The company has previously testing, in the last round of which participated Mattermost., Matrix with a client Riot, Rocket.Chat ΠΈ Slack. The remaining options were discarded due to the complexity or impossibility of integrating with Mozilla Single Sign On (IAM). As a result, Matrix was chosen and hosting from the protocol developer (New Vector) - Structure.
The departure from IRC is due to the lack of the necessary functionality and development of the protocol, unfriendly for newcomers.
Matrix is ββa free protocol for implementing a federated messaging network that can be used for many things that require an HTTP REST API and a distributed base of line events. The vast majority of implementations are chat, but it is also possible blog or internet of things server (IoT).
Riot is a Matrix client that provides a Slack-like interface and all the functionality a modern messenger needs: end-to-end encryption, permanent history and search, moderation and spam prevention tools, group and single video/audio calls (VoIP).
Source: linux.org.ru