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."

Comments

Open Source

[packetmon]

Jabber along with Exodus 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.

Re:Open Source

[wordisms]

I recommend giving the IRC servers you have now a try, but use Gaim to access them. It works very well and is very familiar to most users who use other IM clients at home.

Re:Open Source

[gi-tux]

Or pickup the software from JiveSoftware. 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).

Re:Open Source

[ZephyrXero]

While I also suggest using some sort of local jabber server with Gaim, it'd probably be a good idea to install some sort of encryption plugin, like Off The Record, to make sure no one's intercepting conversations from the inside of the network even.

Well, you could use

[Who235]

Net Send and find a gui?

Jiveserver

[s0abas]

We use JiveServer (Wildfire) and the associated spark client.

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

Re:Jiveserver

[#undefined]

let me second jive software's wildfire jabber server.

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 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.

Jabber

[Colin Smith]

I mean, honestly.

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

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

The old-fashioned solution

[Anonymous Coward]

I use this novel instant communication technique called talking.

See I get up, or just raise my voice (depending on the situation) and talk to the person I want to have an instant communication with. It is pretty easy to have one-to-many instant messages, too.

It is nice in that this instant messaging technique continues to work even if the server or network goes down.

One the down side, it only works for short distances, but you can get the phone plug-in for longer distances. But with the phone plug-in it is tough to see if the person you want to send an instant message to is "on-line".

The other downside is you can't change your avatar (aka buddy icon), and I don't like the way mine looks. Some people try to hack this sometimes (Halloween for example) but it rarely looks right. You can get your avatar professional altered but that cost a lot of money.

Re:The old-fashioned solution

[carpeweb]

Not trying to be flamebait here, but I would have modded this up.

How big can the place be if the guy is the only internal IT person?

A shovel and a backhoe are both "technology" solutions. If you're digging a swimming pool, the backhoe is the better technology match. If you're planting two shrubs in your back yard, the shovel is the better technology match.

Why can't a cell phone work here? Does the "instant" message need to be in text and not voice? I'll grant that it might be too difficult to teach people to text message. If that's the case, I'm pretty sure a significant fraction of them will refuse to use IM and leave voice mail.

What's the magic of IM, as opposed to anything that will solve the underlying problem?

Re:The old-fashioned solution

[iabervon]

Sure, it seems like a reliable solution. But it doesn't work when you need it the most, like when all the air has been sucked out of the office. What are you going to use then?

Wildefire is the best

[penfern]

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

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.

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

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.

IRC++

[DeadCatX2]

Despite the trollish tone of the parent, the point is valid.

Possibilities, off the top of my head...

1) Different channels for different departments
2) An "all" channel where you can broadcast messages to everyone
3) Short, simple, impromptu meetings that can easily be logged
4) A variety of clients with varying degrees of friendliness, from mIRC to GAIM; or develop your own to fit the needs of your company

'...or they'd just be put off by its complexity.'

[Spamicles]

I'm frightened to live in a world where IRC is considered complex.

I'm going to go out on a limb here

[gregw51]

and suggest a (gasp!) commercial solution. Not free, but supported: Sametime. Commercially supported by IBM/Lotus, fully secure, with a built-in web conferencing system, and works on your Windows 2003 server. Can be completely stand-alone, or you can have it authenticate to your company's LDAP directory. The nice thing is you buy only the number of clients you need, with no need to purchase server software. Clients are $47.59/user, and allows you to use the stand-alone Sametime Connect client (Windows, Mac or a Trillian Pro plugin), the browser-based chat client, or connect via your Blackberry if you're already using their Enterprise server 4.1 or later.

What are the dangers of IM?

[rduke15]

What should one watch out for in IM clients like MSN? My daughter started using that, but I never have.

I warned her about fake links in emails and fake email senders, and showed her how easy it is to send a mail

  From: Saddam Hussein <president@whitehouse.gov>

(After which we played a while sending fake emails to her friends, seeming to come from other friends, teachers, etc. so for email, I think she and her friends got the message... Next exercise will be to spoof the school web site)

But having no experience with IM, I don't know against what to warn her, much less how to demonstrate it.

We use that all the time at my office

[ichigo 2.0]

File transfers are a bit slow though. Also, outsiders tend to get confused when I stand up and say: "Hey Mike, here's that file you wanted. 10101011101011010100010101010011010101010110101010 01010010101010101010101010010101110101010101101010 10101100101101010100101101011101010101101101001010 10101010010001010100101001010010100101011010101010 10100101111101010101110101010010101000001010101000 00101010010101000101010000000000000001101111111111 11010101010000000110010101010100101010010101001010 10010101010010101010010101010010101011010101010101 010010101".

Warn me next time!

[Anonymous Coward]

Warn me next time, I can't see sick shit like that while at work! >: (

10101011101011010100010101010011010101010110101010 01010010101010101010101010010101110101010101101010 10101100101101010100101101011101010101101101001010 10101010010001010100101001010010100101011010101010 10100101111101010101110101010010101000001010101000 00101010010101000101010000000000000001101111111111 11010101010000000110010101010100101010010101001010 10010101010010101010010101010010101011010101010101 010010101".

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 we've had a client these past two years called Omnipod. 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.

If your users won't use it, do you truly need it?

[poot_rootbeer]

You said when you had an internal IRC channel set up, your users would avoid logging into it and were turned off by its complexity.

Regardless of what Instant Messaging solution you eventually decide on, will the situation be any different? If your users don't see the value of IM, it will be hard to convince them to make use of it, no matter how secure, convenient, or simple it is.

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 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".