IMUnified, a recently formed coalition of leading technology and instant messaging companies, has been created to provide functional interoperability enabling its members' Internet users to communicate freely with each other. IMUnified intends to publish by the end of August a set of specifications that will enable functional interoperability among their members' instant messaging (IM) services. Before the end of the year, coalition members plan to implement publicly available, functional interoperability. IMUnified intends to be among the first to support protocols developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in its efforts to create standards for IM interoperability.

IMUnified's founding members include: AT&T, Excite@Home, iCAST, MSN, Odigo, Phone.com, Prodigy, Tribal Voice, and Yahoo!. In addition, IMUnified welcomes other companies committed to the goal of full IM interoperability based on open standards.

Actually, we have been discussing the need for interoperability for some time. Many of the founding companies have been frustrated by the inability to achieve exchange of IM with other leading IM providers, such as AOL. In addition, not all of our founding members can currently provide exchange of IM with each other.

Our customers are unhappy with the lack of interoperability, and we believe the market is demanding a change. We intend to take immediate first steps to correct this situation by ensuring that our members can exchange IM freely with each other.

Ultimately, the development of open standards is the only real solution to this problem, and that work is well underway at the IETF. To complement that work and to demonstrate that safe and secure interoperability is indeed a viable objective that greatly benefits our users, we are intent on enabling seamless communication across the IMUnified membership.

IMUnified plans to provide a basic framework for detailing the mechanics of IM exchange among our members systems by the end of August, with final implementation across member communities expected by the end of the year. Further efforts will be focused on deepening our degree of functional interoperability among member communities, consistent with adoption of emerging standards developments resulting from the IETF.

You can pick up any telephone and call anybody in the world, no matter who your phone service provider is. And you can e-mail anyone, no matter which e-mail application you use. But you can't send or receive instant messages to anybody, anywhere, because instant messaging is not yet fully interoperable. Through the efforts of IMUnified, our members will be able to offer their users the functional interoperability they have demanded, in the shortest amount of time possible.

The lack of interoperability drastically limits how people communicate with one another through instant messaging applications; only those who are on the same network are able to use IM effectively to reach each other. This creates "islands" of users within the Internet. In addition, there's very little chance anyone will want to use a new and innovative instant messaging product that can't talk to others already on the market. The danger of this island phenomenon is an even greater problem when one recognizes that the emerging body of wireless IM users is projected to equal or eclipse the number of PC-based users in upcoming years. This lack of interoperability creates a closed marketplace where users cannot easily move from provider to provider, thus limiting competition in this important market.

The major benefit will be the ease and speed with which Internet users can communicate with each other via instant messaging. You may not use IM now, but the chances are pretty good that you will sometime in the future. In a world of increasing worker mobility, dispersed organizations, and always-connected individuals, immediate access and global presence detection can significantly enhance the way we communicate, collaborate, and work on a daily basis. These future benefits are not achievable in a world where one vendor's products can't speak to another. Consumers recognized the need for interoperability with the telephone, with e-mail and even with the VCR. The sooner we achieve it, the sooner we can develop the next step in personal communications.

IM is already a great consumer communication tool, but we also envision applications using IM to improve service delivery, or ensure instantaneous business-to-business communications.

Although IMUnified doesn't have a formal relationship with any other group, many of our founding member companies are already actively involved in various IETF activities, and intend to continue contributing to the process. IMUnified additionally intends to be among the first to support protocols developed by the IETF in its efforts to create standards for IM interoperability.

IMUnified members plan to implement publicly available, functional interoperability by the end of the year. IMUnified will subsequently focus its efforts on the implementation of deeper interoperability, rapidly incorporating the emerging specifications of the IETF standards process. At the same time, we intend to be among the first to support protocols developed by the IETF in its efforts to create standards for IM interoperability.

Throughout our entire implementation process we will remain focused and committed to ensuring a high standard for protecting users' privacy and security in the implementation of interoperable IM.

No. Absolutely not.

IETF is a standards organization, with many IMUnified founding members also involved in the IETF process. On the other hand, the goal of IMUnified is to provide immediate interoperability solutions, and to be among the first to support emerging protocols developed by the IETF in its efforts to create standards for IM interoperability.

IMUnified itself isn't taking a position on any of the IETF submissions. However, some of the companies involved in founding IMUnified have prepared a response to the issues raised in the AOL submissions to the IETF and FCC (Industry White Paper on AOL's Submissions to the IETF and the FCC).

We will await the outcome of the Working Group and be among the first to support protocols developed by the IETF in its efforts to create standards for IM interoperability.

IMUnified welcomes other companies committed to the goal of full IM interoperability based on open standards.

IMUnified's founding members are in the process of creating structural and operational plans. To this point, all IMUnified members share in the decision making process.

The ultimate solution will enable users of different IM services to communicate seamlessly with each other, without having to subscribe to each IM service - providing IM users with the same type of communications flexibility currently afforded consumers of email and the telephone. Additional functionalities will likely include: enhanced presence detection, single sign-on, file transfer, voice capability, integrated buddy lists, and wireless-specific operations.