How SMS works, quick and dirty.

OK, the main purpose of this post is to streamline and consolidate the bits and pieces of my knowledge about the SMS technology and how to go about sending SMS from your program, So here goes a quick and rough overview of what I know about the SMS technology.

When you send an SMS from your mobile, it is first submitted to an SMSC (Short Message Service Center).
SMSC is an entity in wireless network of a telecom operator, which is supposed to handle all the stuff related to SMS, The address details of the SMSC are pre-configured in your SIM card by your network operator (like Etisalat in UAE) hence the SMS reaches the SMSC first, with all the details like the source number (originating party), SMS text, the validity period, the target number (terminating party), date-time, size etc.

Usually an SMS consists of 160 characters but if exceeds it is classified as a long sms and broken down into more than one part, but all those parts have a particular identifier (which remains same in all the parts) which indicates that the parts are actually one SMS. SMSC recognizes it and concatenates all those parts.

The job of SMSC is to route the SMS to the target number, SMSC queues and routes the messages to the desired numbers. If the target mobile number is offline, the SMSC stores the SMS for a certain time period and then again forwards the SMS when the target number comes online. This "certain time period" is actually called Validity Period and there is a default value set for every SMSC for this (but you know what, you can increase it while sending your SMS).

The underlying protocol which is used for this data exchange is SMPP (v 5.0 is the latest one). Short Message Peer to Peer protocol. The mobile device and SMSCs exchange data through this protocol and the basic unit of data here is called PDU, (protocol Data Unit). This of course has a certain header and body and a particular format.

Now let us explore sending SMS through your code, when you are writing program to send the SMS from your application, you are basically using an API which is an implementation of SMPP protocol. The two common Java based APIs are SMPPAPI and OpenSMPP.

SMPP API
http://smppapi.sourceforge.net/

Open SMPP
http://opensmpp.logica.com/introhtml/menu.htm


Before you can write your program to send an SMS via SMSC, you need to make sure that you have the following information from your telecom company about the SMSC
1- the IP address of the SMSC
2- the port allocated for SMS
3- the username
4- the password
5- Address range
6- System type
7- etc. :)

It is better to use an SMSC simulator while you are writing your code rather than hit the live SMSC each time while you are still developing your program. Plenty of free SMSC simulators are available online.

http://opensmpp.logica.com/CommonPart/Download/download2.html

OK now let us revisit the API (the first one, SMPPAPI). The most important classes which you need to know very quickly are

ie.omk.smpp.Connection
ie.omk.smpp.message.SMPPPacket
ie.omk.smpp.message.SubmitSM
ie.omk.smpp.message.SubmitSMResp
ie.omk.smpp.event.SMPPEvent
ie.omk.smpp.event.ConnectionObserver

In the next post, I ll give an overview of how to actually use these classes to be able to send an SMS from your code to a mobile phone.

to be continued...

Career Jet

http://www.careerjet.ae

This website has an interesting concept.

Their tag line is

Careerjet is an employment search engine.
In just one search access 14.093.197 jobs published on 61.608 websites in the world.

It is quite self-explanatory I believe. You don't need to browse each and every job hunting website and look for job there, this site will search jobs in the databases of those leading job related websites. Infact it redirects you to that website when you click on the job posting.

It is like a 'google' for jobs. It is cool, if it really delivers what it promises.

But there might be some potential (not so critical) issues which I can see at a glance

1- If a job is posted on more than one recruitment websites (say naukri.com and monster.com) the search results will fetch both ?

2- When the user is redirected to the actual website through careerjet, he will still be required to creat an account and then apply. Again user might have to put in effort for signing up on multiple websites, it would have been great had they implemented "single sign on" sort of thing ;) Maybe I am asking for too much here :D

UAE Recruitment Resources

Here is a list of UAE Recruitment Resources. The list is by no means exhaustive, but for the moment I guess this should do.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_in_the_United_Arab_Emirates
http://www.etisalatcareers.ae/careers/english/job_search_form.jsp/
http://www.dxbcustoms.gov.ae/Content/Careers/Job+Opportunities/
http://www.emiratesgroupcareers.com/
http://www.dubaiairport.com/Recruitment/JobSearch/JobSearch.aspx
http://www.gulfcomputers.com/careers.htm
http://www.monstergulf.com/ ,http://jobsearch.monstergulf.com/category/it.html
http://www.naukri.com/ http://www.naukrigulf.com/
http://www.timesjobs.com/
http://www.ask4jobs.com/
http://www.charterhouseme.ae/
http://www.bayt.com/
http://www.gulftalent.com/home/opportunities.php
http://allarabia.com/job.php?pageIndex=10
http://www.ts.eu/
http://www.uaestaffing.com/dubaiITjobs.html
http://www.hiringsolutions.com/
http://www.nellaieruvadi.com/jobs/dxbrecruiters.asp http://www.dubizzle.com/main/DubaiJobs/IT8_Telecom
http://www.careerjunctionme.com/
http://www.binaryberries.com/itopens.html
http://www.gulfboom.com/
http://www.jobsup.com/search_job.php
http://jobs.efinancialcareers-gulf.com/
http://www.clarendonparker.com/
http://www.assamdubai.org/employme.htm/
http://www.webecome.com/index.htm
http://www.indexuae.com/Top/Computers_and_Internet/Web_Design/7 http://www.indexuade.com/Top/Computers_and_Internet/Software_Firms
http://khaleejtimes.com/ShowAppointmentL.asp
http://khaleejtimes.com/ClassNewL.asp?loc=AUH
http://khaleejtimes.com/ClassNewL.asp?loc=DXB
http://khaleejtimes.com/ClassNewL.asp?loc=SHJ
http://www.msidubai.com/
http://www.gulfnews.com/classifieds/index.html
http://www.guide2dubai.com/jobs/jobResults.asp?page=2&strsql=true&OB=
http://www.alluaejobs.com/
http://www.harmonymgt.com/
http://www.resources-recruitment.comharmonymgt.com


IQ Selection
Web: http://www.iqselection.com/
Tel +971-4-3297770

Kershaw Leonard
Web: http://www.kershawleonard.net/
Tel +971-4-3434606

BAC Middle East
Web: http://www.bacme.com/
Tel +971-4-3375747

SOS Recruitment
Web: http://www.sosrecruitment.net/
Tel +971-4-3965600

Bitech ME
Web: http://www.bitechme.com/
Tel +971 4 2715888

City Service Consultancy
Web: http://www.uaerecruiter.com/
Tel +971-4 227 7 444

Krownos Solutions
Web: http://www.krownos.com/
Tel +971 4 3550490

Right Selection
Human Resource
Web: http://www.rightselectionhr.com/
Tel: +971 4 321 5377

Antal International Network
Web: http://www.antal.com/
Tel: +971 4 397 4541

Michael Page International
Web: http://www.michaelpage.ae/
Tel: +971 4 211 5479
Email: contactmiddleeast@michaelpage.ae

Reach Consultancy
Web: http://www.experts.ae/
Tel: +971 4 2824699

C4AS Advanced Solutions
Web: http://www.c4as.ae/
Tel No: +971 2 6676720

Groups

http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/pakrecruitment http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/jobsinuae/

Disclaimer : This list is published with the sole purpose of helping people, apply at your own risk, I won't be responsible if anything goes wrong :-) Be sensible while applying and go through the laws and regulations of UAE if you are planning to move here from any other country.

Abida Parveen and Bulleh

Sometimes, when I am in mood, I really enjoy listening to Abida Parveen, her mystic style of singing Sufi poetry just makes me forget everything about this world for a moment, and fills me with inner pleasure and peace.

On a flight back to Abu Dhabi from Karachi, I was going thru the in-flight entertainment system
and guess what... I found a song by Abida Parveen and it was that very song which has taken the world (at least Pakistan and India) by storm, it was "Bulleh Nu Samjhawan". Although I had already listened to it in the sound track of Khuda Kay Liay a 1000 times, but this one was even more special, since it was in that classical-folk style, and of course it was sung by Abida Parveen. I was mesmerized by this flavour of Bulleh Shah's "kaafi" so fresh, so original, so passionate, I felt that this is the most suitable way of singing Bulleh's poetry,But don't take me wrong, I liked the version from Khuda Kay liay as well :-)

I searched for this version but was not able to find it on the net, then one of my friends Najeeb, gave this song to me. I will uploadit somewhere soon :)

You know what, there is a little story behind this piece of poetry, The story is, that Bulleh had a Guru or "Peer", who was from Araaeen caste, and Bulleh's relatives used to tell him that You are a Syed and do not be a spiritual student of that Araeen. Bulleh replied that I do not believe in these castes, I just believe in the fact that God creates great people and they can be from any caste. If caste matters so much, then do not call me a Syed, call me an Araeen because I have totally submitted my soul to my Guru.

Here is the translation of this "kaafi"

Original (in Punjabi/Saraiki)

BULHE NU SAMJHAWAN AAINAN BHAINAN TE BHARJAIAN
MAN LAY BULHYA SADA KAHNA CHAD DE PALLA RAIAAN
AAL-E NABI AULAD-E ALI NUN TOON KION LEEKAN LAINAN

JEHRA SANOON SYED SADDE DOZAKH MILAN SAZAIAAN
JO KOI SANOON RAEEN AAKHE BHISHTEEN PEENGAN PAIAAN
RAEEN SAEEN SABHI THAEEN RAB DIAN BE PARWAAIAN

SOHNIAN PARE HATAIAN NE TE KOJHIAN LE GAL LAAIAN
JE TU LOREEN BAAGH BAHAARAN CHAKAR HO JA RAEEAN
BULHE SHAH DI ZAAT KI PUCHNA-EN SHAKAR HO RAZAAIAN

Translation

To counsel Bulleh, sisters and sisters-in-law have come
"Pay heed to us and give up mixing with the low caste Araeen
Why are you bringing shame to the descendants of Prophet, And Ali"

"Those who call me Syed, are destined to hell made for them
Those who call me Araeen, have the swings in heaven laid for them
Low caste and High caste, are created by God who cares not for family

He regards the beautiful and cherishes the not so comely.
If you wish to enjoy the glory of the Garden, go and serve Araeen
Why bother about Bulleh's caste? Obey the command that comes from Saeen

Welcome !!!!

Welcome to my blog... Encouraged by some of my friends, I have decided to resume blogging and this is going to be my official blog space from now on...

And what can you expect here.. ? My random thoughts, ideas, views, interesting happenings in my life, a lot of nonsense maybe.. I intend to post it all here .. So STAY TUNED !!!