Companies to watch

Here are a few companies and products to watch in the messaging arena:

• Odigo (http://www.odigo.com) is a U.S. company with Israeli roots that provides an enhanced instant messaging tool also called Odigo (Greek for "guide"). Odigo provides normal instant-messaging capability, but also can let you know who is visiting a particular Web page. It provides people-search capabilities, voice chat, instant-message logs, and interoperability with Yahoo! and AOL Instant Messaging users.

  

• Content Technologies (http://www.contenttechnologies.com/) provides several products designed to improve e-mail and Web security for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol-based mail systems, as well as Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes/Domino. The company also provides products that check the content of encrypted and digitally signed e-mail, as well as a product that scans e-mail attachments for images that include pornography.

• Vypress Auvis (http://www.vypress.com/auvis.asp) is a one-way messaging client that allows a network administrator to broadcast e-mails to users over a LAN or WAN, and can receive messages from a variety of services, including UNIX SMB clients, WinPopup, NetWare broadcasts, or Vypress' Messenger product. An administrator can customize Auvis in order to prevent closing of the application or modification of the filtration settings, for example.

• DigiScents (http://www.digiscents.com) has developed the capability to digitize smells and transmit them as part of Web content or e-mail. The recipient then can smell the file using a device that synthesizes smells and distributes them from a speaker-sized device attached to his or her computer. While this may seem a bit quirky in the context of business messaging, it may actually have some practical applications, particular for companies in the food, cosmetics and florist industries.

Michael D. Osterman is the principal of Osterman Research, a market research firm that helps organizations understand the markets for messaging, directory and related products and services. He can be reached by clicking here.

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