US investment bank Thomas Weisel Partners has chosen FaceTime's IM Auditor product to enable real-time communications between traders and customers via public instant messaging networks.
Using FaceTime technology, traders and customers will be able to conduct urgent business communications via public networks from AOL Time Warner, Microsoft and Yahoo! while ensuring administrative controls are in place to comply with government regulations, says the company.
The FaceTime IM Auditor enables IT departments to install a back-end software server behind their Internet firewall in order to manage and monitor instant messaging communication across all major public IM networks. Features of the solution include archiving of data to an auditable database; content scanning and Web-based query and retrieval of stored data; keyword watch lists for monitoring content of messages to ensure propriety of business communications; and automatic display of disclaimer notices on all instant messaging communication, management control of IM communication.
The product includes an easy installation and configuration process, no change in behavior for users of instant messaging clients, Web-based reports, and support for existing corporate proxy servers, says the company.
Robert Hahn, CIO, Thomas Weisel Partners, comments: "FaceTime's interface to the AOL, MSN and Yahoo! networks, and the fact that they are the only solution that can audit all public IM network traffic, solidified our confidence in FaceTime's ability to offer our employees and clients another important means of contact, while meeting our compliance and technology management needs."