Getting to Know eXpress & Glossary

The eXpress corporate communications platform includes classic messenger functions, video conferencing, built-in web apps — Smart Apps, bots and other features for the work of employees of an organization or enterprise in a integrated digital space.

The function of trusted relationships between corporate servers of different companies in eXpress — trusts — unites corporate servers into a federation — a secure communication network between employees of dozens of organizations.

In the federation, you can communicate, exchange files, schedule conferences and calls with those who already use the app.

eXpress Worldwide Presentation (pdf)  

The eXpress Federation is a network of regional and corporate eXpress servers. It includes all regional (RTS) and corporate (CTS) transport servers and some enterprise servers (ETS), which have it's own customized version of the app.

Regional Transport Server, RTS

It is a public server. In eXpress, RTS affiliation is indicated in green.

Purpose of RTS:

• Global routing of messages between all members of the federation (both corporate and external users);
• Initial user registration (including working with SMS codes), public and guest profiles;
• Sending push notifications to eXpress client apps.

Features of RTS:

• There are several such servers in several regions, the central RTS is located in Russia at the disposal of the eXpress vendor.
• You can register on RTS via personal non-corporate account, but the app's capabilities will be limited in such case.

Corporate Transport Server, CTS

A corporate server is a server at the customer's disposal. In eXpress, CTS affiliation is indicated in blue.

Purpose of CTS:

• Authentication of corporate users and guest profiles (if configured);
• Routing and storing files and messages of CTS users of the organization;
• Corporate phonebook;
• Direct interaction with other CTS (of this organization or a partner organization);
• Other functions for corporate communications (conferences, bots, etc.).

Features of CTS:

• CTS provides basic messaging functions within an isolated, secure corporate network. Employees of the organization need to register on the corporate server to communicate with each other.
• All CTS servers are connected to RTS.
• An organization may have several corporate servers, and trusted connections (trusts) can be established between them. Users from one trust server can search for users from another, and traffic is routed directly between trust servers, bypassing the intermediate RTS.

Enterprise Transport Server, ETS

The enterprise transport server unites corporate servers (in this case they are designated not CTS, but ECTS) of a large interregional enterprise into a “mini-federation”. It can be called an analogue of a public RTS that unites several CTS. This server is at the customer's disposal. ETS affiliation is indicated in blue.

Purpose of ETS:

• Routing of messages between users, allowing employees of one ECTS to communicate securely with employees of another ECTS;
• Initial registration of users within the organization’s contour (including working with SMS codes);
• Sending push notifications to branded client apps within the organization.

Features of ETS:

• ETS installation occurs exclusively within the organization's perimeter.
• The organization independently manages security policies and contour access.
• Customizable initial registration of users within the organization’s contour.
• Users are connected to ETS using a dedicated ETS client app, which is distributed by the organization. It's code can be additionally pre-checked before publishing to app stores.
• Users can not stay on the ETS, it is required to register on ECTS.
• RTS users can register on the ETS client app. If the user was a corporate user in eXpress, a logout from CTS is required, otherwise an error is displayed.
• Users' phonebooks are stored on ETS.
• ETS is independent of RTS, but is linked to RTS by default so that ETS app users could communicate with RTS and other CTS users. New ECTS are created on ETS, and RTS “does not know” about them. Autonomous operation of ETS in complete isolation is also possible.

Account

A user’s account to log in to the system. In eXpress, there are personal and corporate accounts. For more details, follow this link.

Active Directory

AD. Microsoft Directory Services for Windows Server family operating systems. Allows administrators to use group policies to ensure uniformity of user work environment settings, deploy software to multiple computers via group policies or through special services. eXpress can synchronize users with Active Directory. For more details, follow this link.
Find more information about Active Directory on the Microsoft Learn website.

Active Directory Forest

A collection of one or more Active Directory domains that share a common logical structure, directory schema (class and attribute definitions), directory configuration (site and replication information), and global catalog (forest-wide search capabilities). Domains in the same forest are automatically associated with two-way trust relationships. Read more at Microsoft Learn website.

Admin Panel

Administrator web-console or Administrator control panel. This is a special web page that allows you to manage server settings. For more details, follow this link.

API

Application Programming Interface. Represents a description of how one program interacts with another. In eXpress, there is an API for integrating third-party systems. For more details, follow this link.

Appimage

The file extension of the executable package of the Linux family of operating systems.

Authentication

The process of verifying the identity of a user attempting to log in to a system using a password, e-mail, etc.

Authorization

This is the definition of a user's rights to access certain data and resources in the system, that is, establishing what they can do after authentication. Authorization example: having encryption keys enables you to read chat correspondence.

Bot

A special program that performs certain actions automatically and/or according to a specified schedule through interfaces intended for people. In eXpress, bots are implemented as special chats that you can interact with, and are called chat bots.

BotX

API for developing bots in eXpress. For more details, follow this link.

Cache

A fast-access intermediate buffer containing information that is most likely to be queried. It is used throughout the eXpress architecture to load information from the server into the device's memory.

Captcha

Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. A special check that determines whether a computer or a human is attempting to access the system. It protects the system from spam and malicious attacks using bots created by intruders.

Catalog

Corporate chat directory, which contains open group chats, channels and corporate bots.

CDTN

Corporate Data Transmission Network. In eXpress, you can set restrictions on file transfer and screen sharing inside and outside the CDTN. For more details, follow this link.

Channel

A chat with multiple participants (more than two) in eXpress. These are chats for news, only administrators can send messages and see other participants.

Chat, Channel or Thread Card

Chat/channel/thread properties. A page with a list of participants and settings for a group chat, channel or thread. It opens when you click on the name of a chat, channel or thread.

Client

A client is a hardware or software component of a computing system that sends requests to a server.

Client-Server

Client-server is a computing or network architecture that provides interaction between customers (clients) and providers (servers) of services.

Company

Organization, legal entity. Customer and operator of the eXpress Communications System.

Conference

A special eXpress group call that can be scheduled.

Confidential Mode

A special chat mode that provides increased data protection and automatically deletes messages after a configurable period of time.

Contact Card

A page with the user's personal and contact information in eXpress. It opens when you click on a name mentioned in a chat or when you click on a contact.

Corporate account

It is defined by a blue icon. Such an account is created by the organization, usually at the user's request, or automatically during synchronization with the profile management system or when the user enters their work e-mail when logging in to the app (self-registration). A personal account user logs in to a corporate server using a corporate account.

Corporate contact

Contact of a corporate user registered on the corporate server. For more details, follow тут.

Counter

In the eXpress app, counter appears as a dot or a number indicating the number of unseen notifications (for example, the number of unread messages).

Credentials

A set of data that can be used to enter a system (log-in). Credentials can be obtained upon registration in the system.

CTS

Corporate Transport Server, or simply corporate server. This server is at the Customer's disposal, and it is connected to the RTS server. It provides basic messaging functions — employees of the organization can interact in an isolated, secure corporate network. Employees of the organization need to register on the corporate server to communicate securely with each other. For more details, follow this link.

CTS ID

Corporate Transport Server Identifier. It is found in the Admin Panel. For more information, follow this link.

DEB

The file extension of the application installation package of the Linux Debian family of operating systems.

Demilitarized Zone

DMZ. A network segment that contains public services and separates them from corporate ones. The demilitarized zone contains servers used for interaction and provision of network services to external users of the corporate network, as well as servers that, for information security reasons, should not be placed on the organization’s internal network.

DLPS

Data Leak Prevention System. In eXpress, integration with various DLP systems is implemented, such as InfoWatch Traffic Monitor, Zecurion, SearchInform.

DMG

The file extension of the application installation package of the macOS.

DNS

Domain Name System. A computer distributed system for obtaining information about domains. Most commonly used to obtain an IP address from a hostname (computer or device).

Encryption Key

A special set of characters used in eXpress by a special algorithm to encrypt and decrypt user messages.
A public encryption key is a random set of bytes. It is typically transmitted over the network in base64 format. It is generated from a private key. It is used to encrypt data or verify digital signatures. It can be securely distributed or published, and anyone can use it to encrypt a message. A public key can be used to verify that it was the owner of the private key who signed something. For more information about the user's public keys, follow this link.
A private encryption key is a random set of bytes. It is typically transmitted over the network in base64 format. It can be used to generate a public encryption key. If you have a private key, you can decrypt what was encrypted with a public key.

ECTS

Enterprise Corporate Transport Server. One of the enterprise's corporate servers in its ETS “mini-federation”. For more details, follow this link.

E-mail

E-mail address or authentication method, when accounts are created on the corporate server itself and managed manually.

End-to-End Encryption

Encryption in which correspondence is encrypted with the keys of each individual chat participant.

ETS

Enterprise Transport Server. Unites ECTS into its own “mini-federation”, comparable to RTS uniting CTS. This server is at the customer's disposal. For more details, follow this link.

ETS ID

Enterprise Transport Server Identifier. It is found in the Admin Panel. For more information, follow this link.

eXpress

The eXpress corporate communications platform includes classic messenger functions, video conferencing, built-in Smart App web apps, bots and other features for the work of employees of an organization or enterprise in a single digital space. For more details, follow this link.

External Contact

A contact of an external user, which is registered on RTS using a personal account. For more details, follow this link.

External Contour

Public Contour or Internet Zone. A set of software and hardware tools designed to server users outside the organization's corporate network.

Federation

A federation is a shared network of eXpress servers. It includes RTS, CTS and non-isolated ETS+ECTS. For more details, follow this link.

Forward

A message forwarded to another chat in the eXpress app.

FQDN

Fully qualified domain name. A uniquely identifiable domain name of a network resource.

Global chat

In eXpress, this is the name of the system chat with service functions: authentication, activation, update history, scheduled work, publishing company news, and support requests. Some features are not yet available and will be available later. Follow this link for more details.

Group Chat

Also Group. A chat with multiple participants (more than two) in eXpress. These are chats intended for group communication, everyone can send messages, and participants can see each other.

Guest

A user who uses a temporary account on RTS or CTS to join a group chat, channel, call or conference via an invitation link.

Hash Sum

A unique file identifier that is calculated by a computer using special software through mathematical transformations of the information contained in it.

Host

Any device that acts as a server in client-server services.

HUID, GUID

Human Unique Identifier and Global Unique Identifier, respectively. Unique user IDs. They are found in the Admin Panel. For more information, follow this link.

ICE

Interactive Connectivity Establishment. A protocol for communication between two devices to collect information describing the optimal communication path between nodes. The information is carried in objects called ICA candidate and contains data about IP addresses, routing protocols, TURN usage, supported data formats, etc.

ID

Identifier. A unique set of characters that allows you to clearly identify a chat, user, call, conference, etc. It is found in the Admin Panel. For more information, follow this link.

Identification

The process of establishing the user's identity, i.e. obtaining their identifier, such as login, email, phone number, etc. Identification is the first step of authentication, since without it the system does not know who it is dealing with.

IDP

Identity Provider. A system component that provides authentication of users and apps in the system. Allows you to use single sign-on (SSO) to access other websites without entering a password. Using an Identity Provider also enhances security by reducing the potential for attack.

Interface

A method of interaction between physical devices and software components with each other and with humans.

Internal Contour

Corporate Contour or Internet Zone. A set of software and hardware tools designed to serve users within the organization's corporate network.

IP

Internet Protocol. A set of rules for exchanging data in computer networks. It is a worldwide standard.

Isolation

The state of an ETS, in which this server and its subordinate corporate servers are isolated, that is, disconnected from the cloud — RTS. When ETS is isolated, users of a dedicated custom app cannot interact in any way with users registered in eXpress and other dedicated custom ETS-apps.

JSON

JavaScript Object Notation. JavaScript-based text data interchange format. For example, eXpress's desktop logs have this format.

Keycloak

An open source IDP software that provides OpenID support and a user directory.

Log

A file containing technical information for diagnosing the operation of an app or service. For more information about how to collect this diagnostic information in eXpress, follow this link.

Logout

Logging out of corporate server. Logout is a procedure whereby a user’s personal account on RTS or ETS loses its link with a corporate account on CTS or ECTS. After logging out, the user will be able to log in to another corporate server. For more details, follow this link.

LTE

Long Term Evolution. A standard for wireless high-speed data transmission for mobile devices and data terminals. It is based on GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA network technologies, increasing capacity and speed by using a different radio interface along with an improved network core.

Markdown

A lightweight markup language used to format text documents. It is used in eXpress (partial support) to format the text of the messages. For more details, follow this link. eXpress also supports basic text formatting using keyboard shortcuts or the context menu.

MDM

Mobile Device Management. Mobile device management system, a subsystem of the data management system in an organization.

Mention

This feature allows you to tag someone in a different conversation, group chat, or channel. Users can click on the mention to navigate directly to the tagged person’s profile or the relevant chat. For more details, follow this link.

MIME Type

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions. A standard that describes the transmission of various types of data over the Internet. See MIME types on the developer.mozilla.org website.

Mixed Chat/Channel

Or hybrid chat/channel. A chat or channel that includes public and corporate users.

Mobile Device

A mobile device, usually with Android and iOS operating system. The eXpress app is being developed for the Russian operating system Aurora.

MSI

The file extension of the application installation package of the Windows Installer for the Windows operating system.

NAT

Network Address Translation. A mechanism in TCP/IP networks that allows IP addresses of transit packets to be converted.

Notification

This is a message sent by an application to notify users of various events, actions that have occurred within the app, or other information that may be relevant to them. These notifications appear on the device’s screen and may include sounds, vibrations, or other effects to draw the user’s attention.

NTLM

NT LAN Manager, a network authentication protocol from Microsoft. This is also the name of the authentication method in eXpress, which synchronizes users with Active Directory. For more details, follow this link.

On-Cloud

A software distribution model in which programs are already deployed on a remote server (at the vendor or contractor) or are designed specifically for this purpose. After purchasing, you usually receive not a distribution kit, but access to an already installed solution, which only needs to be configured. The opposite of On-Premise.

On-Premise

A software distribution model in which programs are installed on the customer's hardware. That is, you buy a product and receive a distribution kit for installation on your server. The opposite of On-Cloud.

Open Chat/Channel

Such a chat/channel can be joined through the corporate chat directory by any user registered on the corporate server. For more details, follow this link.

OpenID

An open standard for a decentralized authentication system. In eXpress, there is a corresponding authentication method. For example, it will allow users who do not have an Active Directory account or corporate e-mail to log in to eXpress using a special token. For more details, follow this link.

P2P

Peer-to-peer. The principle of building a network based on equality of participants. Oftentimes, in such a network, there are no dedicated servers, and each node (peer) can be both a client and a server. Unlike the client-server architecture, this organization allows the network to remain operational with any number and any combination of available nodes. All nodes are participants in the network.

PAT

Port Address Translation. Technology of network address translation depending on the recipient's TCP/UDP port. It is a special case of NAT.

Personal Account

Personal profile, external account, public account. Such an account is created when a user registers on RTS (available to user) and ETS (not available to user). For more information, follow this link.

Personal Chat

One-on-one chat. A chat with only two participants in eXpress.

Personal Contact

Your contact from the phone book of the mobile device with the installed app with a user registered in eXpress or in a dedicated custom ETS-app with eXpress functions.

Private Chat/Channel

A group chat or channel created for a limited number of participants. Such chats are not available in the eXpress corporate chat directory. New participants are added to a private chat/channel by its creator or administrators. For more details, follow this link.

Protocol (computer networks)

A set of rules for exchanging data between two network devices.

Push Notifications

A method of delivering information from the supplier to the user. It is used to notify eXpress users of incoming messages, mentions and calls. For more information about mentions, follow this link.

RDP

Remote Desktop Protocol. A protocol for remotely connecting to a computer or server running the Windows operating system from another computer via the Internet. Using this protocol, users can interact with the desktop of a remote computer as if they were physically in front of it. Most often, RDP is used for server administration, technical support for users, and remote work.

Reply

Replying to a message via its context menu or gesture with a quotation-link to it.

Retention

This term changes its meaning depending on the area of application. Data retention determines what data should be stored, where it should be stored, how long it should be stored, and when/how to delete it after the retention period. Retention rate is the ratio of the number of users who continue to use an Internet service (for example, the eXpress app) some time after first using it to the number of people who initially used it. In this sense, the term is understood as the retention product users.

Role Model

The role-based access model in eXpress defines system access permissions based on the role of the access subject. A role is determined by environment attributes (connection types and client types), subject attributes (users assigned to the role), and action attributes (permission configuration settings). By default, all features and data are accessible to everyone, and the rules of the role-based model define restrictions.

Routing

Routing diagram. A special scheme allows you to track how information flows in any chat between users. For more information, follow this link.

RPM

The file extension of the application installation package of the Linux Red Hat family of operating systems.

RTS

Regional Transport Server, or external server, or public server. This is the name of a server that unites and serves users and corporate servers within one region. There are several such servers in several regions, the central RTS is located in Russia. RTS are at the disposal of the eXpress developers. For more details, follow this link.

RTS ID

Regional Transport Server Identifier. It is found in the Admin Panel. For more information, follow this link.

S3

Simple Storage Service. This is the name of a service where large volumes of digital data are stored. It operates under a protocol with the same name.

Server

Software that accepts requests from clients, such as a web server. Or a computer (or special computer equipment) dedicated and/or specialized to perform specific service functions.

Service

Web service. A software system identified by a unique web address (URL) with standardized interfaces.

SIP Telephony

Session Initiation Protocol. This protocol is used for making phone calls and video conferencing.

Smart App

This is the name of a “mini-app”, which is built into eXpress, with additional functionality: HR services, electronic document management, portal, support and many others. For more details, follow this link.

Sprint

This is the name given to a regular, limited period of time during which a team of developers completes a set amount of work within a large project. In the case of eXpress, sprints are two weeks long (there are exceptions, but this is the general interval), and product updates are released at the end of each sprint.

SSL

Secure Sockets Layer. A cryptographic protocol that provides more secure communication. It uses asymmetric cryptography to authenticate exchange keys, symmetric encryption to maintain confidentiality, message authentication codes for message integrity. This protocol is used in client-server interactions.

SSO

Single Sign-On. A technology that allows a user to move from one section of a Web-portal to another, or from one system to another that is not connected to the first system, without re-authentication (without entering a password).

State

This is a summary of information about the current user, server, app, keys and events from Engineering Menu of the app. For more details, follow this link.

STUN Server/TURN Server

A server that provides voice traffic for client apps when they are behind NAT/PAT.

STUN

Session Traversal Utilities for NAT. A network protocol for discovering an external IP address, used to establish a UDP connection between two hosts when they are both behind a NAT router.

Suggests

Simplified authentication via e-mail. This is a list on the RTS or ETS that maps the email domain to the URL of the corporate server so that users do not have to manually enter the server address during the authentication process. For more details, follow this link.

TCP/IP

Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol. A network model for transmitting data, which is presented in digital form. The model describes the way data is transferred from the information source to the receiver.

Thread

Comments under a message. Thread give an opportunity for any participant to comment on a particular message in a group chat or channel without “cluttering” the main chat or channel with messages, even if they do not have administrator privileges.

TLS

Transport Layer Security. A transport-level security protocol.

Token

A token is a sequence of characters that allows you to accurately identify an object/user and their privilege level.
The access token in eXpress is encrypted with a public key and transmitted to the server. From there, it is passed to the client app, which decrypts it with the private key. The token is not stored on the server in unencrypted form.

Trust

Trusted connection between servers. A pair of servers that have such a relationship are called trusted servers.

TURN

Traversal Using Relay (around) NAT. A protocol for receiving incoming data over TCP or UDP connections for a host behind a NAT router.

UDID

Unique Device IDentifier. It represents a user session ID.

UDP

User Datagram Protocol. With UDP, computer apps can send messages (in this case called datagrams) to other hosts over an IP network without having to first communicate to establish special transmission channels or data paths.

UI Alert

An alert in the user interface. In eXpress, this is the name of a feature that provides a notification about a necessary application update to the user, usually taking up the entire screen of the application. The notification can be a blocking one (there is only one button, and the user is not given a choice) or a non-blocking one (in addition to the main button, there is an option to close/minimize/remind later).

User Status

The current status of the user, generated based on his activity in the app (online, in a call, etc.).

VDI

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure. A software tool for centralized creation and management of virtual desktops. Virtual desktops are software apps that simulate real desktop computers. VDI technology creates a virtual desktop on a server, and remote users connect to this desktop from any physical computer over the Internet using special client apps.

Vendor

Service or product provider. In the case of eXpress, its vendor is the Unlimited Production development team.

Videoconferencing

Technology for interactive communication between three or more participants exchanging audio and video (eXpress has conferences for this purpose).

VoIP

Voice over IP. IP telephony.

VPN

Virtual Private Network. Configurable for additional protection of data transmission.

WAF

Web application firewall. A set of software monitors and filters designed to detect and block network attacks on a web app. If your organization uses WAF, eXpress requires WAF configuration by your system administrator to function correctly.

WebSocket

A communication protocol over a TCP connection designed for two-way message exchange between a browser/web app and a web server using a persistent connection.