America Online and WebEx Communications are evaluating ways to adapt some of the online meeting services they currently offer to business users of AOL"s AIM instant messaging network to make these services appealing to other AIM consumers. Some of the services AOL and WebEx are considering adapting include online presentations, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) communications, and multiparty video conferencing, an AOL executive said.
AOL plans to begin testing some of these options next week, with an eye on having a more definitive plan early next year and possibly some concrete AIM/WebEx services for consumers at some point during the first quarter, said Brian Curry, senior director of AIM Network Services at AOL. "We"re looking at the WebEx (services) we have on the business side and how they might be used on the consumer side," Curry said. "We"re going to run some user testing next week, looking at ways of bringing those kinds of functions into more of the consumer use paradigms that are out there."