Proprietary Players
Even though the development community seems to be focused on
the two standards, it is worth noting a couple of proprietary
implementations. One viable choice in any standards race is to
completely avoid it, in hopes that proprietary implementations
offer more in the interim and will hopefully integrate with
standards in the future. In the peer-to-peer space, CollabWorx
has a browser-based real-time messaging solution and a related
server program that allows for collaboration, IM, audio and
video. The core functionality is operated by Java Applets and/or
ActiveX objects, and can be extended using a Java plug-in
architecture. This has been adopted by Computer Associates to
integrate with their CleverPath portal software. Another notable
example, this one on the server side, Macromedia's Flash Communication Server,
which was introduced in the summer of 2002, offers a platform to
develop just about anything that requires IM, audio, video or
other real-time messaging (such as whiteboard applications and
file sharing). The client is Macromedia Flash, which has good
browser penetration (98% at last count) and versions also
available for some PocketPCs and cell phones. All of the
programming in Flash Communication Server is done using either
server, or client-side ActionScript, the ECMAscript-based
language of Flash. Some components will also allow for plugging
in items like whiteboards, video conferences, text chat windows
and more.
Antepo Accept
Accept is a pure Java implementation of Jabber and XMPP, with a
tie-in to SIP. This means that while most of the messaging is
handled by XMPP, one can easily send messages to SIP-based
clients, like Windows Messenger. For now this seems like a
pretty good solution. In addition to the server, there is also a
client available, in case you need to install clients
enterprise-wide. Figure 1 shows a screen capture of the Accept
client.
Installation and configuration of the server is pretty
straightforward. I tested it for Windows XP Professional, but
the instructions look equally simple for Unix. Out of the box,
you can start using the messaging server, it will handle new
user registrations and XMPP-based messaging without any
configuration changes. Setting up the SIP/SIMPLE interface will
take a little configuration, but a lot of the work is simply
changing XML descriptor files, something quite familiar for J2EE
developers.
While Accept does have a built-in user database, administrators
can configure Accept to work with existing user stores including
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) stores, Microsoft
Active Directory and databases. This can ease the integration of
existing users into the enterprise IM solution.
Accept, for all its inter-compatibility, is pretty basic. The
messenger allows for basic user administration, but there are no
options to send files or a/v. In fact, audio and video are left
out entirely. This is not a collaboration application, just
messaging pure and simple. The truth of the matter is that this
is really OK. Interoperability between SIP and XMPP environments
is a good thing, and certainly is no small task. This server is
pure Java, most (of not all) of the other XMPP IM servers
available are built on the C++ Jabber server kernel. And best of
all, Antepo provides a very comprehensive API for Java
developers that allows for the creation of server modules that
basically allow you to do whatever you like.
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