Patent ID: 7730135

Claim:
An Instant Messaging (IM) communication system, comprising: an IM server in a communication center, the IM server connected to a public data-packet-network and to a private data-packet-network, the private data-packet-network further 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 service protocols; wherein the IM server receives IM messages from two or more external IM servers using at least two different IM service protocols via the public data-packet-network, the IM messages representing desired communication between specific clients of the external IM servers and agents of the communication center, consults the communication center routing rules, IM service protocol capabilities and the stored agent data to select available agents with the needed IM service protocols, and establishes IM communication between the specific clients and the selected agents via the private data-packet-network.