Patent ID: 7299259

Claim:
An Instant Messaging (IM) Communication system, comprising: two or more proprietary IM servers in a data-packet-network, each providing a different IM service and protocol to specific clients; an IM server in a communication center, the IM server connected to the data-packet-network and to a Local Area Network (LAN), the LAN connecting computerized workstations used by agents of the communication center; a set of routing rules for the communication center; and stored agent data for the communication center, the data including agent availability and IM capability relative to one or more IM protocols; wherein the IM server in the communication center receives IM messages from the two or more IM servers in the data-packet-network the IM messages representing desired communication between the specific clients of the IM servers in the data-packet-network and an agent of the communication center, consults the communication center routing rules, IM protocol capabilities and the stored agent data to determine an available agent with the needed IM protocol capability, and establishes IM communication between the specific clients and the agent determined to be available and to have the needed IM protocol capability.