in accordance with at least one embodiment , a system comprising an http gateway which is adapted to establish a communication link with an http server . the system further comprises an instant messaging communication subsystem which is adapted to enable communication between a plurality of instant messaging user interfaces coupled to the instant messaging communication subsystem . the http gateway also establishes a communication link with the instant messaging communication subsystem and receives commands from the instant messaging user interfaces . the received commands are converted to http requests , which are then sent to the http server . the http gateway receives http responses to the http requests from the http server and sends the http responses to the instant messaging user interfaces via the instant messaging communication subsystem .