AOL officially launched the Triton upgrade to its AOL Instant Messenger, which it now describes as a "new front door" to digital communications, including PC-to-PC chat through voice over internet protocol (VOIP) technology that would help AOL compete with programs such as Skype, reports E-Commerce Times. "We anticipate that the AIM Triton service will accelerate the growing use of voice, video and desktop-to-mobile messaging across all users," said Chamath Palihapitiya, vice-president and general manager for AIM.

Triton will include text and voice chat, and AOL users will have one-click access to the rest of AOL sites, including AOL radio. The update also contains a beta version of a video instant messaging service, a telephony service that can connect to any computer with web access, and a VOIP service that supports conference calls with up to 20 users.

"AIM was the foundation for the move to more of a web portal," Forrester analyst Charlene Li said. "It was a good strategy and it's something that AOL hopes to continue to be able to build on" while competing with Yahoo, MSN and Google.