IM Clients, Platforms, and Services
Digsby Merges IM, Social Networking and E-mail
This past week dotSyntax announced
Digsby, an IM client that allows users to log
into an existing AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Google Talk or Jabber account and then
merge everything into one buddy list. Duplicate contacts from different IM
networks are merged, and Digsby also lets users send SMS messages from IM windows,
change status, log conversations and more.
Users can also add their existing POP or Web-based mail accounts (such as
Hotmail or Gmail) and receive notifications when new e-mail arrives. Users can add social
network accounts, such as Facebook or MySpace and receive alerts for new friend requests, messages, group invites and other feeds. The application is currently in private beta and accepting beta tester applications at the Digsby Web site.
Poynt Search on AIM
Multiplied Media Corp. launched Poynt,
a multimedia local search service, on the AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)
network. Multiplied Media collaborated with Idearc Media
Corp., publisher of the Verizon Yellow Pages, to deliver Superpages.com's full
directory of local U.S. business listings over IM. AIM users can access Poynt to help them find local business information for products and services. AIM users can access the service by adding the screen name 'Poynt' to their buddy lists and interacting with it as they would other IM contacts.
Google Apps Team Edition
Google has recently announced
Google Apps Team Edition, a set of collaboration tools for creating and sharing documents, spreadsheets and presentations, and Google Calendar. Google Talk is an integral part of the Team Edition package. When using Google Talk with Google Apps Team Edition, the contacts list will automatically include the other people in the organization using Google Apps Team Edition. Google says that since Team Edition is designed to
recognize connections to co-workers, it's easier to collaborate online. Google Apps Team Edition can be accessed online with an e-mail address from an employer or school organization.
Web & Mobile IM News and Trends
Movius Mobile IM for SMS Subscribers
Movius Interactive has just
announced Mobile Instant Messaging through a strategic partnership with
Colibria, a provider of mobile IM (MIM) and presence-enabled
solutions. Movius Mobile IM is a presence-based messaging and social networking
service that supports features such as contact list management, user presence,
multi-participant chats and more. The new Movius brand and solutions will be
featured at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona (February 11 - 14, 2008). The new
partnership with Colibria is designed to enable Movius customers to upgrade current SMS
subscribers to a better, more interactive experience.
IM News & Trends Watch Archives:
NeuStar Adds Live Tab Feature
NeuStar recently partnered
with Mobinex to deliver live data services
over NeuStar's mobile IM applications. The solution,
which is to be demonstrated at the Mobile World Congress, will let users
access data services while in an IM conversation through a one-click access
button called "Live Tab." Using Live Tab, users will be able to select from a
range of services including downloads, ringtones, news and mobile TV without leaving
their IM sessions.
NeuStar said the partnership creates a solution that's expected to help
mobile operators in promoting new data services, as well as increase average
revenue per user (ARPU), and provide a richer mobile experience.
Fring gets Updated
Fring a mobile Internet service &
community has updated to Version 3.30.6. This version fixes some
previous Wi-Fi connectivity issues. In version 3.3 Fring also added support for
IM capabilities for both Yahoo and AIM services. Fring is a free
mobile phone application that lets anyone with a compatible handset to talk,
chat, and interact with other Fring users from their mobile phones.
OZ Brings Live Messenger to Handhelds
OZ Communications, the well-known Canadian
mobile messaging solution provider, launched its new solution for the TDC
A/S mobile network that will let millions of subscribers more easily access the
Windows Live Messenger IM service on their mobile devices. This service launch
marks the largest Windows Live IM deployment in Europe.
IM Security & Archiving
Akonix L7 Enterprise v7.0 Announced
Akonix Systems launched Akonix L7
Enterprise v7.0, a unified policy management platform that monitors, applies and
enforces policy and actions for the corporate unified communications
applications, including public and enterprise IM. The suite
includes modules for setting policy on employee use of public IM, such as AOL
Instant Messenger, Google Talk, Microsoft Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo!
Messenger, and also for enterprise IM (IBM Lotus Sametime, Jabber XCP and
Microsoft Office Communications Server). New modules in Akonix L7 Enterprise
v7.0 offer support for online conferencing, VoIP and server-based faxing also.
The company says it expects to make conferencing and VoIP features for IBM Lotus Sametime 8
available in early 2008.
A new vulnerability in Ipswitch Instant
Messaging has been discovered
by Luigi Auriemma. This vulnerability can be exploited by malicious people
to cause a DoS (Denial of Service) attack. It's caused by an error in the
IMServer service and can be exploited to crash the service via a specially
crafted packet sent to default port 5177/TCP. The vulnerability is confirmed in
version 2.08 and is also reported to affect the IM clients. Other versions may
also be affected.
Research Says ...
Ipswitch Says Organizations Lack IM Policy
In a recent survey covering the issue surrounding managing an organization's
e-mail and messaging solutions, Ipswitch says that the survey results show that 36.4 percent of those polled have no policy on the use of public IM messengers at work, while 31.8 percent permit IM for personal use at work. Only 27.9 percent of organizations surveyed say they do not allow public IM messengers on their corporate networks. In the area of archiving and filtering security more than half (56.5%) of IT directors responding said they did not enforce IM compliance policies. Only 18.7 percent conduct regular audits and only 26.5 percent filter messages that violate policies on the server.
Have an interesting bit of Instant Messaging news or event information
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