XMPP
XMPP stands for Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol. It is an open XML technology for real-time communication, which powers a wide range of applications including instant messaging, presence and collaboration.
Originally named Jabber, the protocol was developed by the Jabber open-source community. Jabber.org is the original IM service based on XMPP and one of the key nodes on the XMPP network.
Unlike most instant messaging protocols, XMPP is defined in an open standard and uses an open systems approach of development and application, by which anyone may implement an XMPP service and interoperate with other organizations’ implementations. Because XMPP is an open protocol, implementations can be developed using any software license.
XMPP has been designed to send all messages in real-time using a very efficient push mechanism; whereas existing web based mechanisms often make many unnecessary requests introducing network load, and are consequently not real-time.
The core of XMPP is the exchange of small, structured chunks of information(in XML).
Like HTTP, XMPP is a client-server protocol, but it differs from HTTP by allowing either side to send data to the other asynchronously. XMPP connections are long lived, and data is pushed instead of pulled.
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