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Press Release
FaceTime Announces RTG500TM: Industry's First Network Appliance to
Secure Instant Messaging and Peer-to-Peer Communications
RTG500 Provides Organizations such as Betzold Research & Trading, Inc. with Deep Understanding and Management of IM and P2P Use in the Enterprise
FOSTER CITY, Calif., Mar. 22, 2004 - Furthering its leadership as the premier provider of solutions that secure, manage, and extend instant messaging (IM) and other forms of real-time communications in the enterprise, FaceTime Communications today announced the immediate availability of FaceTime RTG500TM, an industry-first network appliance built for the safe, controlled and easy adoption of instant messaging in the enterprise.
RTG500 is a purpose-built, hardened network device that is easy to install, requires minimal IT administration resources and has no impact on network performance. The appliance delivers complete, non-stop protection from unauthorized IM connections, while also eliminating peer-to-peer (P2P) filesharing. KaZaA, Grokster, and Morpheus are among the P2P applications commonly downloaded by employees without IT knowledge. These applications decrease employee productivity, drain network performance, open corporate networks to attack, and render organizations liable for copyright infringement. With RTG500, IT administrators can easily keep up with an ever-growing number of threats through automated, real-time protocol updates to ensure their corporate networks are safe. In addition to blocking, RTG500 allows organizations to standardize on specific IM networks as dictated by corporate policy.
"We needed an extensible, comprehensive IM management and security solution that would address our needs to adhere to strict compliance and regulatory mandates," said Oscar Im, Director of Technology at Betzold Research & Trading, Inc., a fixed-income broker-dealer in Chicago, IL. "After an extensive technical evaluation, we found that FaceTime's RTG500 was the solution that provides the greatest network protection from rogue IM and P2P usage while posing the least strain on corporate IT to protect the productivity and cost saving benefits of legitimate IM usage."
"Managing instant messaging and peer-to-peer communications is a complex problem requiring a simplified solution," said Matt Cain, vice president at META Group. "As the recent 'Osama Found' adware and 'Bizek' worm demonstrated, enterprise IM users can be easily manipulated to expose their corporate networks to attack. But keeping traditional software solutions current with the latest protocol updates can place an enormous strain on IT. Hardware solutions that automate this process can effectively maintain up-to-the-minute network security without overburdening administrators."
"Most companies have come to realize the business benefits of IM, but its complex nature has left many wondering how it can be managed without the cost of additional IT resources," said Rahul Abhyankar, director of product management at FaceTime Communications. "RTG500 helps to make IM more useful by eliminating rogue IM and P2P use in a very simplified way."
RTG500 extends the core real-time management and control capabilities of FaceTime IM DirectorTM
and IMAuditorTM. Designed to be deployed in the corporate DMZ, RTG500 acts as a security gateway for real-time communications, providing security from unsafe IM features-such as file and image sharing, games and direct connections-by providing valuable network usage statistics and controlling rogue behavior through the blocking of port scanning and dynamic port negotiation. RTG500 detects and enforces application behavior based on patterns in the OSI model's application and is designed to seamlessly deploy within existing network security infrastructures. RTG500 complements existing enterprise network security products and firewalls.
RTG500 offers key functionality in three areas: 1) detection, 2) protection, 3) extension and integration:
Detection:
· Detect network behavior of all popular public IM networks and P2P applications
· Generate detailed IM and P2P activity reports, including bandwidth and application behavior
· Deploy seamlessly within existing network infrastructure
Protection:
· Block unauthorized IM connections, including protocol tunneling and port scanning
· Defend the network by blocking unsafe IM features such as games, image sharing and direct connections
· Block wide variety of P2P file sharing applications, including popular VoIP applications such as Skype
Extension and Integration:
· Seamless integration with FaceTime's suite of IM proxy solutions installed behind the corporate firewall
· Cisco AVVID and Symantec SESA certification
Key Benefits:
· Purpose-built and hardened security appliance with protocol updates for non-stop protection
· IM remains an efficient business tool while blocking undesired P2P applications
· Supports standardization on specific IM networks if desired
· Certified by leading security solution providers
RTG500 is generally available with pricing starting at $5,000. For additional sales information, FaceTime can be reached at http://www.facetime.com/imwithus.htm, (888) 349-FACE, or via IM screen name FaceTimeLive.
About FaceTime Communications
FaceTime Communications enables the safe and productive use of instant
messaging, Web usage and Unified Communications platforms. Ranked number one by
IDC for four consecutive years, FaceTime's award-winning solutions are used by
more than 900 customers – including nine of the 10 largest U.S. banks – for
security, management and compliance of real-time communications. FaceTime
supports or has strategic partnerships with all leading public and enterprise
IM network providers, including AOL, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Skype, IBM and Jabber.
FaceTime is headquartered in Belmont, California. For more information visit
http://www.facetime.com or call 888-349-FACE.
The FaceForward blog, at http://blog.facetime.com,
offers thoughts and opinions about the changing nature of Internet communications.
PR Contact:
Emily Chamberlin
650-762-2945
echamberlin@ar-edelman.com
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