

This peering agreement is designed to eliminate all the gaps between Syniverse’s and Sybase 365’s carrier customer bases.

The new peering agreement enables the two companies to provide direct two-way SMS service for more than 400 global carriers.

SMS has grown steadily in all markets in the world since the late 1990s and is now one of the key contributors to mobile data revenue for global wireless carriers.

In just the U.S., for example, SMS volumes have more than doubled in the last 12 months with more  growth expected.

Syniverse Technologies  is a provider of technology and business services for the global telecommunications industry. It allows carriers to provide seamless, interactive mobile services to their subscribers on the go.

Sybase 365 specializes in mobile messaging interoperability, the delivery and settlement of SMS and MMS content, mobile commerce and enterprise-class messaging services.

Both companies, carriers and their subscribers may benefit from this deal.

“Because of this agreement, we both increase our messaging traffic,” Mr. Holcombe said. “Just as importantly, all our respective operator customers will be better able to deliver greater global messaging reach to their subscribers.”