As it prepares several collaboration software products for debut this year, Microsoft has released a Windows XP update and software development kit to enable peer-to-peer networking across those products. The Advanced Networking Pack for Windows XP, which is available Thursday as a stand-alone update and will be folded into the Windows XP Service Pack 2 later this year, incorporates the necessary plumbing to enable applications that exploit P2P functionality--realtime communications and collaboration apps, for example, Microsoft executives said on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the company disclosed updated names for its forthcoming Real-time Communications Server and Web conferencing technology: Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2003, formerly PlaceWare Conference Center, and Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2003, respectively. Microsoft would not elaborate on how the collaboration services will leverage P2P technology, but one company executive said that Microsoft's P2P team has worked closely with the Real-time Communications Server team for some time.