AOL and Scient jump-start alliance

AOL is putting together a deal with consulting firm Scient as a way for both companies to extend AOL's instant messaging and email services into the corporate market.

Scient appeared to have let the cat out of the bag with a press release which it later withdrew, claiming it had been "issued prematurely".

The release said Scient would work with the AOL to offer business applications such as web consolidation and wealth management.

But while AOL has refused to comment on the release, it seems clear what the broad scope of the potential alliance is.

"In the past, financial advisers were not able to send email or instant messages to their clients because they weren't secure and in line with regulatory standards," said Jay Norman, global managing partner of Scient's financial services practice.

"AOL's new business-oriented services change all that and enable companies to offer greater collaboration and better service between financial advisers and their clients," he said.

With recent huge losses, AOL has been expected to start stepping up efforts to sell software to corporate customers in the wake of slowing subscriber growth and a soft online advertising market.

Moving into the business services market will also further increase its competition with key rival Microsoft. AOL's consumer instant messaging product, AIM, with some 34 million users, already competes with Microsoft's MSN Messenger in the consumer market.

AOL is already thought to be beefing up its Netscape browser software to better compete against Microsoft's dominant position in that market but, according to analysts, the corporate IM market is more open with one major player.