Odigo Messenger

Odigo

Developer(s)	Comverse
Stable release	4.0 build 689
Operating system	Windows
Type	Instant messaging client
License	Freeware

Odigo Messenger was an instant messaging service. For a short time in 2004 Odigo Messenger allowed users to use the service to talk to users in other IM networks, but the feature was discontinued at the beginning of 2005.

Odigo was purchased for $20 million by Comverse Technology in 2002. Comverse planned to leverage the Odigo server software for instant messaging solutions in cell phones. Since Comverse had no interest in maintaining a general IM service, it was shutdown in 2004.^{[citation needed]}

The service first became available in 1998 and has also been branded as Bravenet Messenger during a spell of affiliation with the web services provider. Although originally made available by Odigo, Inc. the service was supplied by Comverse, who hope to use it to help innovate and forward their wireless products.

The word Odigo probably comes from the Greek "οδηγώ" which means "I guide/lead/drive/steer".

Odigo and the 9/11 investigation

Odigo reported that, two hours before the September 11, 2001 attacks, two of their employees who were working in an Odigo office in Herzliya Pituah, a city near Tel Aviv,^[1] received a hostile English electronic instant message non-specifically threatening them that a terrorist attack would happen.^[2] They did not mention this to their employer until after they heard reports of a terrorist attack in the United States on the news, after which they informed the company's management. One of Odigo's New York offices was then situated under a kilometer away from the World Trade Center complex. ^[3] However, the threatening message did not mention the location of an attack.^[4] The company took the initiative in tracking down the originating IP address of the message, giving the information to the FBI, so that the FBI could track down the Internet Service Provider, and the actual sender of the original message.^[5] Using the "people-search" function, Odigo users can send anonymous messages anywhere in the world to other users, who they can find based on demographics or location. According to the Washington Post, the message declared “that some sort of attack was about to take place. The notes ended with an anti-Semitic slur. The messages said 'something big was going to happen in a certain amount of time'".^[6]

References

1. ^ Washington Post, "Instant Messages to Israel Warned of WTC attack", 27 September 2001
2. ^ Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 29/09/01
3. ^ "FBI probing 'threatening' message, firm says", Daniel Sieberg, CNN News, September 28, 2001
4. ^ Odigo Clarifies Attack Messages, Newsbytes (The Washington Post), September 28, 2001
5. ^ http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=77744
6. ^ David S. Fallis and Ariana Eunjung Cha, "Agents following suspects' lengthy electronic trail; Web of connections used to plan attack", Washington Post, 10th October, 2001