The security and privacy requirements of corporate customers are much stricter than the demands of home users. A piece of sensitive information from an occasional message can easily cause all sorts of damage from bad public relation to declined stock prices. It is essential for the corporate users to make sure that nothing ever slips out into the Internet.
When it comes to instant messaging, firewalls and antivirus programs can reduce the risk of an outside attack. That, however, does not fix the issue. The publically available instant messaging systems such as ICQ, AOL, MSN or Yahoo messengers were never designed to secure sensitive information. One cannot configure a buddy-chat instant messaging system to conform to the strict security policies imposed by the corporations.
Fortunately, corporations are not limited to the well-known products used by general public. While it is essential for the general-use instant messengers to be widely popular in order to maintain their user base, the instant messaging systems used on the corporate level don’t have to be popular at all. This class of products is used strictly on corporate premises, and is installed by the...