[openamq-dev] iMatix will end OpenAMQ support by 2011

[Pieter Hintjens]

Hi All,

You may have seen that ZeroMQ (www.zeromq.org) is now a mature product
with a growing community, bindings in almost every language, and
powerful functionality.

While iMatix was the original designer of AMQP and has invested hugely
in that protocol, we believe it is fundamentally flawed, and
unfixable.  It is too complex and the barriers to participation are
massive.   We do not believe that it's in the best interest of our
customers and users to invest further in AMQP.  Specifically, iMatix
will be stepping out of the AMQP workgroup and will not be supporting
AMQP/1.0 when that emerges, if it ever emerges.

ZeroMQ is significantly simpler and faster, and yet achieves much of
the same functionality.  It does this by delegating as much as it can
to existing parts of the stack.  I'd like to congratulate Martin
Sustrik, the chief architect and maintainer of the product, for his
vision and execution.  ZeroMQ will, we believe, succeed in making
messaging a 1st class citizen of the Internet, where AMQP has in our
view failed.

Our migration plan is based on:

1. A WireAPI emulation layer that uses 0MQ instead of AMQP and OpenAMQ
2. Additional 0MQ functionality where needed to support specific user cases
3. Technical support and assistance for a zero-risk migration

Benefits from migration to 0MQ include 10x-50x better performance on
the same hardware, and near perfect scaling to 16, 32, 64 or more.
Reliable multicast is now part of 0MQ, ideal for high volume pub-sub
scenarios.  We will be adding reliable delivery (for trades and
orders).  And you'll get access to the new messaging infrastructure in
many more languages.

If you are using OpenAMQ, please contact me so that we can build a
successful migration plan together.  We believe this move is in the
best interests of all our users and those considering AMQP in their
architectures.

-
Pieter Hintjens
iMatix Corporation