Los Angeles, Oct 03: Yahoo Inc., working to expand its revenue base and its business services offerings, on Thursday launched an instant messaging product for corporations that integrates the popular WebEx virtual meeting software. Yahoo said the new Yahoo Business Messenger instant messaging product has been available since late last week, although it has been in beta testing with some users for months.
Corporate instant messaging is a growing market, with companies like AOL and Microsoft Corp. working on products to meet the demand of businesses who want their employees to be able to communicate in real time without the security concerns of an open, public network.

The deal between Yahoo and WebEx Communications Inc. was announced in mid-June. Companies that subscribe to the Yahoo messaging product on a per-seat, per-year basis can also set up accounts that let their users launch per-minute meetings and application sharing windows with WebEx.
"We both think of these as network-based services as opposed to software-based services," Steve Boom, Yahoo's senior vice president of enterprise services, told Reuters.
Among the first organizations to use the new product, he said, are BMC Software Inc., Stanford University and the Screen Actors Guild. Bureau Report