IM missing interoperability, security
 
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Instant messaging is a logical extension of traditional e-mail and offers a more efficient and less expensive means of sharing information in real time than the telephone or e-mail. However, IM is not as widely deployed as it might have been by this time because of the lack of interoperability standards, concerns over security and scalability, and the potential for abuse of IM in corporate environments.
Interoperability is a key issue that needs to be addressed in IM. The largest IM service is AOL's, which has thus far not permitted its system to interoperate with other services (with some exceptions). But in AOL's defense, the company has stated that its reluctance to let its IM service interoperate with others is based on security concerns. Partly in an attempt to force AOL's IM to become interoperable with other services, IMUnified was formed to create an interoperability standard for IM. Members of IMUnified include Yahoo!, Microsoft's MSN, Odigo, AT&T, Prodigy, Excite@home and Phone.com. Another standards group, the Instant Messaging and Presence Protocol working group of the Internet Engineering Task Force, is working to develop an architecture for user-presence awareness and basic instant messaging capabilities.
Security is a substantially more troubling issue for IM, particularly for mobile users of IM. Not only can the content of instant messages be intercepted, but the approximate location of the sender also can be determined, meaning that an IM system could be used to track a user's whereabouts. While this may seem like a far-fetched use of IM, and while much of this tracking capability may be put to benign use, presence/location detection is a growing concern. Viruses and exploits are also a potential threat from the use of IM.
Some vendors are now offering secure IM systems: Command Code SpyShield, for example, uses PGP encryption for MSN Messenger Service; NetLert provides secure, enterprise-based instant messaging capability; and Jabber.com provides a secure, open-source instant messaging platform that is based on XML; to name just a few vendors.
We will be fielding our monthly mini-survey for July on the subject of instant messaging, particularly with regard to the penetration of instant messaging in large companies and the security issues that these companies face. If you would like to participate in this survey and have at least 500 users in your organization, please drop me a line.
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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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