Troubleshooter: Matching IM Addresses to Email Addresses

We're using Exchange 2000 Server Instant Messaging (IM). Some users complain that their IM addresses don't match their email addresses. Why don't these addresses match?

This mismatch is by design. All IM addresses can take two forms—user@domain or [email protected]—that might or might not correspond to actual user email addresses. For example, if you set up SRV records for the rendezvous protocol (RVP), you can use user@domain as an email, logon, and IM address. However, if you don't establish these SRV records, you might need to send mail to user@domain, log on as [email protected], and send IM messages to [email protected]. The Exchange and MSN Messenger clients complicate matters by displaying the IM address in the conversation window but using the correct mail address when you use either client to send mail to the user.