How important is IM? was RE: How important is the PSTN

Tue Jun 25 20:03:40 UTC 2002

Our NOC uses IM all the time to stay in touch with us regarding
emergencies. Our field engineers use IM to stay in touch with us for
scheduling and jobs. Engineers working from home use IM to stay in touch
with us. A few of our engineers carry cell phones that are IM capable.
Trader support techs at different branch offices use IM to convey outage
information to us. 

Pretty important for us. As for people slacking off on IM, we are a
project based team with strict deadlines. If you wanna stay on AIM and
chat all day, and you miss the deadline, we'll soon find out why. So
personal responsibility goes a long way. 

I'll tell you one thing, it sure helped a lot during Sept 11th. I'd
never remove it, just for that reason here. Eventually it might go away
due to increased security policies, and then we'll just find something a
lot more secure. But it is very handy. I do agree, though, that it isn't
the most secure chat product out there. Just so many people use it
because of the large installed base.

I've even seen AIM IDs on some business cards now. They seem to be more
permanent than a cell phone number :-).

    > -----Original Message-----
    > From: Christopher J. Wolff [mailto:chris at bblabs.com] 
    > Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2002 3:17 PM
    > To: nanog at merit.edu
    > Subject: How important is IM? was RE: How important is the PSTN
    > 
    > 
    > 
    > Jane,
    > 
    > This brings up a good point about IM.  IMHO, IM is a 
    > security risk and I am establishing a company standard 
    > where users behind the firewall are prohibited from using 
    > IM, IRC, and peer-to-peer file sharing programs.  My 
    > opinion is that these types of programs contribute more 
    > to lack of productivity than to real problem solving.
    > 
    > So my question for the group is, do chat programs (IM, 
    > IRC, yahoo) serve a substantial network support purpose 
    > or are they more of a distraction, allowing staff to 
    > communicate with friends, relatives, drifters, 
    > interlopers on company time?
    > 
    > Regards,
    > Christopher J. Wolff, VP CIO
    > Broadband Laboratories
    > http://www.bblabs.com
    > 
    > -----Original Message-----
    > From: owner-nanog at merit.edu 
    > [mailto:owner-nanog at merit.edu]On Behalf Of     > Pawlukiewicz 
    > Jane
    > Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2002 12:06 PM
    > To: nanog at merit.edu
    > Subject: How important is the PSTN
    > 
    > 
    > Hi all,
    > 
    > Thanks so much for all the great answers. (Could everyone 
    > please stop telling me that im = instant messaging). I 
    > knew I should've never gotten out of bed this morning.
    > 
    > Anyway, 75% of the respondents said the phone is 
    > critical. 25% said some form of IM is critical.
    > 
    > Just in case anyone was curious.
    > 
    > Is it me or is it very quiet in here today?
    > 
    > Jane
    > 
    > 
    > 