grate with corpo- rate directories and some applications. Increasing enterprise adoption of instant messaging is also likely to lead to new uses for the technology. Avnet's system, for example, allows technicians to communicate with customers on particularly difficult problems. NEC Solutions' Visual Systems Division, an Itasca, Illinois-based display products vendor, is using instant messaging software to directly assist customers. "They can instant message their customer support rep and get the information they need instantaneously," says Fran Horner, director of the division's service sales group. The company's instant messaging system even has the ability to trans- mit diagnostic software and fixes directly to a user's desktop. Ultimately, enterprise instant messaging will span an array of platforms, allowing users to conveniently contact people anytime, anywhere: on a desktop PC, personal disital assistant (PDA), mobile phone, or other connected device. Several vendors, including Bantu and Jabber, already provide software with a multiplatform capability. 1.8 FUN AND GAMES Telecom services don't only carry voice and information. In the new Tele- cosmos, entertainment is an important diversion for telecom users and a profit center for service and content providers. Wireless gaming is well on its way to becoming a mass-market phenome- non. Wireless games currently top the list of applications downloaded to cellular phones. IDC, a technology research firm located in Framingham, Mass- achusetts, expects the number of wireless gamers to grow from 7.9 percent of ON THE MENU-TELECOM SERVICES all U.S. wireless subscribers in 2003 to 34.7 percent, or 65.2 million users, by 2008. "In 2003, U.S. wireless carriers cleared a major hurdle in delivering wire- less games to subscribers, demonstrating that wireless gaming is a viable busi- ness," says Dana Thorat, a senior research analyst in IDC's wireless and mobile communications service. "Carriers plan to aggressively promote wireless games to their subscribers while offer