IBM MQ Prevents Message Duplication or Loss

A digital platform may have billions of messages flowing through it each day, with real-time updates considered the standard by customers and enterprises. 

Ensuring that messages aren’t duplicated or lost in the process is an arduous task, and one that is the focus of IBM MQ, an enterprise-grade messaging solution that has been on the market for over 25 years. 

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With IBM MQ, messages are delivered once-and-once-only, which is key to avoiding duplication or loss. If the server is not ready to receive a message, MQ will wait until it is, through its Message Queue Interface. Other messaging-orientated middleware products may send regardless of server activity, which results in loss, while others may send a follow up message if the original isn’t received, which can sometimes cause duplicate results. 

Another value of the queueing system is for programs that run independently of each other and may not be online all the time, such as Internet of Things (IoT) devices and smart sensors. This reduces the amount of time sensors need to be online, potentially improving hardware life cycles. 

IBM MQ can be deployed for multiple modes of operation, such as: 

• Point-to-point – Sender sends to queue and receiver receives in queue.
• Publish/subscribe – Application publishes a message which is then sent out to all subscribers of the application.
• File transfer – Managed File Transfer manages to the transfer of files into messages.
• Telemetry – IBM has its own MQ Telemetry solution that extends the MQ environment to IoT and other devices that sit at the edge of a network.  

Security is placed on each message sent, using the Transport Layer Security (TLS). IBM also embeds Advanced Message Security (AMS) in its MQ Advanced for those that need it, which encrypts a message and only allows certain applications to access them. 

IBM MQ supports a wide range of applications, systems, and services and can enable organizations to send data from on-premise to the cloud, providing real-time data back to head offices on all types of data points, such as application usage, warehouse stock, and transaction volume. 

With IBM MQ, organizations can also access a highly scalable solution that already runs petabytes worth of data for some of its clients on MQ. In recent updates, IBM has also enabled containerized deployment of MQ, allowing enterprises to pick and choose the services they want to use.