A method for supporting a communication application between a plurality of enterprises in a secure manner, where each enterprise includes a plurality of clients, includes providing a distributed instant multimedia communication (IMC) system that includes a plurality of autonomous networks communicatively coupled to one another via a network. Each autonomous network is associated with an enterprise and includes an IMC server that manages IMC services for a plurality of clients in the enterprise, The IMC server is configured to support a private channel that allows each client in the enterprise to share its presence information with other clients in other enterprises. The method also includes providing the communication application in a first client in a first enterprise such that a user of the first client is allowed to invoke and control the communication application locally, and allowing the user of the first client to invoke the communication application to create application specific data and to create a recipient list comprising a recipient client in a second enterprise. The application specific data and the recipient list are received by a first IMC server associated with the first enterprise, and in response to receiving the application specific data and recipient list, utilizes the private channel to transmit the application specific data to the recipient client in the second enterprise.