IM pushed as a revenue channel

ShorePoint Systems unveiled a service that allows consumers to add instant messaging (IM) as an additional revenue channel to their online services, reports MarketWire.

The patented technology provides the ability for IM users to charge for time communicating with other IM users, the press release says. ShorePoint Systems offers a complete system for existing community builders/portals looking to adding value by offering this service.

"By providing this service, we believe that business-to-consumer and consumer-to-consumer customers can integrate our services as a revenue channel. We provide seamless integration into their revenue stream," says ShorePoint founder Rajan Annadurai.

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A pair of Princeton University researchers presented a paper this week on a method for sending secret messages over existing public fibre-optic networks, says PC World.

The report says Bernard Wu and Evgenii Narimanov`s encryption technology is hardware-oriented and uses the properties of optical fibre to disguise a message.

The technique involves use of commercially available optical CDMA encoders that spread short, intense pulses of light carrying messages, it says.

The recipient decodes the message using information about how the message was spread out in the first place, plus compression gear.

Revenues generated by UK businesses in mobile messaging services will emerge as a billion-pound market sector in the UK, says Earthtimes.org, quoting a white paper by DynmarkInternational.

The market, which was worth between lb450 million and lb600 million in 2005, is set for growth on a much broader scale, the report says.

The projections indicate that once established, SMS will remain the business communication medium of choice for the foreseeable future, fending off competition from more cosmetically glamorous mobile messaging media, it says.

Yahoo ranked highest among US residential Internet users for IM services, and Dogpile was rated the best among search engines, reports TechWeb.

The report says a JD Power and Associates survey found Yahoo Messenger topped the list of IM providers for the second consecutive year, performing particularly well in security, performance and reliability.

MSN Messenger and Windows Messenger, respectively, followed Yahoo in the rankings, it says. The survey also found the percentage of home Internet service subscribers using IM on a daily basis was unchanged from 2005 at 36%.

Downloads for Scalix`s Linux-based messaging software have increased 600% since the company announced plans to open source the software, reports Computer Business.

In July, Scalix announced that it intended to launch the Scalix Community Edition Open Source version of its e-mail, calendaring, and integration software having negotiated a new agreement with HP, the original creator of the software, the report says.

The first components were released this week.