An ePolicy Institute survey adds "(58%) of workplace users engage in personal IM chat. Survey respondents report sending and receiving the following types of inappropriate and potentially damaging IM content: attachments (19%); jokes, gossip, rumors, or disparaging remarks (16%); confidential information about the company, a coworker, or client (9%); sexual, romantic, or pornographic content (6%)".

The Akonix Suite is a series of Instant Messaging gateway products that protect you against inappropriate IM behavior. It archives, content filters, adds disclaimers, manages attachments and enables IM anti-virus for public instant messaging including AOL AIM, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger. It also supports Microsoft Live Communication Server (LCS) and Lotus Sametime.

• Manages authorized IM use
• Prevents inappropriate and noncompliant communications via content filtering
• Virus scans or blocks file transfers
• Integrates with major corporate directories organization.
• Logs, Archives and Reports on all enterprise IM activity
• Integrates with email archiving and enterprise IM systems
• Dynamically updates fast changing protocol definitions
• Provides high-availability via native clustering
  

The Components

Akonix Rogue Aware  
Akonix Rogue Aware is a free network "sniffer" that detects and reports on the use of Public Instant Messaging and Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file sharing within corporate networks.  Rogue Aware quickly exposes hidden instant messaging and p2p file sharing traffic and allows IT administrators to view usage statistics.  Rogue aware is used  by corporations as well as vulnerability assessment specialists as a litmus test for network vulnerabilities.

Akonix Enforcer™ 
Akonix Enforcer™ allows organizations to block the use of unauthorized Public Instant Messaging and Peer-to-Peer (P2P) File Sharing.  IT administrators can choose which users are allowed access to these services, log all traffic, and generate comprehensive reports on the use of Public Instant Messaging and P2P File Sharing.

Akonix L7 Enterprise
[Network Magazine's Product of the Year 2003]
Akonix L7 Enterprise is the only true enterprise-class IM management solution to bring security, real-time management, reporting and regulatory compliance to unsupervised and uncontrolled enterprise IM usage. L7 provides IT organizations with the enterprise management and integration needed to leverage the productivity benefits of IM while addressing the business and security risks associated with its use.

L7 Enterprise architecture utilizes plug-in Protocol Adaptors, each of which detects and manages a set of protocols. L7 Enterprise
public IM protocol support includes - AOL, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo! with optional connectors for integrating enterprise IM traffic from Reuters, Microsoft Live Communications Server and IBM Lotus Messaging.

L7 offers critical capabilities that enable the continued use of public IM for business, allowing your employees to safely and effectively communicate with customers, suppliers and trading partners. Capabilities such as real-time policy enforcement, real-time management, logging and archiving and monitoring capabilities allow creation and enforcement of virtually any required corporate policy. Our customer ensure regulatory compliance, drive employee productivity and enable close supervision of critical communications via IM without any change in user behavior or client software.

Akonix Compliance Manager
Akonix Compliance Manager is a comprehensive solution for managing SEC, NASD, HIPAA, and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.  Built on the strengths of Akonix L7 Enterprise v2.0, Akonix Compliance Manager provides organizations with a complete workflow for reviewing and auditing instant messaging conversations and demonstrating compliance to regulatory agencies. 

Copyright Akonix Inc.