Akonix Provides Greater Control over Corporate Instant Messaging with L7 Enterprise v4.0
Increases scalability for large IM gateway deployments and extends advanced policy management capabilities to enterprise IM systems
San Diego, CA - November 15, 2004 - Akonix Systems, Inc. has launched Akonix L7 Enterprise v4.0, delivering the management and security large organizations need as they adopt instant messaging (IM) as a critical corporate communications tool. Akonix's IM gateway provides more granular and flexible control of both enterprise IM systems, such as Microsoft(r) Office Live Communications Server (LCS) 2005, and public IM networks, such as AOL's AIM, as well as delivering enhanced compliance and deployment options.
Akonix L7 Enterprise offers a complete IM management system, serving as a proxy for external IM traffic, enforcing rules on IM access and use, stopping IM-borne viruses and spim, and monitoring and logging all IM conversations. Organizations are able to implement acceptable usage guides by defining and applying rules for which employees can access IM, who they are allowed to chat with and what they can discuss. Adherence to corporate policies on the appropriate use of IM allows organizations to ensure that both enterprise and public IM is being used productively, securely and in compliance with industry or government regulations.
Version 4.0 extends Akonix's patent-pending IMX(tm) real-time event architecture to provide instantaneous policy enforcement for users of Microsoft LCS and IBM Lotus Instant Messaging (formerly Sametime). Companies embracing the use of internal IM for business communications require the same advanced policy management for these systems as for public IM networks, providing a single easy-to-use management console for IM use.
This release also delivers the industry's only IM management gateway that gives companies advanced, granular control over specific IM features, such as MSN Messenger's Application Sharing, AIM's Games, or Yahoo!'s WebCam. Corporate policies controlling these features help ensure IM is used for business purposes, while managing security and network bandwidth impacts. For example, IT managers may allow specific users, groups or domains within the organization unfettered access to IM chat for business purposes but limit access to games or multimedia applications that might negatively impact productivity, bandwidth utilization and network security.
"Working with some of its largest customers, Akonix has made significant performance improvements to the underlying real-time engine to accommodate the most demanding of corporate messaging environments," said Ron Hegli, vice president of Engineering at Akonix. "Akonix L7 Enterprise v4.0 brings a 400% increase in performance over the current version, enabling a single server to accommodate up to an industry-leading 50,000 concurrent IM users."
"Akonix's platform provides a solid enterprise instant messaging gateway with a flexible, intuitive policy engine," noted Nate Root, senior analyst at Forrester Research*. "Administrators can set up rules that contain multiple conditions, filters and target groups by simply clicking through intuitive wizards.... Akonix L7 Enterprise also provides a configurable automatic update feature that downloads new default filters as Akonix creates them in response to newly discovered threats."
Akonix L7 Enterprise v4.0 includes the following enhancements:
Real-time policy management for enterprise IM systems - set and enforce corporate IM policies with Akonix's flexible, intuitive management system for Microsoft LCS and IBM Lotus Instant Messaging
Comprehensive public IM feature control - maximize data and network protection and ensure the productive use of IM by managing access to games, audio/video conferencing, application sharing and other features of today's public IM clients
Mobile and remote user support - manage and log remote users on corporate MSN Messenger accounts through certified support for MSN Connect Anytime Anywhere
Performance and availability - support load balancers and scale to support global network deployments
Granular disclaimers - customize user notifications by user, group or domain to address different departments, business units or country requirements
Enhanced anti-virus support - leverage existing AV investment through support for Symantec anti-virus for scanning IM file transfers over public or enterprise IM
Additional IM system support - consolidate Bloomberg messaging logs for uniform auditing, archiving and full compliance management
"Akonix works closely with our enterprise customers and IM partners to identify critical capabilities required for safe, productive use of IM for business," said Francis Costello, chief marketing officer at Akonix. "Akonix L7 Enterprise v4.0 meets the requirements of enterprises looking for basic IM control, and those deploying IM as a critical business communications tool. By extending our unique real-time policy engine to Microsoft LCS and IBM Lotus IM systems it is even easier for corporations to ensure usage policies are enforced consistently for all IM users. The input of our 400+ customers continues to make Akonix L7 Enterprise the heart of an unmatched IM security, compliance and management system."
To enable managed, secure and compliant use of multi-network instant messaging in your organization, visit http://www.akonix.com for a free trial or to request more information. Akonix L7 Enterprise v4.0 is currently in beta and will be available within the next 30 days. - - -
* September 2004 report, Scorecard Summary: Akonix L7 Enterprise 3.0 and Enforcer 3.2