InfoSpace.com Thursday acquired community-building communications technology from Active Voice for $18 million.
InfoSpace said the technology, currently named MyAgent, supports the creation of customized, real-time communication services for Web sites and Internet appliances.
InfoSpace said the buy will add instant messaging to the suite of communications services offered to InfoSpace.com affiliates. The services will also be integrated into InfoSpace.com’s current offerings.
MyAgent provides secure, permission-based text, voice and video messaging, file transfer and URL sharing, Internet voice and video conferencing, messaging routing and scheduling functions. The company plans to launch a variety of new services using the technology, including online calendars, chat and other community services.
InfoSpace will take an unspecified one-time research and development charge and will amortize the remaining cost of the purchase over the next three to five years.
InfoSpace provides private-label content and community solutions to more than 1,800 affiliates including America Online, Netscape, Microsoft and Lycos.