Ubique (company)

Infobox_Company
company_name = Ubique
company_
company_type = Startup
foundation = 1993 - Purchased by AOL in 1995, IBM in 1998
location = Rehovot, Israel
key_people = Ehud Shapiro, Avner Shafrir
industry = Presence Technology
products = Virtual Places Ubique was a software company that developed instant messaging and collaboration products. It is best known for the Virtual Places software product and the technology used by
Lotus Sametime. It is now part of IBM Haifa Labs.

Technology

Virtual Places

Ubique's best-known product is Virtual Places, a presence-based chat program in which users explore web sites together. It is used by providers such as [http://www.vpchat.com VPChat] and [http://www.digitalspace.com/bein/vp.html Digital Space] and eventually evolved into Lotus Sametime. Virtual Places requires a server and client software. Users start Virtual Places along with a web browser and sign-in to the Virtual Places server. Avatars are overlaid onto the web browser and users are able to collaborate with each other while they all visit web sites in real time. Some Virtual Places consumer-oriented communities are still alive on the Web and are using the old version of it.

Instant Messaging and Chat

With the technology developed for Virtual Places, Ubique created an instant messaging and
presence technology platform which evolved into Lotus Sametime.

History

1994 - Ubique Ltd, was founded in Israel by Ehud Shapiro and a group of scientists from the Weizmann Institute to develop real-time, distributing computing products. The company developed a presence-based chat system known as Virtual Places along with real-time
instant messaging and presence technology software. 1995 - America Online Inc. purchased Ubique with the intention to use Ubique's Virtual Places technology to enhance and expand its existing live online interactive communication for both the AOL consumer online service and the new GNN brand service. Only the GNN-branded Virtual Places product was ever released. 1996 - GNN was discontinued in 1996. Ubique's management, with the support of AOL, decided to look for other markets for Virtual Places technology. The outcome was that Ubique shifted Virtual Places from the consumer market to focus on presence technology and
instant messaging for the corporate market. AOL divested Ubique but remained as a principle investor while Ubique sought a new owner. 1998 - Ubique was acquired by Lotus/IBM to integrate the core technology of instant messaging and presence functions into a software product integrated with Lotus/IBM. [http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/2648.wss Lotus Development Corp. to Bring Real-Time Dimension to Messaging and Groupware] 2000 - Lotus announced Lotus Sametime using Ubique's technology. 2006 - Elements of Ubique along with other Israeli-based companies were integrated into the newly-created IBM Haifa Labs. The Lab develops Session Initiation Protocol/SIP infrastructure and features of real-time collaboration, including session management, presence awareness, subscriptions and notifications, text messaging, developer toolkits, and mobile real-time messaging infrastructure. [http://www.haifa.il.ibm.com/info/news_ibm_softwarelab.html IBM establishes Software Lab in Israel]

References

See also

* IBM Haifa Labs
* GNN
* AOL
* Virtual Places
* Lotus Sametime

External links

* [http://www.haifa.il.ibm.com/index.html IBM Haifa Labs website]