[northwestengland.pm] IRC Server Software

[Smylers]

Hi.  I'm looking at setting up an IRC server for use by a work dev team
that's split across multiple locations.  Anybody got any wisdom to share
about which software to use or how to do this (both the technical and
social aspects)?

Obviously this needs to be restricted to staff, so we'd either need some
authentication (Ldap integration?) or to run it internally and require
VPN for remote access.

Or maybe we should be using something else instead of IRC?

All suggestions and tips gratefully received.  Thanks.

Smylers

PS:  Is there anybody on the Leeds list who hasn't transferred
themselves to the NW England list?  If not, I'll stop cross-posting.