An Internet messaging platform is any system on the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

that exchanges messages for the purpose of human communications. Messaging platforms are considered one of few key Internet infrastructure elements. What used to be only referred to as

email Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...

and IM has evolved into a complex multi-media email, instant messaging, and related fixed and mobile messaging infrastructure. One can argue that everything transmitted on the Internet and wireless telecommunication links is a message of one sort or another.

History

In the beginning there was

Sendmail Sendmail is a general purpose internetwork email routing facility that supports many kinds of mail-transfer and delivery methods, including the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) used for email transport over the Internet. A descendant of the ...

and many other mail delivery agents soon followed ( Postfix etc.) Once email spam and

computer virus A computer virus is a type of computer program that, when executed, replicates itself by modifying other computer programs and inserting its own code. If this replication succeeds, the affected areas are then said to be "infected" with a compu ...

problems started becoming prevalent in the early 1990s. These

critical Internet infrastructure __NOTOC__ Critical Internet infrastructure is a collective term for all hardware and software systems that constitute essential components in the operation of the Internet. Background Several studies and events have helped to define the scope of ...

systems had to be patched and the underlying protocols changed -or in some cases ignored- to deal with these issues. - By European Institute for Research and Strategic Studies in Telecommunications. Thus was born the messaging platform. Large telecommunication operators and internet service providers needed flexible, easily deployed and scaled messaging systems for quickly growing messaging services and cell phone networks (for examples see

SMS Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...

and

BlackBerry The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy of ...

.) The flexibility required related to the deployment or integration with anti-spam, anti-virus, business and end user required customization, prompted by in-house marketing concerns and usually provided by third party solutions. At the same time they had to be able to work with already deployed account authentication systems. Some medium and large telecommunication operators have large investments in in-house solutions, others have always purchased third-party solutions. Smaller operators and ISPs have generally relied on open-source software, like Sendmail, and in-house system administrators for maintenance.

History

See also

References

External links