“A coalition of America Online’s rivals has developed a
technical blueprint to allow their instant messaging services to
communicate with one another. Dubbed IMUnified, the coalition
comprises AOL’s biggest competitors, including Microsoft, Yahoo,
Excite@Home, AT&T, Prodigy Communications and CMGI-owned iCast
and Tribal Voice.”
“The creation of technical specifications is one step in an
ongoing process to let separate instant messaging systems
interoperate. The coalition members want their services to
work with those of competitors until a universal standard is
developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force, an industry
standards body.”
“Representatives from IMUnified would not elaborate today on the
technical specifications, adding that the proposals are under
review by other collaborators.”