Company Information

Press Releases

Back

Use of Instant Messaging in Corporations Creates IT Headaches

Spector Professional Edition Offers Robust Solution for IM Monitoring and Recording

VERO BEACH, FL - July 1, 2002 - Once limited to teens and home use, instant messaging is now widely accepted as a standard method of communication in US businesses. Although touted for speed and convenience, instant messaging also contributes to lost employee productivity, bandwidth consumption and legal risks for the company when used improperly.

It has been estimated that by 2003, more than two-thirds of workers at large corporations will be using IM software from such companies as AOL Time Warner, Microsoft and Yahoo, Inc., according to Gartner, Inc and Reuters Group surveys As instant message usage increases in corporate America, the need to monitor those messages also increases, not only to detect abuse but also to limit legal liability. As corporations embrace IM technology, they follow the lead of Wall Street firms adhering to SEC rules that state every communication must be monitored and archived.

"Instant messaging is an efficient and convenient way for employees to communicate; however, like any Internet enabled activity, there can be occasional employee abuse", states Joel Williams, Network Administrator at Uline, a Midwest-based shipping supply distributor with 600 employees. "We have found Spector Pro to be an invaluable tool to record and monitor everything an employee does on their PC at work, whether it be web-surfing, instant messaging, chat or email - even offline activity. Not only do we have indisputable proof if abuse occurs, we also have a record of everything an employee does, which can be stored chronologically in a secure location on the network."

Spector Professional Edition, the 2002 winner of PC Magazine Editor's Choice for monitoring software, records both sides of the chat conversation for AOL Chat Rooms, AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger and records other Chat/IM programs via snapshots. The advanced keyword detection and notification feature alerts the administrator by email when specified keywords are detected in chat conversations and instant messages, incoming and outgoing email, URLs and web pages. Each alert contains the keyword detected, the time the keyword was detected, the current user logged in and additional detailed information.

"With the Instant Message Recorder built into Spector Pro, companies that need a detailed way to monitor and record chat conversations and instant messaging now have all the tools they need in one affordable package", states Doug Fowler, President of SpectorSoft Coporation. "That ability, combined with visual snapshot recording, email recording and instant notification provides businesses with the most powerful monitoring and surveillance solution on the market today", says Fowler.

Other features of Spector Professional include the Spector VCR-like snapshot recording, sophisticated keystroke journals, email recording that captures and displays a list of all incoming and outgoing email including Yahoo mail, Hotmail, Excite mail and AOL web based mail, AOL email and all SMTP-based emails, as well as scheduling features and stealth mode installation.

Single user Spector Professional Edition is available on the company web site for $99.95. Evaluation copies and corporate license pricing information is available by calling toll-free (888) 598-2788. SpectorSoft provides TOLL-FREE technical support 7 days a week.

__________

About SpectorSoft

SpectorSoft develops, markets and supports PC and Internet monitoring and surveillance products for education, business, government and home users, including Spector Pro, eBlaster, Spector for Mac, Spector CNE Investigator, and Spector 360.

More than 50,000 companies and more than 400,000 consumers have purchased SpectorSoft solutions to crack down on Internet abuse in their business or home, and SpectorSoft has been selected for three years by Inc. Magazine as one of the Fastest Growing Private Companies in America. SpectorSoft monitoring technology is a THREE-TIME winner of the prestigious PC Magazine Editors' Choice Award.

For more information about SpectorSoft Corporation and its monitoring software products, please visit www.spectorsoft.com. For more information about SpectorSoft's Partners Program, please visit www.spectorsoftpartners.com.

To schedule a product demonstration, please contact press@spectorsoft.com , or call: (772) 770-5670 .

Top

Back