Sequoia Software Corporation announced a partnership with Bantu, Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based provider of instant messaging and presence management technology for enterprise applications software and services companies. Sequoia is integrating Bantu’s instant messaging application, Bantu Messenger, into its XML-pure portal software product, XPS. Once combined, Sequoia customers will have the option of providing users with a confidential mechanism for instant messaging with other portal users, as well as the millions of individuals using Bantu and other popular instant messaging platforms such as ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo! In addition to enhancing the collaborative capabilities of XPS, Sequoia selected Bantu Messenger because it protects user confidentiality, encrypts all messages, integrates presence detection and instant messaging seamlessly into the XPS portal, and is interoperable with other instant messaging systems. www.bantu.com, www.sequoiasoftware.com