M-volution has a number of add-on components besides the core functionality ones. These are categorized based on the purpose of the current application and can cover different demands and areas.
m-basic development (core components)
The basic core component of the system, responsible for the coordination of the system procedures and flows and the basic functionality of it. It is the "brain" and the "heart" of the system together.
The flexible design of the core based on extensibility, provides the capability to interoperate seamlessly to any standard communication protocol is used from mobile operators. Thus the platform is fully compatible with the variety of industrial standards used in recent 2G,3G and 3.5G generation networks (GSM,UMTS).
Moreover the basic core functionality offers a plethora of means of direct or indirect access to the simple user or to legacy systems, making use of all standardized interfaces.( SMS commands, WEB 2.0 interfaces, WEB API etc.)
Main given functions are:
- tree of page snippets
- multiple pages/services under the same installation
- multiple output, transparent to the end user or moderator user
- full api for interoperating with other systems or handling internal core functionality of the system flows
- content locking based on access authentication mechanisms (ip restrictions, service page and user level restrictions)
- time based access and visibility of services and sub snippets
- file management
- library management
- icons library
- templates library
- previewing of content and services on a mobile page
m-content management
The content management component is responsible for the management and manipulation of the content before outputting it to the end users. It is consisted of:
- Icon library. Custom predefined icon library. Capability to import external packages into to the library or define which packet libraries are needed in each installation
- Sound files library
- Unlimited content types support.
- Storage independence and easy transfer between legacy storage areas
- Content unique codes for sales
- Unlimited categorization of content and levels of categorization
- Grouping of content
- Dynamic Content Pricing. Categorization and prices based on groups and operators
- Legacy systems integration
- Massive export and import of content to compressed packets of xml and data
- DRM locking of content on the fly or pre DRM enabled content per device group
- Support the full midp 1.0 – 2.0 platform content lifecycle (download – report back)
- Support additional ways of downloading content (managed (cod, midp-like transactions), proxy-mode) or revert to unmanaged download (direct dl) for legacy handsets
- Provide full support for resuming-downloads (i.e. get byte range 0bytes – 12345bytes) / querying file size from mobile (i.e. HEAD request)
- Content uploading management
- Previewing of content to devices via sms, wap push, mms and other.
- Content is available on the library, external handlers decide on how to transfer the content (i.e. promote through wap-push, or direct send through MMS)
- Content can be expirable i.e. Christmas song will not be available after 31st of December
- Service to a 3rd party aggregator can be managed with access/ volume usage rights
m-data management
The data management component is responsible for the dynamic creation and insertion of new data to the mv database. The following capabilities are supported:
- Data entry
- Data searching (fast search optimization techniques)
- Data scheme creation
- Data forms creation and validation
m-access management
This component is responsible for defining specific roles and giving certain permissions to the www management application tool units.
It supports:
- Users creation and management
- Groups definition. Several groups of access are predefined. These are: Super User (full access to all services), Developer (access to code modules and custom integrations), Promoter (access to campaign related components), Supporter (access to logs and reports for providing live support to the end users) etc.
- User-Group access level permission to Units of the mv components
- Basic workflow functionality is also supported
m-Billing
The billing component provides the needed functionality to integrate and interoperate with external operators and their billing infrastructures.
Already developed mechanisms are ready to be used and accessed providing an easy overall integration to complicated legacy systems of the current mobile operator.
Basic supported features are:
- Billing methods are categorized in classes and types of charging
- Auto locking of a service is taking place based on not authorized access and on the type of the billing class which is assigned to the specific implemented service.
- User identification methods are based on operator authentication methods
- Easy to install a new billing method concept. All billing methods are packetized and categorized in classes and types of charging. A billing packet is consisted of all the schemes, classes and code needed to apply and use it at the mv engine
- Integration to billing gateways is also implemented and ready to applied based on the properties of each of the services (communications are taking place under the SSL protocol)
- Statistical data and graphical reports are generated for each billing scheme. All billing actions are logged and can be exported for later manipulation or for providing support to the end users.
m-DRM
On the fly or pre defined methods of DRM are supported. Content can be “drm’ed” on the fly based on the method of locking of the supported handset. Moreover content can be generated before and stored locally locked.
External libraries and methods of applying drm rights to the content are developed and used within the core engine.
The decision of what tactic to use is based on the parameters of the current
application and the underlying handset to receive the content. I-mode drm per supported content type, OMA drm support for all 3 levels : Forward Lock , Combined Delivery, Super-distribution, proprietary DRM i.e. Vodafone Live drm
m-SMS/MMS connectivity
This component offers interconnectity with third operators via industrial mobile communication standards for covering needs such as:
- massive bulk sms sending
- on demand sms/mms sending and receiving of MT/MO sms
m-SMS Campaign manager
The campaign component is responsible for providing the means to promote different types of content and information to the end users. Moreover it provides all the statistical data needed to generate reports and make decisions on which type of content or information should be promoted and to which groups of users to target it (ROI).
A multi channel delivery option is implemented in order to cover different types of promotion and legacy users. These are sms, mms, wap push, email campaigns. Wysiwyg wizards are provided for easy creation of a campaign and for thoroughly testing it before final mass delivery.
Integration to 3rd party mmsc or smsc gateways can be parameterized and configured accordingly for easier testing. XML and SOAP is mainly used for the integration over secure connections (SSL). Http authentication and other methods of securely accessing external gateways are also supported.
The component features for the promoter user are:
- Create/ Manage lists and groups of users based on certain criteria
- Importing/Exporting of users (text based, direct db access and other means are provided)
- Create/manage campaigns (several types of campaigns are supported)
- Statistical data and custom report creation
- Scheduled sending
m-Debugging/Logging
The debug component provides the means to the developer for easier development of services. The main features are:
- code debugging
- content per criteria logging
- error handling
- alerting/ notifications. Scheduled criteria can be defined for sending automated notifications to groups as defined at the access management component.
m-Content Partner Integration (CPI)
Content partner integration to the mv engine is taking place via the core supported mv markup language. Mv ml provides the 3rd party integrator a scheme to implement each own services and serve them from within its premises and infrastructure. This scheme can be created by different legacy systems since it is based on xml.
The basic concept of its usage is that a mv ml data scheme is stored locally to the premises of the cp. When a service has been configured to support remote data retrieval besides normal local data retrieval, a call to the remote implemented mv ml data scheme is taking place when a request to the page is committed. Automated reception of the remote data scheme is followed by an instant parsing of the data and then outputted to the mv engine core before final output to the end user’s handset.
Caching and scheduled techniques have been applied to the remote integration to achieve overall better performance.
Moreover other methods of integration are supported such as: integration via rss feeds, custom xml schemes integration etc.





