When you want to send an instant message to someone else that’s on the same local network as you are, whether that be another family member or a co-worker in your office, why use an offsite chat server that leaves your messages open to interception by the company running the chat server or some other third party? This software will allow you to keep your local IM’s in your local network, and for added safety it also encrypts them! Plus, it supports multiple operating systems, unlike the proprietary chat client that might have come with your computer. It’s NOT for chatting with people elsewhere on the internet; if you need to set up secure connections with offsite chat clients then you may need to set up a private Prosody IM server. But for secure IM chats with people on your local network, this looks like just the thing!

What is BeeBEEP?

BeeBEEP is an open source, peer to peer, lan messenger developed by Marco Mastroddi. You can talk and share files with all the people inside your local area network such of an office, home or internet cafe. You don’t need a server, just download, unzip and start it. Simple, fast and secure.

Main Features:

Free: BeeBEEP is free and always will be.

Multiple OS: there are releases for Windows, MacOSX, Linux, OS/2 and eComStation.

Easy to use: BeeBEEP is a serverless application. Download, unzip and start.

Secure: encryption based on Rijndael Algorithm (AES).

Instant Messaging: chat with all people connected, group or single user.

Groups: create your favorite group of people.

P2P: send or share your files and folders (also by drag and drop).

Offline messages: messages will be delivered to offline users when they will be online.

Message History: all messages can be saved.

Source: BeeBEEP (Secure Lan Messenger)