The Short Message Peer-to-Peer (SMPP) protocol is an open, industry standard protocol used to send and receive short message data via SMS. Connect is able to send and receive SMS messages by interacting with SMPP gateways provided by telecom providers and service aggregators.

The Short Message Service (SMS) Sender and SMS Receiver are single components that can be installed on the node outside the firewall. With Connect, they are single components because of the limitation imposed by the Short Message Service Centre (SMSC) on the number of binds that can be made by a client.

The components maintain a cache of servers and are updated whenever the user changes the SMSC configuration in the UI. The components communicate with the CM (ConversationManager) and other internal components through the socket.

Using the SMPP protocol, the Connect SMPP components initiate an application layer connection with a Short Message Service Center (SMSC) over a TCP/IP network connection to send and receive short messages.