There's no denying the importance of instant messaging in the modern office. The question in front of the management is not whether to use IM or to block it, but rather how to control it. In this chapter, we've looked at some of the benefits of using IM over "traditional" communication methods such as the telephone and email. We've also discussed the benefits of hosting our own EIM server instead of using one of the free public ones.

After analyzing some of the features to look for in a EIM solution, we've decided to use the Openfire real-time collaboration server. The server is dual-licensed under the open source GPL and a commercial license. It supports instant messaging, group chat and VoIP and uses the only widely adopted open protocol for RTC, XMPP (also called Jabber). Openfire is incredibly easy to setup and administer, but offers rock-solid security and performance.

In subsequent chapters of this book, we'll setup Openfire, tweak it, and customize it until we have a more secure and feature-rich alternative to other consumer IM networks.