Chatting and instant messaging aren’t just for teenagers anymore. While they started out as social technologies, Parlano, Inc., has engineered these playful concepts into a powerful business tool, called MindAlign, facilitating enterprise-based group collaboration and knowledge sharing among colleagues, customers, and partners. Built entirely on the Microsoft ® .NET Framework, MindAlign fully exploits the capabilities of Microsoft Live Communications Server (LCS). It proactively engages work teams in “persistent” dialogue around critical topics while conforming to the industry’s highest performance, security, and compliance standards.

From Toys to Tools

Instant Messenging (IM) services offer a way to quickly communicate with colleagues, partners, customers, and prospects, but with the caveat that all participants must be known and “present.” MindAlign’s approach blurs the distinction between e-mail and IM and is creating a new paradigm for collaborative software. A MindAlign chat is persistent, like e-mail, and need not be synchronous. A chat session may involve a number of people, but not all of them have to be present at the time the conversation takes place. Those not present will simply see the record of the chat — like an e-mail — in MindAlign the next time they log in. This is persistent chat. So is it e-mail or instant messaging? Perhaps both.

Designed to work in conjunction with Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005, Microsoft Office SharePoint® Portal Server 2003, and Microsoft Active Directory®, Mind- Align provides persistent group chat, intelligent messaging management,and advanced content-filtering capabilities for real-time communications and information flow.

Through LCS Federation, MindAlign can connect to other LCS deployments and also support all three major public IM networks, including AOL AIM, Yahoo Messenger, and MSN® Messenger.

According to Bob Serr, chief technology officer at Parlano, “We have extended LCS from being ‘presence-aware’ instant messaging to a persistent group communications channel. How? We’ve worked closely with the Microsoft product teams to coordinate all current and future products to make full use of all Microsoft Unified Communications products. We’ve even had early access to several important APIs.”

In addition, Serr says the company works closely with Microsoft field sales and marketing teams on several accounts, and even participates in lead sharing. The combined MindAlign/LCS solution is already in use in the world’s major financial institutions, and both companies are working together to accelerate adoption of LCS at existing customers and prospects.

Group Chat Supports Growth

Canaccord Adams, a global, independent investment dealer, turned to Parlano’s solution to help support significant growth and improve client service globally. In less than three months, and during a major acquisition, Canaccord Adams and Parlano deployed MindAlign for LCS and integrated it with Canaccord’s compliance systems. It is now deployed in nine offices across two continents, where it is being successfully used to share trade flow, investment research, and market commentary. The company also plans to leverage the built-in public IM connectivity capability to access external networks such as MSN and AOL.

“MindAlign is a powerful communication tool,” according to Mark Maybank, global head of Research and Operations for Canaccord Adams. “Our ability to share information in real-time and further integrate our global team has been an important element in Canaccord Adams’ growth.”

Microsoft Partnership

As a Certified Microsoft Partner, Parlano has participated with Microsoft on joint white papers, webcasts, presentations, and podcasts. Microsoft and Parlano have also conducted joint salesteam meetings and Microsoft has participated in (and sponsored) annual customer forums.

According to one of its investors, Peter Roberts, a partner at Longworth Venture Partners, “By choosing to work closely with Microsoft, Parlano has accelerated their time to market, increased market reach, continued to outpace their competition, and positioned Parlano as a critical extension of Microsoft’s recently announced Unified Communications strategy right out of the gate.”

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