Microsoft maps-out road to Greenwich
BetaNews | at | by Mike
The impression that instant messaging will soon overtake e-mail in frequency has been percolating inside the corridors of Redmond for some time, and according to the Exchange product roadmap, has taken hold. Microsoft is preparing "Greenwich," a server platform for real-time communication, to address the enterprise IM market. Greenwich is based on the Session Initiation Protocol, or SIP, which is found in Windows XP and currently serves as the basis for Windows Messenger and Passport's directory service.
Microsoft has planned a full set of features for Greenwich that include: presence notification, server side contact lists, VoIP support, roaming settings, integrated logging via SQL database, authentication with encryption, multi-domain support, alerts and notifications, federation support, GPO based policy management, and a set of external APIs for developers. Another key aspect of Greenwich is the move toward instant messaging and collaboration via mobile devices.