FOSTER CITY, CALIF. - February 6, 2007 -
FaceTime Communications, the leading provider of solutions for
securing and managing IM, P2P and Web-based greynets, today
announced a new partnership with Skype to deliver end-to-end
security, management and control of Skype to ensure its safe and
productive use within organizations.
FaceTime Internet Security Edition lets businesses manage how
Skype is used across their networks, by combining gateway security
and control with comprehensive endpoint management of Skype
software. The FaceTime solution uses open application programming
interfaces developed and made available by Skype for its business
partners through Skype's IT management framework.
With 171 million registered users worldwide, Skype's growing
popularity and inherent cost savings have made it very attractive
to businesses looking to provide the advantages of presence and
real-time Internet communications to their employees. FaceTime's
managed Skype solution provides IT and network administrators with
the ability to manage the use of Skype on their network with
granular controls to choose which elements of Skype software their
employees can use. For example, a company may allow voice services
but not file sharing or supernode capabilities.
Skype recently announced new features in Skype for Business that
make it more powerful for business users, including easier
installation and management. These enhanced management controls,
when combined with FaceTime's service, provide a compelling option
for businesses looking to control and manage security,
telecommunications costs and employee productivity.
"Today, 33 per cent of Skype's users in North America are
utilizing Skype for business purposes," said Kurt Sauer, Skype's
Chief Security Officer. "As a result of our work with FaceTime,
network administrators now have centralized management capabilities
in addition to the cost savings, simplicity and productivity
advantages Skype offers to businesses."
According to the Second Annual Greynets Survey conducted by
FaceTime and NewDiligence Market Research in October 2006,
two-thirds of IT managers recognize that IM and P2P have benefits,
but they know that these applications must be managed by IT. From
the user point of view, four in 10 employees believe they have the
right to install greynet applications, such as IM, Skype and P2P
applications, on their work computer; and more than half the end
users are at work locations where policies governing IM and P2P
usage are disregarded. This underscores the need for IT visibility
and control as these real-time communications applications
proliferate throughout the corporate network.
"Skype is a powerful example of the employee demand for
real-time collaboration," said Frank Cabri, vice president of
marketing for FaceTime Communications. "IT managers are recognizing
that a simple 'block or allow' scenario is not a workable solution
for securing their networks, because Internet communications
software - such as Skype - has become integral to the work culture
of today's employees. Partnering with Skype, FaceTime provides the
security measures required to provide visibility and control in a
way that meets the needs of employees and an organization's IT
staff."
FaceTime and Skype
Using the Skype IT Management Framework, FaceTime offers new
IT-oriented controls to manage Skype in an enterprise environment,
as part of FaceTime Internet Security Edition. Centralized policies
can easily be set and controlled at the systems administration
level and applied transparently to each employee's desktop so that
his or her Skype experience adheres to IT policy. For example, IT
managers can choose to allow or disallow various Skype elements for
the entire company, for groups or departments, or on an individual
basis, including file transfer, voice calling, video calling,
voicemail and voice recording.
In addition, proxy settings and listen port settings can be
calibrated and turned on or off for users. Administrators can also
prevent users from broadcasting their presence online. Web presence
settings can also be enabled or disabled, to prevent users from
exposing their availability to potentially malicious users. IT can
set parameters to deny users from becoming supernodes or relay
nodes, and a real-time bandwidth usage indicator provides a
constant measure for IT to determine Skype's impact on network
traffic.
About FaceTime Internet Security Edition
FaceTime Internet Security Edition consists of two components:
Greynet Enterprise Manager (GEM) which manages end-point policies
on the LAN, and Real-Time Guardian, which resides at the network
gateway to stop inbound malware threats, as well as outbound
information leaks. This architecture enables the secure enforcement
of all Skype policies at the desktop, while constantly evaluating
network traffic to prevent against rogue Skype use at the network
edge by employees attempting to circumvent company policies. This
powerful combination allows IT managers to set and enforce central
policies for the specific traffic that is permitted to cross the
network.
About Actiance, Inc. (Formerly FaceTime Communications, Inc.)
FaceTime Communications became Actiance, Inc on January 11, 2011 following an agreement to
transfer the FaceTime trademark to Apple.
FaceTime Communications enables the safe and productive use of Unified Communications and Web 2.0,
including instant messaging, blogs and social networking. Ranked number one by IDC for five consecutive
years, FaceTime's award-winning solutions are used by more than 1,500 customers for the security,
management and compliance of real-time communications. FaceTime supports or has strategic partnerships
with all leading IM, unified communications providers and social networks including AOL, Google, Yahoo!,
Skype, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
FaceTime is headquartered in Belmont, California. For more information visit
http://www.facetime.com or call 888-349-3223.
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