SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Microsoft announced on Tuesday upgrades to several products aimed at enhancing online communications between business users. The upgrades target companies that are looking to cut travel-related expenses by leveraging the internet to hold virtual meetings and keep employees in contact with each other without leaving their desks.”Communications technology is changing the way people do information work,” said Microsoft spokesperson Jeff Raikes. “But today, most of that communications is really very separate.”

One of the two upgrades comes to the company’s instant messaging program that is aimed at business customers. Office Communicator is an enhanced version of Windows Messenger, and it allows customers to reroute incoming communications to phone or instant messaging clients. Like existing instant messaging clients, Communicator will have the ability to track who is online and who is available for messages. It can also cooperate with existing IM clients such as MSN Messenger and AOL Instant Messenger.

Microsoft also updated Office Live Meeting, software that lets companies hold virtual meetings over the internet. Microsoft claims that it saved more than 40 million dollars using Office Live Meeting itself in lieu of real world meetings.