The GSMA Rich Communication Suite (RCS) program now focuses on go-to-market activities, such as supporting operators in conducting national interoperability tests.

To speed up the introduction of interoperable rich communication mobile services, a few key industry players established the RCS Initiative in 2007. In 2008, the RCS’s work was taken over by the GSM Association (GSMA). As of August 2009, the RCS initiative had 81 members including network carriers from Europe, Africa, Oceania, Asia and the Americas, as well as equipment vendors and service providers from around the globe. Ericsson is one of the RCS co-founders and a very active contributor and supporter.

Marc LeClerc, product manager at Ericsson’s Multimedia division, was recently named chairman of the RCS Business Value Group, which is responsible for setting the overall RCS business objectives. He stresses that RCS is not a standard specification organization, but more a go-to-market initiative.

“RCS references existing standards to provide a common rich communication end-user experience and achieve interoperability across the entire value chain,” LeClerc says. “RCS provides a go-to-market mechanism that takes all of the different parties involved and allows them to work together seamlessly.”

RCS released its first service specifications in December 2008, focusing on mobile handset functionality, such as enhanced phonebook and messaging, and enriched call services. Since then a lot has happened within the RCS program, and it is currently focusing on go-to-market activities, such as supporting operators to perform interoperability tests and facilitating multi-operator and country wide trial initiatives

At the 2009 Mobile World Congress (MWC), RCS was very active, and several big players showcased their RCS solutions.

Ericsson, for example, highlighted a trial on the Telefónica IMS network.  (See press release.) Additionally, three French operators – SFR, Orange and Bouygues Telecom – announced plans to conduct a common interoperability trial during Q4 2009. “This is a very important cooperation and the first real trial to implement RCS 1.0 across operators,” LeClerc says.

The RCS 2.0 was released in June and has a broadband focus, extending the phase one capabilities to PCs, netbooks, and other internet devices. 

“Right now we are positioning RCS as a convergent capability, not just mobile, because end-users want to have access to all of their services no matter how they are connected at the moment,” LeClerc says. “RCS provides a common user experience across devices and networks. From a third party perspective, RCS, and convergence, is very important. As a developer, you want to write an application without having to customize it for every client down the line. And RCS helps you achieve exactly that.”
LeClerc expects there will be commercially available RCS terminals by the end of this year or the beginning of next year, enabling operators to start launching RCS services in the same time frame.

RCS phase three is currently being defined and expected to be released later this year.

By Benny Ritzén

GSMA RCS Site
Ericsson RCS site

RCS Developer Challenge
Ericsson article: Joint effort enables rich communication
Ericsson article: GSMA launches RCS 1.0 to boost IMS
Bouygues Telecom, Orange and SFR announce RCS user trial
Ericsson press release on Telefónica RCS trial
Press release: RCS initiative
Ericsson RCS White Paper