A Massively Scalable Architecture For Instant Messaging & Presence

This paper analyzes the scalability of Instant Messaging & Presence (IM&P) architectures. We take a queueing-based modelling and analysis approach to find the bottlenecks of the current IM&P architecture at the Dutch social network Hyves, as well as of alternative architectures. We use the Hierarchical Evaluation Tool (HIT) to create and analyse models analytically. Based on these results, we recommend a new architecture that provides better scalability than the current one.