The MQTT protocol enables a publish/subscribe messaging model in an extremely lightweight way. It is useful for connections with remote locations where a small code footprint is required and/or network bandwidth is at a premium. For example, it has been used in remote sensors communicating to a broker via satellite
August 20th, 2010 - No Comments
A protocol isn’t much use without a specification that allows others to understand how it works and how they can implement it. This has been a missing piece to the MQTT story for a while. The specification was originally made available as a part of the WebSphere Message Broker InfoCenter. This was done to get the protocol ‘out there’ with the intent that others could adopt it, but it came with the InfoCenter license that didn’t allow for others to implement it. With MQTT support moving from Message Broker to MQ, the protocol needed a new home.
One week ahead of the planned availability date of MQTT support in MQ, the MQTT v3.1 specification has been published on IBM developerWorks. This has been done with a royalty free license so anyone is free to create their own implementations.
You may notice the version has bumped to v3.1. There are some updates to the spec that adds support for security and clarifies the use of UTF-8 versus US-ASCII. The spec has also had a rewrite to make it a clearer and more complete document.
July 8th, 2010 - 5 Comments
IBM has formally announced its plans for bringing MQTT support to MQ. Unlike the preview announcement made previously, this includes the concrete details on what is being done, including the planned availability date – August 27th, 2010.
Known as MQ Telemetry, this will allow applications to use the MQTT v3 protocol to communicate with their MQ queue manager. A pair of client libraries are provided for applications to use, in both c and java.
An advanced client is also provided – the MQ Telemetry daemon for devices. This is based on RSMB that was previously only available via IBM alphaWorks on an evaluation license.
A key part of this will be a much clearer statement on the use of the MQTT protocol itself – something the community has needed for some time.
The formal announcement is here and the MQ product pages have been updated here.
April 28th, 2010 - No Comments
Yesterday, IBM made a preview announcement that brings good news to fans of MQTT:
IBM plans to offer a new optional feature for WebSphere® MQ to provide messaging designed for connecting smart sensors and telemetry devices. This new feature will enable existing WebSphere MQ applications and networks to connect with remote sensors and devices enabling connectivity to the edge of the enterprise, supporting sense-and-respond solutions that enable smart work. [...]
MQ Telemetry Transport (MQTT) support was previously provided by WebSphere Message Broker. This new optional feature reduces the prerequisites needed for Telemetry messaging solutions while still enabling WebSphere Message Broker to connect to sensors and devices leveraging this optional feature of WebSphere MQ.
Capabilities to include:
- Optional feature for connecting telemetry devices like sensors and actuators
- Support for MQTT protocol optimized for resource-constrained sensors and devices
- Integrated configuration for telemetry messaging with WebSphere MQ Explorer Eclipse tooling
- MQ Telemetry toolkit, clients, and samples
For more information, you can read the full announcment here.
