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AOL and IBM to Bring Instant Messaging Communities Together

Posted on: Monday, 23 January 2006, 12:00 CST

AOL today announced that it has formed a relationship with IBM to connect their dynamic instant messaging communities. Under the agreement, IBM(R) Lotus(R) Sametime users will be able to connect and communicate in real time with users of the AOL, AIM, ICQ and Apple iChat instant messaging services.

With today's announcement of Lotus Sametime 7.5, IBM plans to provide instant messaging customers with federated access to AOL's global instant messaging network as an embedded feature for each user. These customers will be able to exchange instant messages with the more than 70 million users of the AOL(R), AIM(R), ICQ(R) and Apple(R) iChat(TM) services around the world.

"IBM is committed to bringing business communities together for increased productivity," said Ken Bisconti, vice president, Workplace, Portal and Collaboration Products, IBM. "Certified federation with AOL's global instant messaging network will enable our customers to quickly exchange information and share resources with partners, vendors and customers throughout the United States and beyond."

Sametime users will also be able to exchange presence information by adding AOL Screen Names and ICQ numbers to their Sametime contact lists while inviting others to add Sametime identities to their AIM(R) Buddy List(R), iChat(TM) and ICQ(R) Contact List features. In addition, the agreement provides for access to AOL's new AIM(R) Clearinghouse service, which will make it easy for Sametime customers to connect to AOL's network as well as to those of customers, business partners and other enterprise instant messaging (EIM) systems.

"We are extremely pleased to welcome IBM's Lotus Sametime users to the global AOL instant messaging community," said Brian Curry, vice president, Premium and Subscription Services, America Online, Inc. "Together, we will help tens of millions of at-work IM users speed the flow of business communications everyday."

Counting its new relationship with IBM, AOL's instant messaging services will reach more than 75 percent of all enterprise instant messaging users. AOL's existing federation partners include Microsoft Corporation, Reuters, Inc., Jabber, Inc., Antepo, Inc., Omnipod, Inc., Communicator, Inc., Parlano, Inc., Thomson Financial and Pivot Solution's IMTrader(TM) service.

About the AIM(R) Service

The AIM(R) service (http://www.aim.com) is at the center of one of the largest and most dynamic online communities, and is available for use on computers, cell phones and other handheld devices. The AIM service is an integrated communications client that offers instant messaging, email and SMS mobile texting as well as voice and video chat services. Features include a Plaxo(R)-enabled AIM(R) Address Book and integrated access to the AOL(R) Explorer, AOL(R) Mail, AIM(R) Mail, AOL(R) Radio and AIM(R) Talk services.

About America Online, Inc.

America Online, Inc. and its subsidiaries operate a leading network of Web brands and the largest Internet access subscription service in the United States. Brands include the AOL(R) service, the AOL.com(R) website, and the AIM(R), MapQuest(R), Moviefone(R), Netscape(R), CompuServe(R) and ICQ(R) services. America Online offers a range of digital services including the TotalTalk(R) voice service. The company also has operations in Canada and Europe. America Online, Inc. is based in Dulles, Virginia, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc.

All company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Source: Business Wire

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