The announcement came during Microsoft Real-Time Collaboration Group corporate vice president Gurdeep Singh Pall's keynote address today at Interop in New York.
The new Web-based client will provide another option for accessing Microsoft's Live Communications Server 2005 messaging and collaboration environment. The lightweight client, based on Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (Ajax) technologies, went into beta testing over the summer.
In addition, Communicator Web Access, with the Live Communications Server 2005 Public IM Connectivity offering, is said to provide connectivity to the MSN, AOL and Yahoo! public IM services.
Communicator Web Access employs an interface based on the desktop version of the client, Microsoft Office Communicator 2005. Once deployed, users need only open their Web browser, point it to a specified Web site address and enter their credentials to access Communicator Web Access.
Communicator Web Access is available to download at no additional charge to customers who have licensed Live Communications Server 2005. Customers installing Live Communications Server 2005 for the first time can choose to include Communicator Web Access as part of their deployment or add it later, according to Microsoft.