Patent ID: 7401158

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, by a message center, a transmission from an event engine responsive to a particular event occurring in a computing runtime environment of an enterprise, the transmission containing data synchronized in real-time to data in the computing runtime environment that has changed as a result of the particular event; determining by a presence component of the message center whether a first user is logged off, or is logged onto a proprietary instant messaging (IM) server of the enterprise via an intranet and is logged onto a third party IM server via the Internet; executing an algorithm to determine a first optimum transmission path for a message to be sent to the first user, the message including the data changed as a result of the particular event, the first optimum transmission path being one among a plurality of transmission paths that includes a first path through the proprietary IM server, a second path through the third party IM server, and a third path via a mail server; immediately transmitting the message to the first user via the first optimum transmission path; determining by a presence component of a message center whether a second user is logged off, or is logged onto the proprietary IM server of the enterprise and is logged onto the third party IM server via the Internet; determining a second optimum transmission path for the message to be sent to the second user; and immediately transmitting the message to the second user via the second optimum transmission path.