Logging and archiving all electronic records, including messages sent over instant messaging and SMS is a key requirement for companies in the financial services sector including FSA and SEC regulated companies.

IMAuditor version 9.7 integrates with BlackBerry Enterprise Server to capture SMS and PIN messages for compliance purposes. (PIN messaging lets users send messages between BlackBerry devices based on their personal identification numbers.) With IM Auditor, organisations can allow certain employees to use these forms of text messaging, while blocking others. The integration of IMAuditor with the BlackBerry Enterprise Server also makes it possible for compliance officers to review SMS and PIN messages sent by corporate BlackBerry users.

"In a dynamic sector such as financial services, information is often only valid for short periods of time, which is why the immediacy of SMS and chat applications is so popular within the industry," comments Nick Sears, VP EMEA of FaceTime Communications. "But without monitoring or logging these conversations, organisations not only leave themselves open to regulatory issues such as compliance with the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), but also run the risk of wayward employees abusing the system."

IMAuditor 9.7 also provides real-time monitoring and compliance capabilities for group chats within Microsoft's OCS. This functionality was recently introduced into OCS and allows users to create topic-based chat rooms.

IMAuditor gives visibility into who joined and who left a particular chat room, and at what point. Management can therefore determine exactly who was privy to certain parts of the conversation. While group chat is a new feature in OCS, it has been available as a stand-alone application for several years and has developed a large user-base over time, hence the need for a solution to monitor these electronic conversations. As a Gold Level ISV Partner of Microsoft, FaceTime is the only vendor that provides this capability.

"As mobile devices - led by the BlackBerry platform - become more widely deployed, a greater proportion of corporate data will be sent from and to these devices", said Michael Osterman, President of Osterman Research, Inc.

"Organisations that do not adequately manage and archive the content on these devices run the risk of creating serious regulatory, legal and data management problems that they could easily avoid."