Exchange 2000 Includes Instant Messaging Capability

Instant Messaging (IM) is hot with home users, but are businesses and governments ready to add it to their communications infrastructure? Microsoft thinks so and, for the first time, has added IM into its Exchange product line. Instant Messaging gives users a chat-like way of communicating with short, text-based messages over intranets or the Internet, but it provides more privacy and lets senders know if their intended recipients are available. If organizations need to exchange brief, time-critical messages, such as alerts and notifications, among their members, Exchange 2000’s new IM feature may be of interest and points to some intriguing future capabilities.

Corporate Uses for Instant Messaging

Instant Messaging is a hybrid electronic collaboration method that has some characteristics of e-mail and some characteristics of online chat systems. Like chat, it allows participants to send short, ephemeral text messages to each other. It is called “instant” because the recipient will always receive a message within a few seconds of its being sent—in fact, the message cannot be sent unless it can be immediately delivered to the recipient. IM incorporates a system that allows senders to determine the “presence” state of the recipients. When a user has her IM client running and logged in to the IM server, the IM server can tell potential senders that she is “online” and ready to receive messages. The accompanying chart “Instant Messaging Compared to Chat and E-Mail” highlights the similarities and differences between the three technologies.