NeuStar announced that it is working with leading Instant Messaging (IM) provider ICQ to bring increased levels of interconnection to mobile Instant Messaging users.
Mobile network operators that wish to provide their mobile IM communities with access to ICQ’s 28 million IM users worldwide will now be able to connect their mobile IM users to ICQ’s users through NeuStar’s Interconnect services, as well as via NeuStar’s Mobile Messaging Gateway (MMG) services.
Allen Scott, general manager of NeuStar Next Generation Messaging (NGM), said: “NeuStar’s vision is of a world in which anyone can communicate through Instant Messaging regardless of geography, network, or technology. This development with ICQ brings this vision a step closer. Our aim is to interconnect communities and to make messaging with ‘anyone, anywhere’ simple and intuitive. Providing operator communities with access to users of ICQ Instant Messaging service is a big step to bringing true interconnection to mobile IM.”
Ofer Oved, vice president of ICQ, said: “ICQ is delighted to be offering its user base the opportunity to message with mobile operator communities. NeuStar’s experience in mobile IM, combined with their understanding of the mobile environment and what works within it, makes them an ideal partner to implement ICQ’s mobile vision — that is, to treat the users as a dynamic community and to provide them with a complete, seamless, and simple IM solution.”
NeuStar is a provider of clearinghouse and directory services to the global communications and Internet industry. In November 2006, NeuStar created its Next Generation Messaging Services by acquiring Followap, a global provider of instant messaging, presence and interconnect services.
Mobile network operators around the world trust NeuStar to enable real-time communications using presence information. NeuStar has enabled mobile instant messaging solutions for operators that have more than 300 million subscribers in total, and NeuStar’s customers include many of the leading operators from across the globe.