According to a press release, Microsoft Corp. joined the Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) Working Group, an organization focused on the development of the AMQP specification. AMQP is an open Internet Protocol for Business Messaging designed in collaboration by members of the AMQP Working Group.
It is interesting to note, as the press release seems to indicate, that this decision was a result of pressure from the industry and members of the group.
Microsoft is joining the AMQP Working Group at the request of its members, including several of Microsoft’s customers in the financial services industry, in order to support the development of an open industry standard for ubiquitous messaging.
Sam Ramji, senior director of platform strategy at Microsoft said
By joining the AMQP Working Group, Microsoft is aiming to contribute to the development of the specification in ways that will best promote interoperability for existing market implementations and provide customers with increased choice.
The release goes on to showcase positive reactions from members of the working group, such as Paul Fremantle, CTO of WSO2, Pranta Das, technical leader for Cisco Systems Inc., Adrian Kunzle, head of engineering and architecture at J.P. Morgan and Red Hat.
The expectation is that this move will strengthen the grass-roots AMQP standardization movement.