In May 2011, ICR published “Service-oriented architecture,” describing cloud computing services and service-oriented architecture for process control. Since this first publication, the information evolved into a formal IEEE working group with a joint liaison effort between ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451-1-4 for use of XMPP for Smart Transducers. William J Miller of MaCT, USA, charts its progress.
XMPP (Extensible Markup and Presence Protocol) was developed by the Jabber open-source community as a set of open Extensible Markup Language (XML) technologies for presence and real-time communication in 1999. XMPP was formalised by the IETF in 2002-04, and continuously extended through the standards process of the XMPP Standards Foundation.
XMPP is now part of the IEEE P1451.1.4 standard for smart transducers (formerly denoted as 1451.1d and revised by the IEEE Standards Association) and now part of the ISO/IEC/IEEE 21450 series. XMPP defines protocols for communicating between groups of entities, which register with an XMPP server. This registration is dynamic and provides the basis for presence as a network service capability that accepts stores and distributes presence information. Presence maybe implemented as a single server or a structure of multiple servers and proxies throughout the enterprise. There are complex patterns of association and redirection while retaining a logical connection between a device and the presence service.
In a large heterogeneous network, a federated identity service can extend globally via XMPP servers positioned in data centres around the world. This is identical to the way service providers connect XMPP servers today supporting cross-domain Instant Messaging (IM). In this way, XMPP facilitates both presence and many-to-many messaging across service provider domains. XMPP messages are extensible and facilitate transport of other protocols including IM traffic. XMPP is technology agnostic and protocol independent consequently. Any communications can be used today without a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
