Secure Instant Messaging

‘Mobile email and instant messaging (IM) will be the main drivers for growth in the mobile industry this year, according to Mike Short, vice president of O2 and chairman of the Mobile Data Association.

Short told vnunet.com that two key events are helping growth: the introduction of mobile IM with full operator interactivity; and the expansion in mobile email for businesses and consumers.’

Read more at Mobile email and IM key drivers for 2006

‘European and Asian mobile phone operators, in a bold but risky move to bolster sales of data services, announced a plan Monday to introduce worldwide “instant messaging” via cellphone.’

Read more at Messaging to leap via cellphones

‘Skype has released Skype for Pocket PC 2.0, a new software version for Pocket PC devices that offers Skype callers the ability to place Skype voice calls anywhere their device can connect to a high speed Internet connection, via Wi-Fi and 3G networks.

“Skype for Pocket PC 2.0 delivers greater flexibility for callers who want to make free calls or chat without the need for a desktop PC,” said Niklas Zennstrom, Skype CEO and co-founder. “Together with our efforts to incorporate Skype into mobile phones, this next generation version of Skype for Pocket PC devices extends the reach of our popular software to an even broader market segment.” ‘

Read more at Skype Introduces Next Generation Mobile Application for Pocket PC

‘Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on Feb. 14 affirmed his commitment to wireless computing with the announcement of several new products and initiatives, including a mobile version of the company’s corporate instant messaging system and a new service that streams live TV to cell phones.

“We’ve spent the last 10 or 15 years really building out the infrastructure,” Ballmer said in a keynote speech at the 3GSM World Congress, a giant wireless industry trade show in Barcelona. “But it’s really the mobile device that completes this picture.”‘

Read more at Microsoft Instant Messaging Goes Mobile

{MSN Messenger, Mobile Instant Messaging}

3GSM World Congress, Barcelona. Orange Group and Vodafone Group (“the companies”) today announced they are finalising an agreement to be the first multi-national mobile operators to launch Instant Messaging interoperability, with the intention to link Instant Messaging communities using the familiar “calling party pays” principle.

Working under the open standard interoperability principles, established by the GSM Association, Orange and Vodafone customers will be able to send and receive Instant Messages to friends and family seamlessly across each others’ mobile networks.

{Mobile Instant Messaging}

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‘Instant messaging has taken off as a popular method for people to use to “talk” in real time via the computer. From its origins as Internet Relay Chat and then the advent of ICQ and AOL Instant Messenger, instant messaging, or IM, has taken the world by storm.

It didn’t take long for users to bring their new communications tool into the workplace. Initially, it was purely for nonproductive purposes, used primarily to chat with friends and family when users were supposed to be working. But eventually it caught on as a fast and efficient means of communicating with co-workers, customers, vendors, and others. ‘

Read more at Manage & Secure Instant Messaging

{Secure Instant Messaging}

‘Some of the biggest mobile phone networks have joined forces to push instant messaging (IM) over mobiles.

Fifteen operators, including Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile and China Mobile have agreed to work together to make it easy to IM across networks.

The motivation to get IM working on mobiles is driven by its huge success on the net. By getting people using IM on a mobile instead of a PC, the operators believe they can start to generate decent amounts of money for data services.’

Read more at Mobile push for instant messaging

{Instant Messenger News}

B Labs company, a provider of proven solutions for Instant Messaging and network communications, announces the latest software versions of Bopup products, designed to build an effective instant messaging system over corporate networks.

Qualifying Standards

Today the software market of instant messaging systems includes a many solutions. If to take a brief review of those systems, considering qualifying standards and specificity of local corporate networks, it is possible to divide all offered solutions into Client/Server and Client/Client (i.e. peer-to-peer, without any ability to use of a central server) systems.

Often there is a choice of solution in the face of organization, but at the same time let’s note some requirements which should be included to the instant messaging systems that are focused on the corporate market:

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‘The world of Instant Messaging (IM) was once the preserve of teenagers who wanted to chat with friends. However, you could only chat with friends using the same IM service provider. But in 2004, Microsoft announced that its enterprise IM platform, Live Communication Server, would link to public services such as America Online (AOL) and Yahoo. Now at Lotusphere 2006 in Orlando, Florida, (22-26 January), IBM announced that Sametime (IBM’s real time collaboration platform) has agreements with AOL and Yahoo, which will mean that Sametime 7.5 users can chat with users of these popular IM service providers. IBM also announced that it is in discussions to extend this interoperability to Google Talk and Apple Computer’s ichat, but strangely no mention of Microsoft’s MSN or Live Communication Server.

However, before making the leap to IM using a mixture of public services and enterprise IM platforms, IT departments should be aware of the following issues with public IM services.’

Read more at Is Instant Messaging becoming mainstream for business users?

‘A new sportsbetting website looks set to revolutionise the way players bet online by incorporating an Instant Messenger tool that allows sports fans instant communication with each other, as well as real-time access to news, odds, statistics, and match reports.

Sport-IM.com launched their new service with the promise that sports gamblers will have the chance to import their “Buddy Lists” from other messaging platforms like AOL, ICQ, MSN and Yahoo!, which will in-turn allow users to exchange tips and information, as well as giving advertisers the chance to raise awareness of their offers to gamblers that would normally miss out.’

Read more at Instant Messaging added to Sportsbetting Service

{Instant Messenger News}