Enterprise Instant Messaging

InfoWorld tests four solutions: Lotus Instant Messaging and Web Conferencing 3.1, Microsoft Live Communications Server 2003, Novell GroupWise Messenger 1.0, and Jabber XCP (Extensible Communications Platform) 2.7. The conclusion: “Lotus IM works well with Notes and Web browsers, and provides smooth transitions from chat to app sharing to whiteboarding. Microsoft truly offers a rich experience, but much of the wealth depends on an all-out adoption of Microsoft products and architectures from top to bottom. Jabber is the king of flexibility and provides an extensible platform, which programmers can use as the basis for almost any sort of message-based enterprise application imaginable. Novells messenger ties nicely into GroupWise, but unless the circumstances require deploying right now, customers who are leaning towards GroupWise Messenger should probably wait for the major upgrade thats right around the corner.”