Microsoft lands Parlano's enterprise group chat

Microsoft announced that it is acquiring Parlano, maker of MindAlign, an enterprise group chat application. The deal is expected to close in Q4 of this year. Parlano's chat technology will be baked into the Office Communications Server and Office Communicator. Financial terms were not disclosed.

MindAlign allows secure instant message among groups, and has enterprise customers across several industries. The acquisition isn't a big surprise. Parlano has been a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, and already integrates with the the company's Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 and Office Communications Server 2007.

The latest version, MindAlign 2007, is aligned with Microsoft's Unified Communications platform that leverages Microsoft Live Communications Server, Active Directory, SharePoint, and Microsoft SQL Server. It also federates with AOL, Yahoo and MSN instant messaging, an exposes APIs for writing custom applications and graphic user interfaces.