EDial updates Web gateway for Microsoft’s enterprise IM

The company, eDial Inc., has improved the scalability and broadened the platform and browser support of its IM Web Access Server (IWA), which gives users access via a standard Web browser to Microsoft Corp.’s Live Communications Server (LCS) 2003 enterprise instant messaging system.

“IWA lets LCS users offer its functionality through a Web browser,” Jill Smith, eDial’s president and chief executive officer, said Tuesday.

IWA 2.0 supports 1,000 simultaneous users, up from 200 in the previous version of the product. Moreover, IWA 2.0, unlike its predecessor, can be stacked, so a company that requires support for 5,000 simultaneous users can acquire five instances of IWA 2.0., she said.

Beyond Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, browsers supported in IWA 2.0 include America Online Inc.’s Netscape, Apple Computer Inc.’s Safari, Opera Software ASA’s Opera and The Mozilla Foundation’s Mozilla and Firefox. Moreover, IWA 2.0 supports new desktop environments, including Unix and Apple’s Macintosh platform, she said.

The client software Microsoft recommends for use with LCS is Windows Messenger 5.0 running on Windows XP or Windows 2000, although LCS can also be used with a souped-up version of Microsoft’s consumer-oriented MSN Messenger service called MSN Messenger Connect for Enterprises or with clients built by third parties, according to information on Microsoft’s Web site.

But with IWA, a company that uses Microsoft’s LCS can extend the LCS functionality to employees through a standard Web browser, without the need for any special client-side IM software, Smith said. This is a functionality Microsoft doesn’t offer and isn’t expected to offer for at least 18 more months as part of LCS, Smith said. eDial currently is the only company that provides Web access to LCS, she said.

Providing Web browser access to the LCS instant messaging system comes in handy for remote or traveling employees located outside the company’s firewall or for partners and clients a company wants to let into its LCS system, she said. It’s also convenient for companies that have employees whose desktop PCs don’t run Windows, she said.

As instant messaging grows in importance within companies as a communication tool, so will extending access to it via a Web browser to mobile and remote employees, said Andrew Davis, an analyst with Wainhouse Research Inc. “The browser opens up a collaborative universe to a wide world of end points,” he said.

IWA 2.0 provides instant messaging capabilities only, but eDial has a more sophisticated product called Instant Collaboration System (ICS). In addition to instant messaging tools, ICS provides, via a standard Web browser, collaboration features such as voice conferencing, online meetings and sharing of applications and documents, eDial’s Smith said.

IWA 2.0 costs $10 per seat, while ICS costs $15 per seat when acquired as an upgrade to IWA 2.0. Those prices are “retail” level and drop based on volume, she said.