AOL Bolsters IM With Conference Calls, Web Meetings

Analysts said the paid features represent additional steps toward pushing instant messaging into the business market -- and getting companies to pay for a medium that consumers use free.

Dubbed AIM Business Services, the new features require AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) 5.5 or later to initiate. Users must download a new toolbar for the AIM client, and can then fire up multi-party phone conversations or begin an online collaboration session with video conferencing, application sharing, and whiteboard capabilities.

AOL joined forces with Lightbridge for the audio portion of the new services, and connected with online meeting vendor WebEx for the e-meeting component.

"We're just escalating things that users are already doing with AIM," said Brian Curry, senior director of AIM network services. "People are already using AIM to find out if someone's available for a phone call or collaboration, but we're now tying all the networks together in the back end."

The AIM instant messaging client is used as the invitation mechanism for the new conference calling and Web meeting sessions. Contacts on the AIM "buddy list" can be invited to join a phone-based conference call or a WebEx session with a couple of clicks. No pass codes or dial-in numbers are required, and older versions of AIM as far back as 3.0 can be used by those invited to calls or meetings. AIM 5.5 is, however, required to do the inviting.

AIM Voice Conferencing by Lightbridge -- the nameplate for the audio conference calling feature now enabled in AIM -- costs less than $.02 per minute per participant, paid by the person who initiates the call. The conference calling minutes are sold in blocks of 120 ($20), 300 ($50), and 660 ($100). Through July 23, AOL is doubling any minutes sold.

After receiving an invitation via AIM, users simply enter their phone number, and in a few moments, that phone rings to bring them into the conference. Up to 15 people can conference in simultaneously, said Kevin Thornton, the general manager of Lightbridge, whose GroupTalk technology -- which the Burlington, Mass.-based company also announced Thursday -- powers AIM's voice conferencing.

"During the development of GroupTalk, we saw that there was a need to determine whether a person was actually there and available," said Thornton. "That's where we got the thought of integrating with a presence network like AIM."

A key advantage that an IM client like AIM brings to the table, added Thornton, is that "I can now have an ad hoc call without the whole administrative side channel. It may take me 30 minutes or an hour or even two hours to set up a traditional conference call, but with AIM, I can do it in just minutes."

AIM Web Meetings by WebEx, meanwhile, lets AIM users invite IM buddies to on-the-fly Web meetings and presentations. WebEx supports real-time data, voice, and video; lets users share applications; and offers other popular collaboration tools, such as text chat and whiteboarding.

E-meeting prices top out at $.33 per minute per participant, with weekend rates falling to $.15 per minute. Users who register to use Web Meetings before July 23 get a bonus 500 free minutes.

AOL aims the new services primarily at the small- and mid-sized business markets, said Curry. "They take tools like voice conferencing and online collaboration that people normally get only in a corporate environment and make them available to SMBs and home office users," he said.

Analysts generally reacted favorably to AOL's move to beef up AIM's business acumen.

"Video, collaboration, and conferencing calling are real business issues that saves time and travel," said Genelle Hung, an analyst with The Radicati Group. "I see this as AOL backing away from its full-out managed public IM service that it's been pitching businesses -- AOL's been getting lots of questions from customers as to why they should pay for something that's free -- but these new services are very cool."

It makes sense, she added, that AOL is pitching the new audio and e-meeting services to smaller-sized shops, but she doesn't preclude larger companies from trying them out. "It's a pretty good first step. Lots of companies are taking baby steps in collaboration, simply because there's a huge learning curve. Frankly, no one thinks IM first...this may change that."

AOL has made several moves to push AIM into the enterprise, including partnering with IM management vendors such as FaceTime and IMlogic, both of which offer products to manage and secure multiple IM services, AOL's included.

"The fact of the matter is," said Hung, "a lot of corporate workers are using AIM. Of course it has major security risks, but by adding sophisticated tools like audio and video conferencing, IT may see it as a good trade-off."

*This story courtesy of Techweb.com.