Global Relay Messenger comes with a secure enterprise messaging client application that sits on your desktop, similar to public IM network clients; yet it is built on a solid, proven foundation with much higher availability and security.

The environment is designed to be a closed-network messaging system, restricting access from and to the public IM networks for security and compliance purposes. Global Relay Messenger, if enabled via your company's Administrator, can communicate with GoogleTalk and all other Jabber networks.

Yes, the messaging environment is designed to be a secure, closed-network blocking public IM network related spam & viruses.

The application has been developed primarily for a Windows XP environment, but it also runs on Windows NT with no problems. A Mac version is in beta testing.

Yes, it is compatible with BlackBerry, Treo, GoodLink, Windows Mobile, GoogleTalk and Jabber/XMPP. You can communicate with any user on Global Relay Messenger simply by adding their email address.

For a branded corporate logo, provide your logo in PNG or JPG format (128x48 pixels) to Global Relay at support@globalrelay.net.

Global Relay Messenger chat sessions are archived offsite in Global Relay's Message Archiver ensuring full compliance with SEC, FINRA, and Sarbanes-Oxley. All messages are viewable with Global Relay's Message Archiver.

Global Relay Messenger is a hosted solution that connects to the server via SSL/TLS on port 5223. This port is not typically blocked by firewalls, but if outgoing traffic on that port is blocked it will need to be opened.

Jabber is an open, secure, ad-free alternative to consumer IM services like AIM, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo. Under the hood, Jabber is a set of streaming XML protocols and technologies that enable any two entities on the Internet to exchange messages, presence, and other structured information in close to real time. Jabber technologies offer several key advantages:

• Standard - the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has formalized the core XML streaming protocols as an approved instant messaging and presence technology under the name of XMPP.
• Proven - the first Jabber technologies were developed in 1998 and are now quite stable; hundreds of developers are working on Jabber technologies; there are tens of thousands of Jabber servers running on the Internet today, and millions of people use Jabber for IM.
• Secure - any Jabber server may be isolated from the public Jabber network (e.g., on a company intranet), and robust security using SASL and TLS has been built into the core XMPP specifications.
• Extensible - using the power of XML namespaces, anyone can build custom functionality on top of the core protocols; to maintain interoperability, common extensions are managed by the Jabber Software Foundation.
• Flexible - Jabber applications beyond IM include network management, content syndication, collaboration tools, file sharing, gaming, and remote systems monitoring.

JABBER is a registered trademark of Jabber Inc., and its use is licensed through the Jabber Software Foundation.
(From http://www.jabber.org/about/overview.shtml)

It cannot be better explained than from the Jabber Software Foundation itself:

"Let's think about two Shakespeare characters and how they exchange messages -- perhaps Juliet up on the balcony, and Romeo down in the Capulets' orchard. Now Juliet doesn't send a message directly ("peer to peer") to her Romeo, at least not in the Jabber world. Juliet has an account on a Jabber server, and her Jabber address (we call it a Jabber ID or "JID") looks a lot like an email address. Since Juliet is a Capulet, she registers the username "juliet" with the Jabber server running at capulet.com, so her JID is juliet@capulet.com. Similarly, Romeo has an account on his family's server and his JID is romeo@montague.net.

Once Juliet has logged into the capulet.com server, she can send messages to her sweetie. To be precise, here is what actually happens when Juliet fires up Global Relay Messenger on her Windows laptop out on the balcony:

1. Juliet sends a message addressed to romeo@montague.net
2. The message is handled by the Jabber server at capulet.com
3. The capulet.com server opens a connection to montague.net
4. Assuming that the family elders have not disabled server-to-server communications between capulet.com and montague.net, Juliet's message is routed to the Jabber server at montague.net
5. The server at montague.net sees that the message is addressed to an actual user named "romeo" and delivers it to the Jabber client running on Romeo's Linux laptop out in the Capulets' orchard
6. The message pops up in Romeo's Jabber client, and he swoons"

To view your Global Relay Messenger IM in the Message Archiver, choose "Instant Messages" from the Folder list on the main Search page. Once you conduct a search, you will see instant messages on the Results page. Global Relay Messenger is distinguished from other IM types in the Archive by the following icon: