SA`s first Jabber server is launching this week, providing Internet and mobile users with an open source real-time/instant messaging (IM) service.
Bruce Cohen, executive director of the Jabber Africa Foundation, says the IM service is based on the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP), which streams XML. This allows users to send real-time messages from PC-to-PC, PC-to-cellphone, or cellphone-to-cellphone, at a fraction of the cost of sending SMSs.
"IM is so much more beneficial to users because unlike SMS, IM has notification technology to inform the user when the recipient is available. Users can also interact with each other through a chat session environment with a history of the conversation. And unlike SMS, each message will cost between 2c to 5c, depending on the user`s GPRS settings," he says.
The Jabber Africa Foundation will also encourage the open source community to participate by interacting with the software, Cohen says.
"We`re really looking to create momentum for open source software IM by encouraging local developers to participate in enhancing and customising the platform. The Jabber Africa Foundation will therefore be reaching out to the software community with awards for creative projects using XMPP, as well as providing advice and support to organisations wishing to introduce XMPP and other open source services."
While the Jabber IM service only carries text, Cohen says it will soon carry voice and picture messaging, as well as whiteboarding, collaborative editing and the updating of Web sites from a mobile phone. "Whiteboarding allows the user to participate on a virtual whiteboard in real-time, while collaborative editing allows multiple people to simultaneously work on the same document."
Cohen says these features are becoming increasingly important in an office environment and by using Jabber, companies won`t have to pay for the benefits of having an IM system.
"Many companies are beginning to use IM in their LANs instead of e-mail. Staff in and out of the office, along with customers, are able to interact with different people within the company in real-time," he says.
XMPP has been submitted by the Jabber Software Foundation in the US to the Internet Engineering Task Force, the Internet standards body, for the ratification of the standard. Cohen says once XMPP is adopted, it will be placed in the mainstream of the Internet as a protocol and will be used by more developers in the development of new software.
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