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Jabber Inc. announced major extensions to its instant messaging product line on Monday, including new versions of its development platform and Windows messaging client.
Jabber XCP 4.0 is the companys mainstay presence development platform that provides program interfaces and development tools for integrating instant messaging into enterprise applications, according to Kris Skavish, director of product management with Jabber, in Denver.
Messenger 3.0, a Windows desktop messaging client, includes new internationalization and localization features including extended character sets and text strings for many languages around the globe, Skavish said.
It also includes new features for managing multiuser text conference rooms including content filtering and room entry on startup.
Messenger 3.0 also aims to makes message histories more accessible by enabling users to retrieve message strings by viewing filing dates within the main application window.
The Messenger client also provides customization options for displays and notifications, along with wizards to prompt new users on how to perform common tasks, such as joining a text conference room, adding contacts or managing server connections. Jabber also plans to release a plug-in that will support the WebEx online conferencing service late this year, according to Skavish.
Besides Messenger, the company also announced Jabber IM, an instant messaging server for enterprises and government agencies that want to deploy a secure IM platform without custom program extensions. For small and midsize businesses, Jabber plans to release a separate, plug-and-play IM appliance early in the first quarter of 2005.
The Jabber XCP extensions include a software development kit and APIs, codes samples and related tools to revise business logic, link with proprietary communication protocols or write application components, such as billing and authorization applets.
XCP provides a Web services interface that allows developers to integrate messaging and online presence features into other enterprise applications, such as sales, marketing and customer services systems using SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol).
XCP also includes an information broker that allows the distribution of real-time, dynamic information to subscribers based on the publish and subscribe model.
Earlier this year, Jabber started working with EBS, a partnership of the worlds largest foreign exchange trading systems, to use Jabber XCP to integrate instant messaging into its trading applications. EBS selected Jabber XCP because it is based on the industry standard XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) and it enabled EBS traders to set up secure conversations and conduct deals online, Skavish said.
“They wanted to have multiuser chats where trades are discussed and separate rooms are set up to actually conduct the trades,” Skavish said. It was also important that these group discussions take place in a specific sequence leading up to the closing of the transaction.
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