Voiceglo has released a test version of an application
designed to create interoperability between four major instant
message networks.
The application, called GloConnect, lets users exchange text and
voice instant messages across AOL's AIM and ICQ, Microsoft's MSN
Messenger and Yahoo's Yahoo Messenger.
The caveat is that the program works through the web browser
interfaces of those four networks, so users can't take advantage of
the interoperability if they are using the companies' proprietary
PC software, which is the primary way most users access the instant
message networks.
"If they can pull off seamlessness, it could be a very useful
tool, because one of the key problems in the instant message market
is the lack of interoperability between these systems," said
Michael Osterman, president of analysis company Osterman
Research.
Osterman added that GloConnect was bound to find itself with
competitors soon, simply because demand for interoperability among
instant message networks was growing rapidly. "With the
interoperability issue, you're going to see more of these kinds of
solutions. As people use instant messaging more, they expect it to
be like e-mail, where it doesn't matter which system you're on
- you just communicate seamlessly across different systems."
GloConnect, which also lets users make and receive phone calls
from their web-based instant messaging interface, can be downloaded
for free at
http://www.gloconnect.com.
Brian Fowler, chief technology officer of Voiceglo and its
parent TheGlobe.com, said GloConnect united the four networks
through a network overlay technology. "We operate agnostic to the
different instant messaging protocols," he said.
Fowler was confident that AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo would not
challenge GloConnect legally because it simply enhances a user's
instant message application without logging into or connecting to
the user's instant message network. Trying to link the instant
message networks through their proprietary PC software would have
raised a host of legal issues.
The issue of instant messaging network interoperability is a
sensitive one, and AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo have been reluctant to
collaborate to allow the type of cross-network communication
Voiceglo claims GloConnect can provide.
Cerulean Studios, for example, makes an application called
Trillian that lets users aggregate instant message contacts into
the Trillian instant message interface, so users don't need an
instant message interface open for each network they are logged
into. But Fowler said GloConnect went beyond simply consolidating
instant message contacts, by allowing, for example, an AIM user to
communicate with a Yahoo Messenger user across network
boundaries.
Voiceglo expects to make money from GloConnect from the
telephony fees and by serving up online ads to GloConnect
users.
Fowler said Voiceglo was now working on modules that would make
more instant message features, such as specific emoticons or file
transfers, available to GloConnect users across instant message
network boundaries.
GloConnect is expected to exit its beta status in early January.
Currently, GloConnect works only with Internet Explorer 4.0 and
later, but the company is working on support for the Firefox and
Opera browsers as well.
Juan Carlos Perez writes for IDG News Service