Jabber/XMPP introduction

Jabber/XMPP is instant messaging technology.

All Jabber/XMPP servers are connected in one global communication network so you will be able to send messages to friends who have accounts on other Jabber servers.

This is very much like sending e-mail but the difference between Jabber and e-mail is the same as difference between post a traditional mail and talking on the phone.
All messages send through Jabber are sent instantly and you can also receive response instantly. More over you can see whether you mate is online and available for talking or not.

There also other similar technologies to Jabber like Yahoo, MSN or ICQ. There are, however quite a few differences.

Jabber is an open standard which means everybody can know how it works, everybody can implement own software connecting to the network both client and server side.

And the server side is actually the biggest difference and advantage. Many companies have offices in different location and such instant messaging technology might be very useful for employees for communication. But companies are not so keen to let confidential discusion go outside the company. Especially it is not very secure to leave such information on to third party public servers.

Jabber on the other side allows you to deploy server in your own company network. So employees can talk securely and all information go through company secure network. Of course if offices are located in different places or countries then all messages are transmitted over the public network - Internet. But Jabber supports SSL/TLS - secure connections which helps you protect your discussion.

And then if your employees need to contact customer outside your company whole discussion can go through your server and server located on customer side.

There are many other scenarios and use cases but I hope that brief introduction gives you idea what is the difference and advantage of Jabber technology.