America Online plans to test for the first time a business version of its AOL Instant Messenger software with another instant messaging program. The test, which the companies are expected to formally announce on Monday, involves Enterprise AIM and IBM's Lotus Sametime. It is designed to let companies use Enterprise AIM with embedded software that allows them monitor and control its use among employees. Until now, only the Sametime service has offered instant messaging management of this kind. The test will occur on Sametime Connect, a dual-headed client that lets people communicate with their Sametime buddies and their AIM buddies separately.
"What we're doing is taking the AIM gateway server side by side" with Sametime, said Bruce Stewart, AOL's senior vice president of strategic business solutions. "In the same way you can manage Sametime users, you can manage AIM users."
The test marks another step in AOL's attempt to sell a secure version of AIM to corporations. The company in November unveiled its Enterprise AIM Service suite of software products, targeting companies that want to use instant messaging with security and monitoring features. For corporations, instant messaging products have become an unexpected--and unfettered--means of communication. Businesses have raised concerns about instant messaging services that operate without the same level of security and monitoring provided by e-mail. Because of this, AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo have all taken steps this year to launch instant messaging products designed for businesses
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News source: c|net
