HipChat (software)

HipChat (software)
Name	HipChat
Developer	Atlassian
Released	2010
Discontinued	2018
Latest release version	4.x
Programming language	Erlang, JavaScript, Java
Operating system	Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web
Genre	Instant messaging, collaboration, team chat

HipChat (software) HipChat was a proprietary instant messaging and team chat application originally developed by companies led by Atlassian and contributors from startups in San Francisco. Designed for business collaboration, HipChat combined real-time messaging, file sharing, and integration points for services such as Jira (software), Confluence (software), GitHub, Bitbucket and Trello. Over its lifecycle HipChat intersected with products and companies including Slack (software), Microsoft Teams, Cisco Systems, and Facebook Messenger as the market for workplace communication evolved.

History

HipChat traces roots to the early 2010s technology scene in San Francisco, where founders sought alternatives to consumer platforms like Google Talk and Skype. Initial releases leveraged technologies popularized by startups such as Basecamp and aligned with enterprise tools from Atlassian. In the following years HipChat expanded via partnerships with vendors like Amazon Web Services and acquisitions in the collaboration space influenced by deals involving Slack Technologies, Microsoft Corporation, and Cisco Systems. The product lifecycle saw shifts in strategy as enterprise buyers compared offerings from IBM and Oracle Corporation to newer entrants like Discord (software) and legacy vendors such as IBM Lotus.

Features

HipChat offered persistent chat rooms, direct messages, searchable history, and file attachments that integrated with services including Dropbox, Google Drive, Box (company), GitHub, and Bitbucket. It supported presence indicators and notifications comparable to Microsoft Exchange-integrated messaging, along with emoji reactions and searchable transcripts similar to features in Slack (software), Mattermost, and Rocket.Chat. Mobile applications targeted iOS and Android (operating system), while desktop clients provided native experiences for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and distributions of Linux. For enterprise workflows HipChat included screen sharing and video features influenced by competitors like Zoom Video Communications and WebEx, and it offered administrative controls familiar to customers of Okta and OneLogin.

Architecture and Technology

HipChat’s backend architecture used components and languages popular in modern web services, with servers written in languages such as Erlang and JavaScript and supporting protocols found in technologies like WebSocket and XMPP. The system deployed on infrastructure providers including Amazon Web Services and supported containerization patterns that paralleled projects like Docker (software) and orchestration tools influenced by Kubernetes (software). Clients communicated with RESTful endpoints and real-time transports similar to architectures used by Firebase and Socket.IO, and the product incorporated database and caching layers akin to PostgreSQL and Redis. Deployment and CI pipelines reflected integration with tools used at Atlassian and teams that adopted Jenkins or CircleCI.

Integrations and APIs

HipChat provided a public API and webhooks enabling integrations with continuous integration and developer platforms such as Jenkins, Travis CI, CircleCI, GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket. Built-in connectors allowed alerting from monitoring systems like Nagios, New Relic, and Datadog, and project-management integrations mirrored flows used by Jira (software) and Confluence (software). Third-party developers created bots and add-ons using REST, OAuth, and webhook patterns popularized by Slack (software), Microsoft Graph, and Zapier, while enterprise identity integrations used protocols and services like OAuth 2.0, SAML, LDAP and providers such as Okta and Active Directory.

Security and Compliance

Enterprise features emphasized security controls, including administrative account provisioning compatible with SAML and LDAP integrations, encryption-in-transit using protocols similar to TLS implementations, and data retention policies for compliance regimes followed by organizations like NASA and United States Department of Defense contractors. Auditing and logging capabilities aligned with standards used by companies such as Salesforce and Oracle Corporation, and customers evaluated HipChat against regulatory frameworks that also influenced procurement of products from vendors like Microsoft Corporation and IBM. Security incidents in the collaboration market prompted comparisons to breach responses by firms including Slack Technologies and Zoom Video Communications.

Reception and Legacy

Reviews of HipChat compared it to consumer and enterprise alternatives such as Slack (software), Microsoft Teams, and open-source projects like Mattermost and Rocket.Chat. Analysts from firms such as Gartner and Forrester Research assessed adoption among teams at technology companies including Atlassian customers and startups from Silicon Valley. HipChat’s design and integration model influenced subsequent choices by engineering organizations that also used platforms from GitHub, Bitbucket, and Jira (software), and the product’s trajectory informed consolidation trends in the collaboration market involving Atlassian, Slack Technologies, and Microsoft Corporation. The project remains notable in histories of workplace communication alongside services such as IRC, XMPP, and enterprise messaging suites from IBM and Cisco Systems.

Category:Collaboration software