Reuters IM users get FaceTime

Reuters has announced a deal with secure enterprise IM firm FaceTime as its OEM provider for Reuters Messaging Compliance Manager.

Reuters will release the new product later this year to cut through the minefield of compliance problems related to digital communications over IM and P2P.

FaceTime's TrueCompliance solution will offer full support to Reuters Messaging clients across trading floors worldwide which need to marry real-time communications with tightening compliance such as Basel II and Sarbanes-Oxley.

David Gurle, global head of collaboration services at Reuters, said: "It is critical our compliance platform supports our customers' needs to meet the most stringent regulatory requirements."

Kailash Ambwani, CEO of FaceTime, told silicon.com companies have now woken up to the benefits of IM which can provide document sharing and communications in real time where email has become undermined by spam and related usability issues.

While free AOL, MSN or Yahoo! services may be fine for kids and home users, Ambwani is also confident companies are becoming increasingly aware of the need to use a more mature and enterprise-ready solution.

"IM is becoming a far broader management and security issue," Ambwani told silicon.com.

IM is increasingly becoming a target for malicious code - though this is more indicative of the need to secure it rather than abandon its use, Ambwani claimed.

Earlier this month Reuters was forced to take its IM service offline following the Kelvir worm outbreak. However, it had already signed the deal with FaceTime prior to the Kelvir outbreak on 15 April, according to Ambwani.

FaceTime has partner agreements in place with antivirus vendors McAfee and Symantec as well as providing its own filtering controls as well as access and compliance management solutions.