Abstract
Instant Messaging
(IM) is one of the fastest growing segments of the Internet. It has become
the most popular communication choice among millions of people worldwide
for communicating with family, friends and business associates.
Just like its predecessor, email, Enterprise Instant
Messaging furthers the efficiency and effectiveness of business communications.
The key benefit of IM is presence, which allows users to know immediately
whether a person is available and lets them send a live message instantly.
This capacity significantly increases personal productivity and reduces
costs because people are able to communicate rapidly at the precise moment
when they need to make the contact.
With over 85 million workplace users, increasing by an
estimated 35% a year, Instant Messaging has found its place as a valuable
communication tool in the business world. Gartner IM Trends states in
its research, “90% of businesses will use Enterprise IM by 2005“.
mTalk Messenger is a "Unified Instant Messenger"
for Palm OS devices which lets users communicate with one another instantly
and seamlessly across major instant messaging service networks including
AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, mTalk-Server and Jabber all in a secure way using
industry standard encryption technologies like Blowfish, AES, etc.
The aforesaid studies and statistics underscore the validity
that IM is becoming an integral essential in how people do business today.
As increased levels of business are conducted over IM, corporations are
recognizing the authentic influence and value of integrating IM with their
business applications - Enterprise Instant Messaging. IM is not merely
a trend, but a changing face of communication technology.
Despite technology’s significant advantages, it
does however, have its limitations. The primary disadvantage is the lack
of interoperability between IM service providers, which drastically limits
how people communicate with one another through instant messaging applications.
For instance, only users who are on the same network
can chat with each other on that particular network. In other words, a
Yahoo!® user can only chat with another Yahoo!® user but not to
the AOL® user, creating segregated groups of users across the Internet.
With wireless technologies and various mobile devices, this communications
gap widens daily.
Lack of security on the device itself and in communication
channels are areas of user concern. While some popular IM applications
were successful in getting the communication channel right and setting
up the needed infrastructure for effective communication, they failed
in the area of security. This constraint prevents users from discussing
confidential information over the wide-open Internet, which presents many
opportunities for hackers to malign confidential communications.
Power of Instant Messaging
IM and presence detection technology is revolutionizing
the way in which we communicate by a factor equal to or greater than e-mail.
Most communications within an enterprise today are time-delayed: You send
an e-mail and wait for a reply, leave a phone message and wait for a return
call, or submit a document for review and wait indefinitely for feedback.
Enterprise IM is an original communications medium for
doing business in real-time. It enhances customer relationships and develops
a speedy communications cycle with business partners and customers/clients,
improving them dramatically. The perfect complement for e-mail, Enterprise
IM allows people to quickly exchange vital information with other employees,
partners and customers. Its presence concept means quicker responses in
most cases because the sender knows at the time of sending a message that
the other person is available online, thus reducing telephone and email
by allowing simulated face-to-face communications.
With Enterprise Instant Messaging, companies can share
time-sensitive information with their customers and process transactions
in real time while also monitoring customer communications and maintaining
control of their corporate identity.
IM is the perfect communications medium for fast-paced
industries in which immediacy is an essential component in doing business.
Its practical use builds relationships, offers efficient real-time interaction,
convenience and speed of service throughout the customer/client lifecycle.
The Solution:
We understand the technology and business side of the
Instant Messaging (Enterprise Instant Messaging) industry and offer this
solution to users for communicating effectively between IM networks without
compromising the most vital component of the communication channel, which
is its security.
mTalk® Messenger (Enterprise Edition) encrypts
information transmitted between the users to avoid its vulnerability to
tampering as it is passed over the Internet. In addition to its security,
mTalk® Messenger is solid and has a modular architecture that offers
reliability and scalability to online users. The application is highly
adaptable to suit your specific needs and delivers high performance in
of its valued features. Since mTalk provides an extra layer of abstraction
between the user and the IM networks, failures in any of the individual
networks will not prohibit the user from accessing the features present
in other networks. Failure in any of the individual networks is handled
in an unobtrusive manner without annoying the user with unwanted messages.
mTalk-Server talks in SSL with servers that are capable
of securing the channel using sophisticated algorithms. In the enterprise
environment, mTalk server sits on the company’s network and is
firewall friendly. All the messages between the mTalk and the handheld
are encrypted with AES or industry standard Blowfish 128-bit private key,
which is dynamically exchanged on a timely basis.
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