The deal will let companies using Yahoo Messenger Enterprise Edition launch Web meetings during an IM session. WebEx lets people conduct presentations over the Internet, incorporating graphics, Web browsing and multimedia.
Yahoo will also link with software company BEA Systems to add its IM product into BEA's WebLogic Workshop developer kit. The agreement will let BEA developers build real-time communication and collaboration into enterprise software applications.
Yahoo is one of many Net heavyweights trying to peddle IM to businesses. Competitors including America Online, Microsoft, IBM and Sun Microsystems have all signaled their intentions to sell instant messaging software to corporations.
The widespread appeal of IM among the Net public has become a problem for many companies where services by AOL, Yahoo and MSN have become adopted on a grassroots level. Unlike e-mail, which is packaged to many corporations with security and encryption features included, IM programs have caused concern among corporate IT departments because of the unprotected nature of instant messaging conversations.
This has posed an opportunity for IM giants and enterprise software companies to sell instant messaging programs. It has also sparked ambitions from the likes of Microsoft, which views IM as the spearhead into selling real-time communications software that includes Net phone calling and video conferencing. But the immediate need expressed by companies is for security and accountability.
"The battle right now is for the hearts and minds," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Jupiter Research. "Vendors are busy shipping the first generation of products, so we're in the early skirmishes."
