[JDEV] MSN vs Jabber

[Steve Wilhelm]

MSN is not an open network, but Microsoft does publicly distribute its
Real-time Communication Server (RTC). 

See http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/rtcsrv/sipover_2h4n.asp and
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/rtcclnt/rtcover_4jvp.asp for
details.

The communication protocol between the RTC client and server is SIP/SIMPLE.
See http://www.ietf.org/html.charters/simple-charter.html for details.

The RTC is currently in beta and available with a MSDN Universal
subscription. You can deploy the RTC server within an enterprise completely
separate from the MSN network and develop your own custom RTC clients using
the RTC client API. 

The current Windows Messenger you download free from Microsoft can be
configured to connect to both MSN and your own internal RTC server. It will
merge the two user contact lists and the combined presence information into
a single view.

Steve Wilhelm
Technology Strategy, Chief Technology Office
Reuters Ltd.