Software maker Orchestria this week is expected to unveil a new version of its compliance-monitoring software that is aimed at helping companies manage how employees use unstructured electronic communications such as e-mail, instant messaging and the Web.

Orchestria is targeting companies in financial services and other tightly regulated industries that need to make sure the information being shared via employee communications is in accordance with the law. Its Active Policy Management 3.0 monitors messages in real time and alerts users to possible compliance breaches - such as document-sharing violations or inappropriate disclosures - before suspicious content gets sent.

For example, if an employee tries to send a document to a client without a requisite disclaimer, Orchestria's software can warn the employee to add the disclaimer. Or if an internal message from an employee in the research department to someone in the investment banking division violates corporate information boundaries, the software can block the exchange.

Users say there's a market for such tools. Regulatory initiatives are driving companies to keep better tabs on how corporate information is shared and stored, according to the Network World 500, a survey of 500 network IT executives conducted by Network World and Research Concepts. Among respondents, 46% said they will upgrade their applications or purchase new applications this year to ensure compliance with regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for financial accountability and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act for protecting patient privacy in healthcare. Another 10% will do so in the next one to two years, according to the survey.

Software tools designed to assist regulatory compliance include products that handle data collection, storage, retrieval and deletion, from vendors such as EMC, FileNet, Meridio and Zantaz; information analysis software for discovering and interpreting content, from vendors such as Orchestria and Convera; and security tools for restricting access to content, from vendors such as Courion.

New in Orchestria's Active Policy Management 3.0 is the option to deploy the software on a central server to extend coverage to mobile devices; previous versions required the software to be installed on individual desktops. Server-based deployment lets companies monitor messages conducted through Microsoft Outlook Web Access or sent from corporate-issued wireless handheld devices, says Paul Johns, Orchestria's vice president of global marketing.

The vendor's server-level agents are available for Microsoft Exchange Server. These agents intercept incoming and outgoing e-mail messages and send them to a pool of distributed "policy engines" to make sure the content complies with a company's policies. The policy engines tell the server agents if messages should be processed normally or blocked. If a message is blocked, the software informs the sender, recipient and appropriate legal or compliance staff and explains the nature of the infraction.