Instant messaging (IM) is a business staple -- whether it's used for communicating among colleagues or chatting with suppliers, partners, and clients. However, with personal IM networks, such as MSN, AIM, and Yahoo, you risk confidential information leaking out unencrypted. Enterprise IM (EIM) solutions from Microsoft, Jabber, and IBM Lotus, however, address business needs, including security. Yet after a first Enterprise IM (EIM) solutions from Microsoft, Jabber, and IBM Lotus, however, address business needs, including security. Yet after a first look, I found that Coversant’s SoapBox Platform 2007 demonstrated better performance, more extensive integration tools, and lower cost than the competition.SoapBox Platform 2007 describes three products: SoapBox Server 2007, which secures XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) communications; SoapBox Studio 2007, an open source SDK; and SoapBox Communicator 2005, the company’s own EIM client application. Together they represent a neat solution that can be harnessed for secure collaboration by enterprises, ISPs, and other custom developers.SoapBox Server 2007 installed easily on my Windows 2000 server (32- and 64-bit and well as IA64 Itanium 2 compiles are available, plus Linux and Solaris versions). I used a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 for archiving messages and related tasks; Oracle 9i/10g, PostgreSQL 8.0.x, and MySQL 5.0+ databases are also supported. One of this solution’s strong points is the Management Studio, a client application that let me remotely manage my installation. First, I used the Managed Rosters function to populate contact lists. SoapBox Server automatically synchronizes with Microsoft Active Directory and NT domains along with LDAP dynamic groups. Since my network uses Active Directory authentication, users took advantage of single sign-on — and I greatly cut setup time because SoapBox recognized existing groups. Similarly, SoapBox Server Policies helped me easily administer group rights, such as who could broadcast messages.Of special note is SoapBox’s ability to securely communicate with other XMPP-compliant servers — either within your enterprise or servers installed at other organizations. This does require a bit of experience with DNS servers and other networking nuances, but a Coversant support representative helped me perform the steps in about 10 minutes. Further, the company has plans to automate the networking setup as much as possible.I didn’t test performance under a heavy load. However, independent benchmarks tests by HP Labs for Coversant customer RIPL (a social networking startup) certified that a single SoapBox server can handle 250,000 concurrent users and 5,000 messages per second. The Enterprise Edition I tested, moreover, permits up to 1,000 virtual SoapBox Servers on a single physical box.What I can say is that communications through my test server using a mix of clients — Trillian Pro 3, Apple iChat, Google Talk, and SoapBox Communicator 2005 (desktop and mobile versions) — worked quickly and flawlessly. My colleagues and I effortlessly traded IMs and collaborated in conference rooms. Offstage, the system precisely logged messages, presence, and chat room conversations — a must-have capability for an EIM to satisfy compliance auditing. Rounding out this solution, SoapBox Studio 2007 gives .NET developers what they need to add XMPP-based EIM to existing applications. Studio supports Windows, Pocket PC, Linux, Flash, and smartphone platforms. There’s a built-in trace debugging tool. Moreover, the 50 code samples should streamline development efforts — and you can distribute your completed application license free. Coversant SoapBox Platform 2007 Availability: Now Cost: Enterprise Edition is $18,850 per server (32- or 64-bit); Standard Edition costs $4,850 per server; free Express Edition. Verdict: SoapBox Server 2007 manages secure XMPP enterprise instant messaging across domains and platforms. It’s easy to install and maintain, provides excellent value, while performance and scalability should satisfy large deployments. Moreover, the open source software development kits help coders produce custom XMPP-based collaboration applications.Rounding out this solution, SoapBox Studio 2007 gives .NET developers what they need to add XMPP-based EIM to existing applications. Studio supports Windows, Pocket PC, Linux, Flash, and smartphone platforms. There’s a built-in trace debugging tool. Moreover, the 50 code samples should streamline development efforts — and you can distribute your completed application license free. Coversant SoapBox Platform 2007 Availability: Now Cost: Enterprise Edition is $18,850 per server (32- or 64-bit); Standard Edition costs $4,850 per server; free Express Edition. Verdict: SoapBox Server 2007 manages secure XMPP enterprise instant messaging across domains and platforms. It’s easy to install and maintain, provides excellent value, while performance and scalability should satisfy large deployments. Moreover, the open source software development kits help coders produce custom XMPP-based collaboration applications. Technology Industry