FOSTER CITY, CALIF. - September 10, 2007 -
Responding to the changing nature of Internet traffic, FaceTime
Communications today announced the first network security appliance
that provides comprehensive security and management across the
broadest set of Web and real-time communications applications under
a single point of control. The Unified Security Gateway (USG)
integrates management, security and compliance for Web
communications, consumer-driven greynet applications such as public
instant messaging (IM), Skype and P2P, and enterprise-class unified
communications platforms such as Microsoft's Office Communications
Server and IBM Lotus Sametime.
The New Internet
Internet communications have changed. Today, user-initiated
traffic is no longer limited to e-mail and Web browsing, but
dominated by highly evasive greynets - real time communications
such as IM, Skype, P2P and hundreds of other unique applications
and networks. Today's workforce is introducing these consumer
networks into the enterprise to improve communications at work and
to stay connected with their extended social networks.
Responding to this end-user demand, many large organizations are
deploying enterprise-grade Unified Communications platforms such as
Microsoft Office Communications Server and IBM Lotus Sametime.
"IM has become the launch pad from which other forms of
communication or meetings are established - a Web conference or
voice over IP call for example," said David Mario Smith, research
analyst for Gartner, Inc.. "The consumer IM client has become a UC
client, and organizations are rapidly adopting enterprise IM and UC
platforms. Today, we're seeing a 25 percent to 30 percent
penetration of enterprise IM, and we expect to see nearly 100
percent by 2010."
According to preliminary results of FaceTime's Annual Greynets
Survey to be released this fall, organizations that deploy
enterprise IM platforms continue to see significant use of consumer
IM. In fact, the penetration of IM systems in organizations from
providers including AOL, Yahoo, MSN and Google, combined with
enterprise IM deployments, has reached 96 percent according to
Osterman Research, Inc.
These trends create a heterogeneous network environment that
must be secured and managed by IT. Real-time Internet applications
pose myriad network and information security risks because they
provide vectors for malware, intellectual property loss, identity
theft and compliance risks. Consumer applications, to encourage the
broadest possible adoption, are particularly adept at traversing
existing security infrastructures. The challenge for IT
administrators is to gain visibility and control to ensure the safe
and productive use of these applications.
"Employees are driving the changes to the Internet traffic that
we're seeing on our network. We need more visibility into both the
real-time consumer applications like IM as well as the
Internet-based applications that employees are using," said Nick
Clark, IT manager for law firm Simmons & Simmons. "These two
worlds are converging as real-time applications are using the
network paths of traditional Web traffic. We used to worry about
the security of e-mail, Web traffic and IM as separate vectors, but
now the increase in volume and variety of new applications means
that we need a more holistic solution. The ability to manage and
control all of these modalities as one has a big impact on our
bottom line, in terms of both ease of management and total cost of
ownership."
Secure Web Gateway for Today's Internet
The FaceTime Unified Security Gateway (USG) is a secure Web
gateway appliance that enables enterprises to control real-time
communications. USG integrates management, security and compliance
of Web communications, consumer-driven greynet applications such as
public IM, Skype and P2P and enterprise-class Unified
Communications suites such as Microsoft's Office Communications
Server and IBM Lotus Sametime. From a single platform,
organizations can enable and enforce safe and productive use of
these applications and protect the network against inbound malware,
mitigate information leakage risks and insure that corporate,
regulatory and e-discovery needs are met.
The USG integrates gateway malware protection and Web filtering
with FaceTime's best-in-class IM hygiene and archiving, in a
purpose-built, hardened appliance. With this single point of
control, organizations can gain complete visibility of all Internet
communications and reduce total cost of ownership using a simpler
solution that is easily administered by the IT staff. Key
capabilities of USG include:
- Centralized policy management and control - single
solution for setting and enforcing policy for all elements of Web
browsing, UC and IM in use in the enterprise
- Web Filtering - powerful policies to control Web
access, prevent malware at the gateway and obtain complete
visibility over Web communications
- Content hygiene and security - virus scanning of file
attachments, worm blocking, spIM protection and keyword content
filtering for both UC-generated as well as federated public IM
- Regulatory compliance archiving and workflow -
guaranteed logging of all UC and public IM communications including
capture and archival of file attachments, tamper-resistant storage
of messages, and robust and easy-to-use review and audit
capabilities
- Easy administration and management - browser-based
management interface for policy configuration, compliance workflow
and message retrieval for e-discovery
- Flexible reporting - improved decision-making about
security issues and Internet usage through integrated real-time
reporting and monitoring, and compatibility with leading
third-party reporting applications
"Employees will always default to the tools they know and
understand, regardless of what the IT department sanctions as
official company policy," said Frank Cabri, vice president of
marketing and product management for FaceTime. "What these
employees do not realize is that when using these applications on
the enterprise network, their behavior can put their organizations
at risk. FaceTime's solutions provide IT with the controls to
manage consumer-oriented applications as a component of its
sanctioned Unified Communications strategy."
Availability and Pricing
Unified Security Gateway will be available in September from
FaceTime and its worldwide channel partners, with pricing starting
at $4,995. For more information please visit www.facetime.com.
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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