Lark Router supports both the Short Messaging Service (SMS) and the Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS). SMS messages are purely text-based, traditionally up to 160 characters long (although current services support longer messages using the GSM specified message concatenation mechanism), while MMS messages are intended to provide a rich set of content to subscribers (including pictures, audio, games, etc). Both SMS and MMS are non-real-time delivery services, much like email. Both services utilize a store-and-forward model between providers.
A provider in Lark Router is represented by their bind. A bind encapsulates:
Bind parameters must be agreed between the provider and the organization. A bind must be created and activated for each provider in the gateway instance in order to receive and send messages to the provider.
Lark Router supports a number of standard as well as proprietary SMS and MMS message exchange protocols:
The gateway exposes network ports for each class of protocols and type of provider:
When the gateway receives a provider-originated message, such as a client-initiated MT message, the message is processed according to the following general flow:
Lark Router Gateway consists of two main components, the gateway, and the administration console. The gateway is responsible for all message processing (bind connectivity, message reception, routing, and delivery, etc.). The administration console provides the main configuration and monitoring interface for the system.