StarHub opens up to software developers releases voice and SMS APIs

Allows software developers to leverage its voice calling and SMS capabilities to accelerate creation of apps and services
Organises developer hackathon to build new apps that use voice and SMS APIs

Singapore, 8 November 2013 – StarHub today announced the launch of SmartFoundry, an application programming interface (API) platform that allows software developers, enterprise customers and institutes of higher learning to tap on its APIs to accelerate the creation and deployment of products and services for businesses and consumers in Singapore. APIs are software interfaces which provide easy access to network capabilities, allowing software developers to easily incorporate communications features into their apps and services. It is as simple as adding a few lines of code in popular programming languages such as PHP and JavaScript.

For a start, StarHub will offer the beta release of its voice and SMS APIs at no cost. Additional APIs that allow access to other network capabilities will be deployed in the near future, with the full suite of APIs available by the second half of 2014.

"We are excited to make available our voice call and SMS capabilities as APIs to the developer community, to promote innovation, growth and productivity in app development, as well as to support tech start-ups and savvy individuals to fast track their ideas to enterprises and consumers in Singapore," said Mr Stephen Lee, StarHub's Head of i3 (Innovation, Investment, Incubation). He believes that SmartFoundry can help software developers gain the competitive edge by implementing communication features quickly in their offerings for customers, without the need to learn specific programming languages, master different VoIP software or invest in costly hardware.

With SmartFoundry’s voice and SMS APIs, a software developer can build rich voice and SMS features in to their apps and services. For example, a CRM for restaurants in which personalised interactive voice app can help to greet customers. Other exciting features includes call recording, conferencing and text to speech.

StarHub has adopted the Telephony API set from Tropo. Said Mr Jason Goecke, CEO of Tropo Inc, "We are excited and honoured to be part of StarHub’s SmartFoundry initiative. Developers have shown a great interest to embed telecom APIs in their mobile and web apps. StarHub’s SmartFoundry has made it easy for them today. Tropo API platform is used by a number of Telecom Operators globally including Deutsche Telekom - Developer Garden in Germany and AT&T Developer Program in the USA. At Tropo, our goal has always been to collaborate with mobile carriers to make telecom APIs simpler and help developers to create successful new services quickly and easily.”

Singapore-based CommGate, an award-winning IT, cloud and CRM consulting and implementation partner of more than 1,000 Asian SMEs, said: “There are just so many reasons to fall in love with SmartFoundry and to integrate it into our CRM platform. From a simple click-to-call to the more sophisticated workflows like responding instantly to incoming leads, SmartFoundry's simple-but-powerful API is a delight to our developers. And the best part is we don't need to acquire, operate and maintain our own telecommunications network,” said Mr Peter Kua, CommGate’s CTO.

To educate developers about SmartFoundry, StarHub will organise a hackathon that focuses on building innovative apps using StarHub’s voice and SMS APIs. Developer evangelist Mr Johnny Diggz from Tropo will mentor at this event.

This one-day event will be held on 16 November 2013 at The HUB Singapore, National Youth Council Academy. StarHub is looking to incubate innovative ideas or software projects that it can bring to market. To sign up, please go to http://tapi.starhub.com/hackathon.