What is MQ?
MQ loosely means “message queue”. It is a “Message Oriented Middleware” developed by IBM for business messaging and queuing. It allows for sending and receiving messages across platforms with near real-time efficiency and guaranteed delivery. Formerly called MQSeries, this middleware is widely used by major industries around the globe because it simplifies testing and application development. This eventually results to faster distribution of various business applications.

MQ runs on several platforms including Microsoft Windows, UNIX, and Linux among others. With MQ, programs are able to easily interact with each other across different networks, since it also uses a consistent API (application program interface).

MQ runs via message queuing wherein application programs communicate by writing and receiving data to and from queues without necessarily having a link between them. This enables programs to run on different machines but in different platforms. Applications can also be written in different languages and can be transferred seamlessly from one platform to another.

To a programmer for example, he will only be concerned if he has connection to the server or if a particular server is down. In the process of queuing, the receiver program doesn’t have to be up or available to complete the communication loop. The programmer just sends a message to a particular queue that is associated with an application. This particular application may not be available at the time of the programmer’s request, so the message will just stay “in queue” and will wait to be processed later by MQ.

There are various other products that can address messaging needs. But using MQ from IBM WebSphere’s software products offers a lot of advantages. Not only does it allow easy communication across different platforms, it also ensures that messages are delivered efficiently and free from errors. Data security is also not an issue since it uses SSL or Secure Socket Layers, which are the standard in Internet communications.