Parlano, a vendor of discussion software, has agreed to be acquired by Microsoft. Parlano's MindAlign software hosts discussion boards that use instant messaging (IM), user presence, and sophisticated filtering to route time-critical information to users. The acquisition will expand the capabilities of Microsoft's Communications Server and could promote maintenance agreement renewals on that product.

MindAlign supports a form of collaboration that Parlano calls persistent group chat. A set of continuously updated discussion boards (called channels) are organized by topic, and subscribers can receive real-time notifications of new messages and use filtering rules to eliminate messages that aren't of interest. MindAlign integrates with Communications Server if it is available: for example, users can employ Communications Server buddy lists with MindAlign, see presence information of other users, and send and receive one-to-one instant messages within MindAlign. The product also supports connectivity to the MSN, AOL, and Yahoo public IM networks. MindAlign has major customers in the financial industry, including a 35,000 user deployment at UBS, where it has been used to distribute price and other market information to traders.

MindAlign will now become a Microsoft product and will be offered free of charge to Communications Server customers who have Software Assurance (SA) coverage on the Communications Server Standard Client Access License (CAL). This arrangement will help prop up SA renewal rates for the product, which just received a major release and so might be less attractive for renewals in the near term. MindAlign has unique features, but also overlaps with SharePoint Server and Groove, both of which support ongoing dialog boxes integrated with notifications, instant messaging, and presence. Consequently, it's not clear how long MindAlign will remain a freestanding product.

Parlano, a Chicago-based privately held firm with Longworth Venture Partners and Oak Investment Partners as major backers, agreed to be acquired on undisclosed financial terms. Microsoft hopes that Parlano employees will join the company's Unified Communications Group in Redmond, WA, but did not announce any specific commitments by Parlano management.

Parlano's Web site is www.parlano.com.