IBM/Lotus Wednesday released a gateway that will allow users of its Sametime instant messaging platform to connect to those using IM on public networks run by AOL, Yahoo and Google.

The IBM Lotus Sametime Gateway supports among others the two protocols most used among IM vendors: the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) / SIP for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE), and the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP). Integration with Yahoo and AOL is based on SIP/SIMPLE, and Google integration is based on XMPP.

While the gateway will support any system that uses those protocols, IBM/Lotus has tested it against AOL, Yahoo and Google implementations.

“I think this has two major impacts,” says Irwin Lazar, an analyst with Nemertes Research. “The first shows that enterprise IM systems can no longer exist on islands and that it is a standard feature for any enterprise IM system to be able to interconnect with public IM networks.”

The second impact, Lazar says, is that IBM/Lotus is supporting XMPP, a protocol that has lost favor over the past couple of years. “I don’t know if it is a competitive advantage yet [with Microsoft], but IBM can say it is the only one supporting interfacing with XMPP networks and that should make Sametime more attractive to government and financial organizations who tend to be the biggest users of private XMPP-based networks.”

Lazar also notes that IBM isn't offering an interface to MSN, which shows that IM system interconnectivity is still a battle.

“I’m not sure if IBM wanted to do it but Microsoft would not allow it, or the other way around, but either way it shows that while we're closing in on the goal of interconnected IM systems, we aren't there yet.”

Full features and functionality also aren’t there yet.

The first implementation of the Sametime interservice connectivity with AOL, Yahoo and Google supports only text chat and presence. Lotus is considering supporting other features such as file transfer that could also be controlled using Sametime’s policy management feature.

“The gateway itself has a plug-in model that allows server-side apps to be plugged in, so we suspect that if file transfer support is delivered, that our partners in the virus scanning space will plug directly into the gateway,” says David Marshak, senior product manager for IBM/Lotus.