In general, the most interesting and useful features are on the client. The biggest control benefit of rolling out your own IM solution, as opposed to using a public network such as AIM, is that the connections, passwords and conversations are not transmitted over the Internet; they all stay in-house.
The IM products' functional diversity impressed us. WiredRed's e/pop, IBM Lotus Instant Messaging and Microsoft Exchange 2000 Instant Messaging Service (with XP only) all provide screen sharing and remote control. IBM's and Microsoft's IM tools also offer whiteboards. The IBM product has the best screen-sharing capabilities. We were able to share an entire screen, a single window or even a rectangular region on the screen.
For moderating chat discussions, the Sun ONE Portal Server really shined, letting us control which users in a room have free discussion access and which users' posts must be screened and approved by the moderator.
IBM's, Sun's and WiredRed's products also make outstanding use of the polling and broadcast features. Polls let you quickly gather data that would overflow your e-mail box. The ability to send broadcast messages and alerts is great for administrators who need to inform users of scheduled downtimes, meeting delays, and the arrival of the company VP (or the pizza guy, for that matter).
Prices are all over the board, ranging from $0 to $200,000. The best values are Ipswitch Instant Messenger ($695), Gordano Messaging Suite ($555 for 50 users) and Microsoft Exchange 2000 Instant Messaging Service (free with Exchange 2000). After that, the prices skyrocket. Lotus Instant Messaging and e/pop cost a steep $38 to $40 per seat. Jabber XCP and Sun ONE Portal Server are more moderately priced, at $24 to $25 a seat, but if you're measuring performance for the price, Sun's product offers the best value. Sun ONE Portal Server has almost as many features as Lotus Instant Messaging and e/pop, yet costs $70,000 less for 5,000 users. If you don't need screen-sharing and whiteboard capabilities, IBM's and WiredRed's products lose their major advantages over Sun's offering. However, after using these features, we'd have to be hard-pressed to give up the whiteboard.
When all was said and done, IBM Lotus Instant Messaging (formerly IBM Sametime) garnered our Editor's Choice award because it exhibited the best blend of IM capabilities, access control, user interface and features. But take your needs into consideration when making a choice: Ipswitch is a good bet if you need only some basic IM capabilities. If you need a new e-mail system as well as IM, Gordano Messaging Suite and Microsoft Exchange 2000 Instant Messaging Service can fill that void. Our analysis of the top three products follows; you can find the reviews of the other four IM systems here.
Don't run from Lotus Instant Messaging just because it's a $190,000 add-on to a Lotus Domino server. Our Editor's Choice winner has a great interface, superior chat capabilities and the best polling mechanism in the bunch. It also comes with a stripped-down IM-only Domino server. In addition, it doesn't limit users to communicating exclusively with other Lotus IM users. Lotus IM clients can talk with AOL IM users, but you have to download your AIM buddy list yourself. We tested the product with the Domino-provided directory; however, you could use an LDAP-compatible directory as well.
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