June 22, 2004

By Melanie Turek, Principal Research Analyst, Nemertes Research, Melanie@nemertes.com

Recent news from two consumer IM vendors are the first signs of consolidation to come: Yesterday America Online (Nasdaq: TWX) dropped AIM Enterprise Gateway, the software that let businesses add security and management capabilities to the AIM instant messaging client. Yahoo has also stopped offering its enterprise IM client, Business Messenger. These moves highlight the trend towards focused enterprise solutions, and throw a spotlight on the continued need for security and interoperability among IM products.

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