It's Not Your Kids' Instant Messaging

For a decade and a half, IBM and Microsoft have waged an epic battle for control of enterprise email. That battle is now spilling over into instant communications, such as instant messaging (IM) and Web conferencing. IM is no longer just a way for kids to communicate — it is rapidly becoming an invaluable business tool. As enterprise architects (EAs) struggle to make IM reliable, secure, and auditable, they should focus not on point solutions but on a larger strategy for unified communications (UC) and real-time enablement of business applications and processes. While telecom and audio and video conferencing providers will all vie for a piece of the pie, IBM and Microsoft have laid out their visions and made a compelling case for why IM is within the domain of software infrastructure vendors. One thing is for sure: The convergence of collaboration and communication will drive down costs and drive up efficiencies as IM technology moves us closer to information workplaces.