Spanish Internet media company Terra Lycos SA said on Thursday it will bring together several instant messaging services it offers globally by year-end into a new service built on IBM Corp.'s technology.
Terra Lycos said the first version of the new service, which will be built on IBM's real-time messaging software Lotus Sametime, will be free but the company plans to launch paid versions of the service with added features and better performance next year.
"This is not an entry (into the messaging market) but more of a move toward a standard global platform to offer standard quality of services, lower cost of operation and all the other reasons people standardize," said Michael Coddington, senior director of access and communications at Terra Lycos.
Terra Lycos currently offers several separate versions of IM services in the United States, Europe and Latin America.
The consumer instant messaging market is dominated by America Online, the Internet arm of AOL Time Warner Inc., with its AIM and ICQ services.
Rivals Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN also offer messaging services.
News source: Reuters - Terra Lycos to Start New Messaging Service with IBM
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