Salesforce.com buys Dimdim

Salesforce.com announced Thursday it has purchased Web conferencing software vendor Dimdim for US$31 million, and plans to use the company's innovation to augment its Chatter enterprise collaboration platform.

Suite of messaging

Dimdim provides a suite of messaging, screen-sharing and other capabilities. Its addition to Chatter will mimic "the proven Facebook model of combining collaboration and communication into an integrated service," Salesforce.com said.

The deal, which had been rumored for some time, as well represents the latest effort by Salesforce.com, all in all best known for its core CRM software, to round out a portfolio of business applications and services.

Chris Kanaracus covers enterprise software and general innovation breaking news for The IDG News Service. Chris's e-mail address is Chris_Kanaracus@idg.com