If users are going to have you webpage open in a tab anyway, I might suggest you take a look at Yip. http://abcdefu.wordpress.com/2009/06/09/introducing-yip-an

If users are going to have you webpage open in a tab anyway, I might suggest you take a look at Yip. http://abcdefu.wordpress.com/2009/06/09/introducing-yip-an-unified-notification-system-for-the-web/ http://abcdefu.wordpress.com/2009/06/09/introducing-yip-an-u... Rather than requiring a dedicated plugin, Yip uses the methods already in place for sending updates via Fluid or Prism. If you want it to live entirely in the browser's chrome, you may need to do a full extension. I can't speak to the resources needed- It depends on how heavy your backend is.. But if you have 1000 users all updating once few seconds, a single nginx box very well could cover your needs. Serving static html takes substantially fewer resources than people suspect.