Reuters IM ready to chat to AOL and MSN

Reuters has announced its bespoke instant messenger is now interoperable with the public services provided by AOL and MSN.

The move means Reuters IM users will now be able to communicate with around 200 million IM users worldwide, whereas previously they were limited to around 300,000.

Speaking at the launch of the new service, Tom Glocer, CEO of Reuters, said: "It's in keeping with the general Reuters paradigm which is to be open, to be able to integrate."

Although greater interoperability raises fears about the increased potential of security threats, Nick Sears, managing director EMEA of FaceTime, a provider of IM security and a partner in Reuters' IM service, told silicon.com the move does not undermine the security Reuters users enjoyed while in a smaller ring-fenced community.

Nor does the deal undermine the tight compliance functionality, said Sears.

He added: "The controls which are in place in terms of securing and auditing communications are all still there, they're just applied to a lot more users now and all those messages coming from AOL and MSN users are treated the same way."

According to the Financial Times Reuters is in discussions with Google, Skype and Yahoo! over similar deals and expects to make further announcements in the coming months.