Basic Internal Instant Messaging Solution?

sk8dork asks: "I am pretty much _the_ internal IT person at the company I work for and I am recognizing the need for internal Instant Messaging more and more each day. While email is quick and easy to send, it's not always the quickest way to get your message to someone when they're not monitoring their inbox every second of the day. Having come from a position in Dell tech support I've experienced the MS communications solution but was put off by the instability of it and, now that I've looked into purchasing it, the steep price as well. For more stability we often used an internal IRC channel, but most people would either not login or they'd just be put off by its complexity. In this new company, where close to no one is 'computer savvy', I am in need of an Instant Messaging solution that is easy to use, secure, limited to our network, and inexpensive. I'd like to stay away from the mainstream IM clients such as Yahoo!, AIM, ICQ and others. We're running Windows Server 2003 for Small Business (sorry) and will be soon upgrading out of the SBE to regular Windows Server 2003. Any helpful information will be greatly appreciated."

Open Source

[packetmon]

Jabber [jabber.org] along with Exodus [jabberstudio.org] works wonders. When I worked at a small/mid sized (200 employees) business I configured this across the board along via VPN. It was secure, fast, stable and as good as any IM client and server I've come across. I configure employees into groups in accordance with their office (e.g. NY, Miami, Mass, etc.). Workers were able to transfer files when necessary, vent gripes without worrying about snooping, etc.

Jiveserver

[s0abas]

We use JiveServer (Wildfire) [jivesoftware.org] and the associated spark client.

It uses the jabber protocol and as such, can be used with a variety of IM clients.

Jabber

[Colin Smith]

I mean, honestly.

http://www.jabber.org/software/servers.shtml [jabber.org]

Yes, you can get a server for a Windows platform, yes you can pay for it too if it helps.

Wildefire is the best

[penfern]

http://www.jivesoftware.org/wildfire/ [jivesoftware.org]

The best jabber implementation that I have used is Wildfire by Jivesoftware. It was really really easy to install and setup (even with LDAP support), and our company has been using it for months and months. It's really great to have an internal IM server.

Re:Open Source

[gi-tux]

Or pickup the software from JiveSoftware [jivesoftware.org]. They have a client and server. The server can even tie into you Active Directory Domain if I remember correctly. I used an earlier version of their server with both Exodus and Gaim (before they had their own client).

ICQ Groupware

[bstrunk]

ICQ offers a groupware product, designed to be used on internal networks only. Best of all, its freeware. http://www.networkingfiles.com/Communications/Icqg roupware.htm [networkingfiles.com]

Re:Jiveserver

[#undefined]

let me second jive software's wildfire jabber server. [jivesoftware.org]

it's java so it runs anywhere. i'm currently running it as a service on a windows 2000 workstation.

the web admin interface is nice.

i'm running the old version (jive messenger) as the newer plugins and expanded database support haven't been reason enough to upgrade and i don't consider security a big enough issue on an intranet. don't let my downplaying of the new plugins discourage you, but instead it should speak highly of how well the basic server fulfills communication needs (instant messaging & chat rooms).

my only other suggestion would be to use psi [psi-im.org] as the client. it's cross-platform (windows, macosx, linux), coded with qt, so that should easy your it support if there's multiple platforms. of course spark is cross-platform too, being java, but i don't have any experience having found psi sufficient for ~4 years.

Re:Jiveserver

[gbobeck]

I would also recommend Wildfire (formerly Jive).

I set up a Wildfire server at Loyola University Chicago, and it was exceptionally easy and secure. Since we use LDAP authentication in our computer science, we were able to instantly have user accounts pre-loaded. For Windows users, Wildfire should integrate with active directory very easily.

I would also recommend using Spark or Gaim as a jabber client.

Of course, the Spark admin plug-in for Wildfire is a good addition, as it provides a localized download area for the Spark Client and it helps to keep users up to date with the client.

Uh. It's built in.

[Anonymous Coward]

You've almost certainly got an instant messaging solution installed and fully functional on every one of your desktops right now. It uses less screen space than almost any 3rd party app and it supports single sign-on without configuration effort. Here's how to send someone a message using it:

[windows+r] net send {username} {message text} [enter]

P.S. The UNIX guys have a similar utility called "write" that's been on every UNIX-ish system I've ever used.

Re:ICQ Groupware

[GuruBuckaroo]

The ICQ groupware beta - which is abandonware, and has been for years - is buggy, limited to 200 clients, and has absolutely no support. Go for something Jabber-based - I use jabberd2 and GAIM in our environment, but we're a mixed shop - FreeBSD/Samba (with OpenLDAP for the userbase), with Win2K/2K3 Servers where necessary. Jabberd works nicely in this, since it can use the LDAP database for authentication.

With Asterisk integration

[lthown]

and let's not forget that it has support for asterisk. The list of contacts gets updated with who's on the phone, etc. and there's a pop-up with the caller ID on your screen (bottom right corner).

Omnipod might be an option

[vallee]

Hey,

Here at Pythian Remote DBA [pythian.com] we've had a client these past two years called Omnipod [omnipod.com]. They run a good shop and the tech guys there are absolute tops.

Their software is a turnkey hosted secure instant messaging platform. It integrates with the big three networks just fine. It has amazing archiving and audit abilities, thus its popularity in the financial sector (those dudes have to keep all written communication for a few years or they're not allowed to use it at all).

Furthermore, it has an extremely cool feature that's not in any of Y! AIM or MSN: You can create Venn-diagram like overlap groups so that line workers can't just IM the CEO, and so that you can control the communication of presence information inside and outside the group.

It's all very cool and I can recommend it without hesitating. Although it's not FOS, the fact that you don't have to administer it and that you can be up and running tomorrow totally kicks ass.

HTH

Paul

Re:SSL is enough

[GiMP]

There is substantial benefit for the higher-ups to have end-to-end encryption. With an end-to-end encryption, the parties at both ends can discuss things like terminating the systems administrator or confidential information that may affect stock prices. With SSL, the systems administrator(s) can snoop.

Ah, how it all repeats

[Goose42]

I had this exact same problem at my last job. 120 employees, 1 IT guy, no funding for anything. My answer, which worked insanely well:

• 1 400MHz Celeron-based computer running SUSE Linux 9 (most recent version available at the time)
• jabberd2 for the Jabber server, with a MySQL backend
• Psi client for all the Windows users.
• A PHP script [jabber.org] to automatically add everyone to everyone else's contact list (yeah, I'm the guy who posted that).

Psi was great because it was easy to configure so that their application profile was stored on a network drive, so that no matter what computer you logged in to, you had your contact list immediately available. As well, it was really easy to install remotely (just copy the app directory and some shortcuts to the right places on the remote computer). The end result was a computer was saved from the dumpster and put to good use, and everyone got to chat without everyone asking everyone else "whats your jabber address".