aster turnaround on decisions. Instant messaging's cost savings potential hinges mostly on how the tech- nology is used. "If it was used primarily as a replacement for long-distance calls," says Osterman, "then the savings in telephone charges could be sub- stantial in a large organization." Similarly, if the technology serves as an e-mail replacement or supplement, "there could be some savings in disk storage and related requirements," he says. As time goes by, even Nguyen is contemplating a return to instant messag- ing-but only under tightly controlled conditions. "We're looking to internal instant messaging servers," he says. APL's planned approach would place FUN AND GAMES instant messaging activities into an encrypted, VPN-type environment that would encompass only employees and selected external parties. "If it's a busi- ness requirement, definitely we would allow external partners to communicate with us," says Nguyen. As instant messaging becomes a deeply ingrained technology, messaging functions are likely to begin popping up inside all sorts of business-oriented applications, ranging from word processors to accounting applications. "For example, you might see a future version of Microsoft Office that contains instant messaging functionality," says Osterman. (Houston-based Advanced Reality already offers tools for adding collaboration to any application.) One possible Microsoft strategy would be to add instant messaging support to .Net Server, its latest server operating system. Code-named Greenwich, Microsoft's instant messaging software will provide a variety of multimedia tools to connect users in real-time. "Greenwich envisions building on core presence capabilities to deliver instant messaging, voice, video and data col- laboration as a standards-based, extensible real-time communications solu- tion," says Bob O'Brien, group product manager of Microsoft Windows Net division. In the meantime, Yahoo has announced the release of its corporate instant messenger, which will include the capability to inte