Collaboration Services: Enabling Chat in Disadvantaged Grids

Instant messaging is an important aspect of collaboration. There are many different solutions for instant messaging or chat as it is often called. One of the most prominent solutions in recent years is the XMPP protocol, which is implemented in several instant messaging products, both servers and clients. This protocol has also been chosen for chat by NATO, as it is mentioned in the SOA baseline as one of the protocols to use when implementing the collaboration core services. NATOs JChat client implements XMPP, and has been used with success in many missions. However, the protocol is not well suited for use in highly dynamic environments. In this paper we present our approach to bringing chat into such environments. We build our chat solution on ACP142, a protocol developed for use in tactical radio networks that can cope with mobility and disruptions. Finally, we discuss how a gateway solution can be used to bridge our experimental chat with the standard XMPP which should be used in networks with infrastructure.