IBM Message Queue Interface

IBM Message Queue Interface is a network communication technology developed by IBM in March 1992. This technology allows independent and possibly non-concurrent applications on a distributed system to communicate with each other. Message Queue Interface is available for both IBM and non-IBM applications.

There are two parts to message queueing:

• Messages are strings of binary data that have a meaning to the participating programs. As in other network protocols, storage, routing, and delivery information is added to the message before transmission and stripped from the message after reception.

• Message queues are objects that store messages in an application.

A Queue Manager is a system service that provides an application programming interface for the message queue and transfers messages to another queue manager through one-way message channels.

There are several advantages to this technology:

• Messages do not depend on packet-based transmissions, such as TCP/IP.
• Parts of a message can be sent over several channels at the same time, speeding the transmission of larger files.
• Messages get delivered once and once only, which assists in security.

MQSeries is a suite of products that use MQI technology