Patent ID: 7392540

Claim:
A system for securely exchanging information between systems comprising: a requesting system coupled to the Internet from which a user requests assistance from a support representative wherein said user utilizes a Web browser client to request said assistance; a support representative system coupled to the Internet from which a support representative responds to the requesting user to provide assistance; and a collaboration server system coupled to the Internet and accessible to both said requesting system and said support representative system for receiving a request from the user for assistance and for processing said request for assistance wherein said collaboration server system includes: a rendezvous service, responsive to receipt of said request for assistance from the user, to initiate communications between the user and the support representative over the Internet between said requesting system and said support representative system in presence of firewall protection in said requesting system and in said support representative system; and an interaction service for managing continued interaction between said support representative system and said requesting system in presence of firewall protection in said requesting system and in said support representative system, wherein said requesting system includes a support proxy for receiving from said interaction service a response to said request for assistance and said response includes an operational module that obtains information about the requesting system of the user and transmits the information back to the collaboration server.