Microsoft plans to integrate the technology into its NT 5.0 operating system and Exchange server when they are released late this year or in 1999. David Shulman, Microsoft's product unit manager for Exchange and real-time collaboration, said Microsoft will likely enhance its products in phases. In addition to the server side, the company is also looking at how to integrate the Flash technology with its Outlook client and through browser-based software, he said. We're not like AOL Companies selling instant messaging for corporate users say that their products are nothing like the offerings from companies such as America Online Inc., which provides an instant-messaging service. Indeed, the perception of instant messaging as a service is an obstacle.
Network managers remain uncomfortable with accessing a server outside of a firewall.
Although ichat offers an instant-messaging product for consumers as a service, it uses a server that is placed inside the company firewall for its corporate users. In addition, managers don' t like the idea of giving their users' names and addresses out to a service provider, said Dean Cruse, a marketing manager at ichat. Such types of issues have driven corporate-focused messaging companies to concentrate on products that sit behind the corporate firewall. Former Flash CEO Francis de Souza said there was a recognized need in the financial industry for secure instant messaging that sat behind a firewall. Hurdles remain The next step may be figuring out how to secure instant messaging for operation outside of the firewall.