Ubique was a

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

company based in Israel. In 1994 the company launched the first social-networking software, which included instant messaging, voice over IP (Commonly known as VoIP), chat rooms, web-based events, collaborative browsing. It is best known for the Virtual Places software product and the technology used by

Lotus Sametime HCL Sametime Premium (formerly IBM Sametime and IBM Lotus Sametime) is a client–server application and middleware platform that provides real-time, unified communications and collaboration for enterprises. Those capabilities include presence ...

. It is now part of

IBM Haifa Labs IBM is a globally integrated enterprise operating in 170 countries. IBM's R&D history in Israel began in 1972 when Professor Josef Raviv established the IBM Israel Scientific Center in the Technion's Computer Science Building in Haifa. Today, ov ...

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 a
VPChat
an

and eventually evolved into

. Virtual Places requires a server and client software. Users start Virtual Places along with a web browser and sign into the Virtual Places server.

Avatars Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance ...

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 Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of online chat allowing real-time text transmission over the Internet or another computer network. Messages are typically transmitted between two or more parties, when each user inputs text and trigge ...

and presence technology platform which evolved into Lotus Sametime.

History

1994 – Ubique Ltd was founded in Israel by

Ehud Shapiro Ehud Shapiro ( he, אהוד שפירא; born 1955) is a multi-disciplinary scientist, artist, entrepreneur and Professor of Computer Science and Biology at the Weizmann Institute of Science. With international reputation, he made fundamental cont ...

and a group of scientists from the

Weizmann Institute The Weizmann Institute of Science ( he, מכון ויצמן למדע ''Machon Vaitzman LeMada'') is a public research university in Rehovot, Israel, established in 1934, 14 years before the State of Israel. It differs from other Israeli univ ...

to develop

real-time Real-time or real time describes various operations in computing or other processes that must guarantee response times within a specified time (deadline), usually a relatively short time. A real-time process is generally one that happens in defined ...

distributed computing A distributed system is a system whose components are located on different computer network, networked computers, which communicate and coordinate their actions by message passing, passing messages to one another from any system. Distributed com ...

products. The company developed a presence-based chat system known as Virtual Places along with real-time

and presence technology software. These were the very early days of the web, which at the time had only static data. Ubique's mission was "to add people to the web". 1995 –

America Online AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo! Inc. ...

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 principal 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. 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

. The Lab develops

Session Initiation Protocol The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a signaling protocol used for initiating, maintaining, and terminating communication sessions that include voice, video and messaging applications. SIP is used in Internet telephony, in private IP telepho ...

(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

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External links

IBM Haifa Labs website
Instant messaging Software companies of Israel Israeli companies established in 1994 IBM acquisitions