Keynote Systems Inc., a test and measurement service for the Internet, has introduced a new on-demand service to monitor the delivery time of SMS messages sent through Common Short Codes.

Nisheeth Mohan, product manager at Keynote, San Mateo, CA, discussed the objectives of this effort in a detailed interview with Mobile Marketer's Mickey Alam Khan. Excerpts:

What's the reasoning behind the mobile benchmarks effort?
There has been significant growth in the use of Common Short Codes as a tool for reaching millions of mobile subscribers, but content and application providers have had little or no visibility into the performance of their service.

Furthermore, the complexity of the mobile ecosystem has introduced variability and inconsistency issues in the performance of SMS delivery. Companies that rely on Common Short Codes need to be assured their service is quick, reliable and accurate.

Based on the growing industry demand for a solution that offers increased visibility into the performance, availability and delivery of SMS messages sent via Common Short Codes, Keynote has introduced an on-demand, first-of-its-kind Common Short Code monitoring service using Keynote's Mobile Application Perspective technology.

Keynote is also using the company's SMS monitoring service to conduct a comprehensive study that will calculate the roundtrip delivery time, success rate and reliability of 25 independent Common Short Codes over a four-week time period.

Additionally, Keynote will be the first company to benchmark Short Message Service (SMS) aggregators (i.e. vendors operating the mobile transaction network) and rank each aggregator based on the performance and availability of their implemented Common Short Codes used in the study, offering 100 percent visibility into the delivery channel of Common Short Codes.

The findings will be available in May 2008.

What's the name of the study?
The name of the study is Common Short Code study and it leverages Keynote's on-demand Mobile Application Perspective technology.

Why do it?
The intent of the Common Short Code study was based on the growing industry demand for a solution that offers increased visibility into the performance, availability and delivery of SMS messages sent via Common Short Codes.

Separately, Keynote's Common Short Code study will enable application and content providers to benchmark the performance of their Common Short Codes against their competition and make better informed decisions when choosing an SMS aggregator.

The SMS aggregators will also benefit as they'll be able to leverage the study to benchmark the performance of their implemented Common Short Codes versus their competitors.

How similar is it to the one Keynote does for online retail and other Web sectors?
Throughout its 12-year history, Keynote has built technology solutions that provide customers with insights and actionable data to continuously improve online experience.

The inevitable explosion of the mobile Internet provides a natural and ideal new market into which Keynote can extend and expand its technology and market leadership.

Leveraging the vast amount of experience, insights and data gleaned over the years from helping site operators improve the traditional Web site experience, Keynote has now built mobile test and measurement technology solutions and a global mobile test and measurement infrastructure for the continuous improvement of the mobile Internet experience.

Keynote's mobile solutions allow companies to measure how their sites and applications are performing and how end-users are experiencing them. With these capabilities, Keynote facilitates the adoption of the mobile Internet and eases the process for mobile companies.

Who's the target?
Keynote's mobile services are used by mobile operators, platform vendors and service and content providers.

Keynote's Common Short Code study is targeted specifically for content and application providers using Common Short Codes, as well as SMS aggregators.

How does it work?
The Common Short Code study will be conducted using Keynote's on-demand Mobile Application Perspective (MAP) monitoring service.

The study will entail sending a "HELP" message to the Common Short Code and wait for the response message. Keynote will be calculating the roundtrip delivery time, success rate and reliability of the Common Short Codes in the study, offering 100 percent visibility into the delivery channel.

First of its kind?
This is the first study conducted by a third-party independent source giving 100 percent visibility into the performance of Common Short Codes from an end-user perspective.

The study will also provide content providers and aggregators with an industry benchmark for Common Short Code delivery times.

The study is also using a technology which can emulate from over 1,100 device profiles to send messages over live carrier networks.

Any clients signed up to use it?
Yes, Cellfire, a nationwide mobile coupon and discount offer service, is using Keynote's new Common Short Code monitoring service.

The Cellfire mobile coupon service automatically delivers savings directly to consumers via their mobile phones and provides frequently updated discounts specific to their geographic area.

The company also helps advertisers mobilize their traditional print and electronic promotional marketing and advertising strategies to drive more traffic to their stores, spark purchases and increase sales.

By leveraging Keynote's on-demand Mobile Application Perspective technology, Cellfire now has full visibility into the performance, availability and delivery of its Common Short Code service.

Additionally, Keynote's solutions enable Cellfire to gauge the performance of its SMS aggregator to better assure it is meeting its SLA.

What trends are you seeing in mobile?
Open networks have become a hot trend this year. From Keynote's perspective, open networks will have a positive impact on the mobile industry as they are poised to stimulate the development of new services and applications while also fueling competition around feature richness, pricing and innovation.

So where does this benchmark effort fit in?
Increased consumer adoption will put the spotlight on improving the end-user's experience and the mobile experience may actually get worse before it gets better, as carriers and mobile enablers won't be able to complete all of the on-network pre-deployment testing alone.

As a result, this will contribute to an increased reliance on third-party test and measurement services.

What challenge is it meant to address?
Consumers and enterprises alike are eager to leverage their mobile devices for a variety of applications. One of the biggest is the use of the mobile Internet.

While sophisticated devices such as the iPhone and the [Samsung] BlackJack allow us to take advantage of everything the Internet has to offer, consumers and enterprise users cannot capitalize on the freedom of mobility until all the major players in the mobile ecosystem, including mobile operators, content and service providers, handset manufacturers and infrastructure providers, offer fast, secure and reliable data access that will deliver positive end-user experiences.

This is crucial in the evolution of consumer interaction with mobility, as well as crucial for the mobile industry and players eager to win customers, who will have a variety of choices at their disposal.

Keynote's mobile quality test and measurement solutions enable connected companies to know precisely how their mobile portals, Web sites, content and applications will perform on actual mobile browsers, networks and devices long before their customers and business are impacted.