Well over one million text messages are sent every hour in Britain*, in this revolutionary and unique form of new media communication. As is often the case with new forms of communication, it can take some time for them to evolve into a usage pattern which brings tangible business benefits to commercial organisations.

There have for some time been portals where you can send a text message to your friend by entering his or her mobile number and the message into a web form and pressing SEND. This of course is very little different from sending a message from a mobile phone.

At Room101, we believe that the real growth area for SMS is in so-called "Push" technology. This means that rather than send a text message to someone who hasn't asked for it and probably doesn't want it, web sites hosted with us will be able to offer a user the opportunity to enter their own mobile phone number in connection with a request for further information at a future date. We have compiled a few examples of how we see such a system being used :

• A person has difficulty with a software product, so visits the web site of the manufacturer and posts a question onto their online discussion forum. He would like to know as soon as someone responds to this message, rather than having to keep checking back on that site.

  HE ENTERS HIS MOBILE PHONE NUMBER AND IS IMMEDIATELY TOLD OF ANY REPLIES

• A person orders a product from a retail web site which is out of stock. She is only available certain days and delivery must be by arrangement. The web site needs to let her know when the item is ready for delivery, so she can then choose a suitable delivery date.

  SHE ENTERS HER MOBILE PHONE NUMBER AND IS IMMEDIATELY TOLD WHEN STOCK IS AVAILABLE

• A fan of a rock band wants to know if any tour dates come up in the cities of Leeds, York or Harrogate. He needs to know as soon as they are announced, so that he can buy tickets before it sells out.

  HE ENTERS HIS MOBILE PHONE NUMBER AND IS IMMEDIATELY TOLD OF ANY NEWLY ANNOUNCED CONCERTS WHICH FIT THAT DESCPRIPTION

• A person has requested an appointment with an aromatherapist but is only available on Friday afternoons which are currently fully booked. She has said that she'll take a cancellation, and needs to know as soon as possible when someone else cancels their Friday afternoon appointment.

  SHE ENTERS HER MOBILE PHONE NUMBER AND IS IMMEDIATELY OFFERED A CANCELLATION WHEN ONE COMES UP.

Room 101 is now in a position to offer this service to the following web site hosting clients :

• Clients who already host their web site with Room 101's premium hosting service

• Clients who wish to move the hosting of their web site to Room 101's premium hosting service

(The above are acknowledged as being registered trademarks)