Google Talk Opens to Other IM Services

Google on Tuesday announced it was opening up Google Talk to all other instant messaging networks that utilize the XMPP protocol, developed for Jabber. The move to federate means Google users can communicate directly wtih users of Earthlink, Gizmo Project, Tiscali, Netease, Chikka, MediaRing and others.

Any IM provider is now free to connect to Google Talk without any sort of agreement, simply by following the specifications. Google eventually plans to add support for SIP, which would enable cross-network calling as well. "We think this is pretty exciting," said Google Talk product manager Mike Jazayeri, "and we hope it will bring us one step closer to making IM and Internet voice calling as ubiquitous as email."