The workshop is being offered free of charge to developers, students and industry players, and will provide a comprehensive overview of the SMS industry and the latest SMS technologies. Clickatell will also give a detailed demonstration of integration with the Clickatell SMS gateway through multiple protocols. Other topics to be covered include SMS case studies, technical features of SMS and the future of SMS.

The workshop will be presented by SMS gurus Pieter de Villiers and Gary Cousins, both renowned in the global arena as thought leaders in the industry.

At the event, Clickatell will also launch the MAD "Search for the Killer App" competition, aimed at exposing new SMS applications. This competition will run until the end of January 2004, and exciting prizes are up for grabs.

Says Pieter de Villiers, Managing Director of Clickatell: "Both the workshop and the competition are world firsts for Africa. Clickatell has presented workshops at global messaging events before on behalf of international mobile networks, but this is the first one of its kind in SA. Judging by the pre-event registrations and the response from the developer community, we believe it will be well-attended and expect in excess of 170 developers.

"The idea behind the workshop is to stimulate mobile application development in SA," De Villiers continues. "Globally, we have seen a large number of ideas that have turned into reality by integrating SMS through the Clickatell platform. One of the advantages of the Clickatell platform is the fact that an application can be distributed globally, as Clickatell covers in excess of 500 global networks. We also cater for various protocols, allowing literally any legacy system to be integrated. We have thereby eliminated all barriers to SMS as a protocol."

Accessibility has not always been something that has been associated with SMS integration. Constrained network delivery, complex protocols, a severe lack of reporting tools, and long turnaround times have plagued the industry and the protocol. According to De Villiers: "This workshop will explain the ease with which SMS can now be integrated through a suite of APIs that have been stress-tested on the global playing field."

More information and pre-event registration can be done at the following URL: http://www.clickatell.com/brochure/registration.php. Clickatell can be visited at: http://www.clickatell.com/central/campaigns/redir.php?cid=461