* Tools to monitor IM and P2P activities
FaceTime Communications is the latest in a series of companies that are releasing products to make instant messaging programs more secure. Since instant messaging has become a sort of underground form of corporate workplace file trading, this new tool could well get in the way of those who inadvisably exchange music files at work.
The IM Guardian product monitors and manages network traffic over instant messaging, P2P, Web conferencing and voice over IP applications. A company can use the tool to block undesirable data exchanges or manage them according to their corporate IT policies.
Another tool put out by FaceTime, IM Director, lets companies log and archive instant messaging exchanges, and incorporate security features. FaceTime has offered these tools in the past to financial service organizations, which are required by law to monitor and archive data exchanges.
It is interesting that companies in other industries are now seeing the need to conduct this type of monitoring, either to make employees conform to corporate policies, avoid lawsuits, or preserve bandwidth. FaceTime says that IM Guardian is responding to the increased use of instant messaging and P2P applications in workplaces.
It is a testament to the popularity of instant messaging and P2P nets that such tools are successful. But it also speaks to the frustrations of network administrators who are worried about these applications being used as a conduit for security attacks.
It is also interesting to note that Microsoft, IBM, Sun, AOL and Yahoo are all trying to sell enterprise instant messaging products. Companies know that there is a market in add-on software that can help make instant messaging more tightly managed.
FaceTime has already done deals with AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo to improve the security of their instant messaging services. Applications such as instant messaging or P2P, that support the free exchange of information, also introduce security issues that a whole group of third party software companies will profit from in the years ahead.
