Chat and IM have some intrinsic advantages over other communications technologies, such as e-mail. First, chat provides inbox relief from the spam, viruses, and malware that clog a company's e-mail pipes. E-mail also is a one-to-one communications tool, whereas chat is multiuser.
Companies that have implemented chats have seen their daily dose of e-mail drop, and, in some cases, chat almost completely eliminates internal e-mails. "My internal e-mail traffic, particularly with my close colleagues, has dropped dramatically now that we're all on IM all the time," said Tim Bray, the director of Web technologies for Sun Microsystems.
Chat software also is easy to learn and leverages the one-on-one chatting style made popular with IM software from AOL, MSN, and Yahoo; it's a natural extension of such tools. For staffers who grew up in an IM universe during their teens and college years, it's an easy transition and a natural means of communication. Its real-time nature means that questions get answered quickly and without a lot of the back-and-forth typical in the e-mail universe, and it facilitates multitasking.
"With online chats and IM, a call center can handle multiple calls simultaneously, versus a single phone call," said Arsenio Batoy, president of Optical Laser, a distributor of storage, content management, message management, and security products.
An additional case for boarding the group-chat wagon stems from the availability of a growing core of chat-savvy developers. They're building chat-based applications using a variety of open-source tools and well-documented sets of protocols. Those developers are constructing sophisticated systems, which include full-blown chat systems from Parlano, Jabber, Antepo, Jive Software, Reuters, Userplane, and others.
Take Userplane, which earlier this year was purchased by AOL. It sells private Web-based IM solutions for online communities. Its chat engines are found everywhere from dating sites to social networking sites, such as Jlove.com and MySpace.com.
Subsea cable alternatives can provide a level of comfort for those concerned about disruptions. Realistically, they will continue to play a small, but critical role in the short term.
Maintaining existing network infrastructures often incurs huge technical debt before newer technologies are adopted over time.
Amid ongoing regional uncertainties, telecom infrastructure in the Middle East has expand to include terrestrial low-latency network infrastructure, which offers resilience and agility in navigating political complexities without relying solely on undersea networks.
