Isode's XMPP Server: M-Link

Anyone paying any attention to the whitepapers we've published and the blog posts we've written over the last few months will not be surprised to learn that we're developing an XMPP server of our own, the first version of which will be launched with our next major product release, 14.2.

The reasons for developing an instant messaging and presence server (and basing it on the XMPP Open Standard) are ones we've discussed before but in short - we've always been an Open Standards company and we believe that instant messaging and presence has applications across many of our solutions areas  as well as helping us communicate with the partners and customers on whom we rely.

M-Link moved into customer beta a little while ago and we offered customers three ways of helping us test the product:

1. Download M-Link, set up M-link on their own domain using our evaluation guide, and link to Isode staff who are using the copy of M-Link running at isode.com (as well as anyone else with an IM account at other XMPP services like GMail or jabber.org).
2. Request an IM account at a service that Isode are running on 'friends.isode.com' and use that account to communicate with Isode staff and other XMPP accounts.
3. Use their existing XMPP service (if they have one) to communicate with Isode staff using M-Link.

As well as testing the product, the documentation and interoperability, customers have also been able to use the beta as a way of improving communications with Isode, the beta test is enabling us to both look at the product (M-Link) and the function (IM as it impacts our business).

We've also been able to properly test some of the many XMPP clients available for the various operating systems and platforms we find ourselves using. We'll be posting our opinions of some of those clients in a series of posts running up to the launch of 14.2