Patent ID: 7673001

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving a connection request at dispatch server of a publicly-accessible (public) instant message service enabling public instant message communications between two or more users, wherein the connection request represents a request submitted by a user through an instant message client application; determining whether the connection request is being received via an instant message gateway server; in an event that connection request is being received from an instant messaging gateway, issuing an authentication challenge to authenticate an identity of the instant messaging gateway server from which the connection request is submitted; in an event that the connection request is not being received from an instant message gateway server, determining whether the connection request is from a user associated with a domain identified in a instant message connect domain store of said publicly-accessible instant message service, wherein said instant message connect domain store stores domain names that identify domains for which instant message service connection requests are to be redirected; and in an event that the connection request is from a user associated with a domain identified in the instant message connect domain store, issuing a transfer command to the instant message client application, wherein the transfer command identifies an enterprise instant message gateway server to which the connection request is redirected and through which the user's instant message communications are managed.