Business collaboration

While it’s still in incubation stage, web workers will want to keep Nortel’s web.alive project on their radars. Codenamed “Project Chainsaw,” web.alive is virtual world software, but it’s aimed at online business collaboration and e-commerce applications.

I was squinting at Friendfeed today, and I realized that it could really work nicely as a business collaboration tool in a few different ways. Between all the various aggregation points, and the “rooms” function, I think the platform has everyone one would need to cook up a collaboration environment. Here’s what I mean.

IBM has released a patch for highly critical security flaws in its Lotus Notes, following the discovery of vulnerabilities in a third-party software component used in Lotus 1-2-3. Users who open a malicious file attachment can trigger a buffer overflow, as Lotus 1-2-3 tries to process the Lotus Worksheet file format. The vulnerabilities could allow a malicious attacker to take control of a user"s system remotely and execute arbitrary code, according to Core Security Technologies, which issued a security advisory on Tuesday. ***

A correction was made to this story. Read below for details. SAN FRANCISCO--Intel is investing in VoIP giant Skype to make sure the company's software products are streamlined for Intel's next generation of dual-core processors. Intel senior vice president Pat Gelsinger said Wednesday that the two companies were working together at the research and development level to build what he called "good business-class audio," for voice-over Internet protocol networks. "I'm happy to announce a partnership between Intel and Skype to make their clients better on our platforms using our software technology, codec technology (encoding and decoding software), and our dual-core platforms," Gelsinger said during his keynote at the ***

Content management software specialist Open Text announced Wednesday that it plans to add instant messaging functions to its main product. Livelink Instant Messenger, set for release Monday, will work with Livelink, Open Text's content management and collaboration system for storing and accessing corporate documents on a central server. The new IM system can automatically record and catalog communications, Open Text said in a statement, making it particularly useful for industries in which communication is heavily regulated. Open Text CEO Tom Jenkins told CNET News.com recently that growing regulatory and legal pressure for routine preservation and cataloging of documents--from instant messages to legal briefs--is the main force behind dramatic growth in the enterprise content management market. "You have to make a leap of faith to put everything on the server... ***

Documentum, a software maker specializing in content management applications for business, announced Thursday that it has completed a deal to buy privately held eRoom in a cash and stock deal valued at $125 million. eRoom, based in Cambridge, Mass., makes collaboration software that allows companies to share data more effectively. ***