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By Jim Hu, 6 March 2003 14:14

NEWS Microsoft plans to launch a trial version of its instant messaging software for businesses today, upping the ante in the battle for supremacy over one of the world's fastest growing communications technologies. Dubbed Greenwich, Microsoft's new server software allows businesses to support secure instant messaging on a network. In addition, it offers a bridge to Microsoft's popular consumer MSN Messenger IM network, giving it a possible head-start on rivals lining up to court business customers with instant messaging products and services. "IM is a very hot subject right now among corporate users trying to tame this technology that has found its way into IT environments without, necessarily, IT approval," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Jupiter Research. Millions of people have signed up for IM services, which allow people to create lists of online "buddies" with whom they can trade short text messages. Unlike email, IM allows users to see when their "buddies" are available to chat, and allows rapid fire exchanges similar to conversations. The services have proven popular both at home and at work, where they have proliferated despite a lack of security features and other corporate safeguards. Greenwich offers the latest example of the sudden transformation of instant messaging from a grassroots phenomenon into a serious corporate communications tool - an evolution that blindsided the three biggest IM providers in the consumer market: America Online, Yahoo! and Microsoft. All three have been prepping their popular consumer IM products with new features such as security and authentication to compete with rivals that were quicker to court business customers. But some significant hang-ups continue to stall widespread adoption in the workplace, including a lack of interoperability between the three leading IM networks. With its heavy presence in both the consumer and corporate markets, Microsoft holds some unique advantages that could help it bridge the gap between the two. Millions of people already use Microsoft's MSN Messenger client to trade text messages on PCs - an installed base that could ultimately help the company sell its server software. Microsoft has successfully used this formula in the past to extend the reach of its products, such as its web browser and media player. Still, the Greenwich beta has some kinks that could hamper its advance into the corporate market, at least for now. Greenwich does not directly support its web-based IM client, MSN Messenger, running a separate IM client called Windows Messenger instead. To interoperate with MSN Messenger, Greenwich users need to sign a licence with MSN. Once licensed, third-party provider IMLogic - not Microsoft - provides the software that lets the two services communicate. Gurdeep Singh Pall, general manager of Microsoft's real-time collaboration unit, said a simpler path to interoperability was on the agenda. But he did not elaborate on the reasons why the two services, both run by Microsoft, cannot talk without a third-party intermediary. "In the longer term we do see the Greenwich server federate directly with the MSN service," said Singh Pall. "That is on our road map and we're working on that." Greenwich is expected to launch officially in the "middle of this year", according to a company representative. Although Microsoft was originally planning to integrate Greenwich into Windows .Net Server 2003, Singh Pall said the company may sell it individually, although no decisions have been made yet. The beta version of the software will include real-time communication features beyond instant messaging, such as presence and multi-party collaboration. The software will also include multimedia functions such as PC-to-PC voice and video transmission. Microsoft joins a list of technology's biggest names that have signalled their intent to compete for the corporate IM market, including AOL Time Warner's America Online unit, Yahoo!, IBM's Lotus division, Sun Microsystems and Oracle. A host of smaller players such as IMLogic, FaceTime, Bantu and Jabber are partnering approaching this market as partners and burgeoning players in the market. All of these companies are responding to heightened demand by corporate information systems departments for control over the growing number of IM clients running on their networks. IM has taken off in the enterprise, according to analysts, and has become a popular way for workers to communicate and multitask. In 2002, 84 per cent of enterprises surveyed had IM software running on their network, according to research firm Osterman Research. This year, that percentage is expected to rise to 91 per cent, and nearly 100 per cent in 2007, the study predicted. Jim Hu writes for News.com