airtime recharged…

Emerald is a flexible airtime distribution system that enables independent resellers while dramatically reducing costs. It integrates seamlessly with the GSM network, and allows a network of resellers, dealers and subscribers to buy and sell airtime directly from their mobile phones or using a web browser.

A Complete Airtime Solution

Emerald Realtime is an end-to-end solution for distributing airtime that offers:

• PIN-less top-up
• Subscriber-to-subscriber airtime transfer
• Self-management on all levels of business.

One of the fundamental features of Emerald is PIN-less top-up. It combines transparently with dealer-to-dealer transfer and subscriber-to-subscriber transfer:

• Subscriber Airtime Transfer - The Emerald solution lets subscribers transfer airtime directly to another subscriber using SMS or USSD. This means increased airtime availability.
• Self-Management - Emerald reduces costs dramatically as it enables Airtime Distributors to manage their own distribution process without requiring expensive support costs. Dealers manage their own top-ups and their own distribution networks. All of this happens without requiring extensive support processes from the Operator, while at the same time ensures maximum business value. With Emerald, a dealer can be selling your airtime within minutes, at no extra cost.

The Emerald Transaction Core integrates with the Operator's IN platform. An IN prepaid account is treated as another Emerald account. Any transaction can post to the IN. This unique features makes it possible to implement innovative IN-based features such as direct IN balance transfer between subscribers, real-time loyalty points and pay-with-airtime solutions.

The system is built on top of a robust carrier-grade General Ledger that supports posting thousands of transactions per second.

Simple Deployment - Emerald can be deployed and integrated into any Operator environment within weeks. There is no need for complex technical processes or complex configuration procedures.

Access to Customers - Emerald enables the operator to distribute airtime without the need for distribution infrastructure. It only requires dealers to have access to a handset or an internet connection. Subscribers can buy airtime from any dealer. Dealers can use SMS and USSD to do PIN-less top-ups and check their airtime balance; subscribers can share airtime and do prepaid balance enquiries.

Dealers can also use a J2ME mobile phone application to do top-ups, check their balance, as well as change their PIN. Resellers and dealers use the Web interface to create and manage sub-dealers and users, as well as do top-ups, dealer airtime transfers, run reports, do searches, and more.

Transactions everywhere

Emerald is transactions. Do you need to charge for balance enquiries? Or provide special discounts to your best dealers? This is what Emerald is all about. Everything in Emerald can be a financial transaction. You can have any account structure you want. Do you need three wallets or buckets per subscriber? Do they need to earn loyalty points?

Emerald uses the power of the TPF to process transactions in real time. It knows exactly how a specific transaction should affect the books. Emerald's accounting features include flexible costing, double-entry, margin look-ups and much, much more…

Always on - down with downtime

Emerald runs on reliable Sun hardware and uses the unique features of Erlang OTP to ensure 24/7 service. The system uses a clustered architecture to distribute load among different servers. This means that you can scale the solution with your business. Begin small with one or two servers and grow to a massive cluster of over 40 machines.

Should anything go wrong, dedicated supervisors will ensure that the affected part is recovered before it affects business. Should the unthinkable happen and one of the servers go up into smoke, know that there is always another one with all the data on it. A single machine failure will never bring down the system.

Why Emerald Realtime?

• A reliable platform - Emerald is designed for maximum reliability. It uses the Open Telecom Platform to achieve maximum availability. There is no single point of failure in the system, with large degrees of redundancy on all levels.
• Seamless integration - Emerald integrates seamlessly with the Prepaid System and existing infrastructure. It includes integration into ERP and billing systems.
• A highly scalable architecture - Emerald scales from installations serving millions of subscribers to small systems serving tens of thousands, on the same platform.
• No vouchers necessary - Emerald Realtime doesn't require printed or virtual vouchers. All transactions are electronic, saving costs while improving the customer experience.
• Multiple access options - Emerald has a common interface for all users. Subscribers have access via SMS and USSD, while operators, dealers and resellers have additional access via J2ME and the CAP Web interface.
• Control - The amount of airtime in the system is carefully controlled, with flexible reporting on all business and technical aspects of the system.
• Customization - The operator can individualise many aspects of the system, from branding the various interfaces to changing the wording of SMS messages and USSD menus.
• Security - All transactions are PIN-protected. MSISDN numbers are validated directly with the IN to ensure accurate transactions. Emerald enforces security through roll-based access control and individual user profiles.