New Version of Orchestria Software Eases the Compliance Monitoring Burden
Users of Orchestria's APM Version 3.0 Can Choose between Monitoring Employee Email, Web and IM Activity at the Server Level or at the Desktop
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 28, 2004--
Orchestria, a provider of real-time visibility and control solutions for email, the Web, instant messaging and other electronic communications, today announced the general availability of version 3.0 of its Active Policy Management (APM) software, which presents significant new architectural benefits, ease-of-use features and cost efficiencies to Orchestria customers.
Orchestria's APM is widely used in the financial services industry and other tightly regulated sectors to manage employee use of "unstructured communications" such as email, instant messaging (IM) and the Web. It monitors communications for compliance with corporate policy and industry regulations, and manages the lifecycle of every electronic communication from creation to deletion. Orchestria's APM is unique in that it monitors such activity in real time, alerting users to possible breaches of compliance before the offending message is ever sent, received or recorded in the archive, thereby protecting organizations and their employees from potential regulatory investigations or the loss of intellectual property.
The new version, Active Policy Management v3.0, addresses feedback that Orchestria has received from users and prospects. Purchasers of Orchestria's APM can now choose to deploy the software at the server level and/or at the level of the individual desktop. The software's ability to monitor, archive and display Instant Message conversations has also been extended, and there are enhanced audit features to make the task of reviewing questionable messages easier.
Overall, the new version is designed to reduce further the costs associated with the monitoring, storage and retrieval of unstructured communications, while providing an improved toolset for compliance and audit staff.
Server-Level Deployment
Version 3.0 introduces new server-level agents, the first of which is available for Microsoft Exchange. These agents reside on the Microsoft Exchange Server and intercept incoming and outgoing emails as they pass through the server, farming them out for analysis to a scalable pool of distributed Policy Engines (PEs). The Policy Engine analyzes the messages against the organization's defined policy parameters and takes appropriate action, notifying the Server Agent that the message should continue to be processed normally, or by blocking it and advising the sender, recipient and other parties (e.g. Legal and Compliance department) of the reasons for doing so.
"The server-side deployment option presents significant benefits for organizations who need to monitor messages sent from handheld devices like BlackBerry and GoodLink, as well as activity conducted through MS Outlook Web Access," said Pete Malcolm, Chief Executive Officer, Orchestria. "Now, even messages that are sent from handheld to handheld can be monitored in real-time and halted before they become discoverable events."
Orchestria's APM can also be deployed at the desktop (PC or laptop) level for some or all users. In this scenario it analyzes all incoming and outgoing email locally, advising users via a pop-up alert when an email appears to contravene policy. Users may then have the choice between continuing with the message, modifying it or abandoning it, and a record of this decision can be automatically routed to a designated Compliance representative.
"The ability to mix desktop and server agents in any combination is an important feature, allowing customers to select the most appropriate agent type for each user," said Malcolm. "Messages which have been processed by a desktop agent are automatically passed through by server agents, eliminating the possibility of double scanning."
Extended Support for Instant Messaging
APM v3.0 also now includes features that make it much easier for compliance and audit staff to retrieve and review Instant Message conversations. Rather than capture each instant message as a separate communication, which incurs unnecessarily high storage costs, APM v3.0 automatically combines message threads into one or more "chapters" bounded by natural breaks in the conversation, such as periods of silence, fixed time periods, or policy events. Reviewers can search for words, concepts or participants, and will be presented with an easy-to-read record of an entire conversation, making the nature and context of the exchange much easier to determine, while minimizing storage requirements.
Enhanced Audit Features
As with earlier versions of the software, Orchestria's APM v3.0 includes a Data Management Console (DMC), which is the interface used by Compliance staff to manage the monitoring, review and archival of unstructured communications. In APM v3.0, the Audit tab in the DMC has been extended to make it quicker and easier for reviewers and auditors to assign comments and actions to suspect messages. For example, reviewers can choose from a configurable drop-down menu of actions, such as "escalate to head office" or "mark for urgent review", and new workflow features will carry out the appropriate action, such as routing the email to head office. A free-form comments field allows reviewers to add any accompanying comments necessary.
According to Pete Malcolm, the new version of the software is designed to help organizations address three pressing business issues. "Organizations in tightly regulated industries face the problems of ensuring regulatory compliance, retaining their intellectual property and reducing the data storage burden," he said. "The massive increase in the corporate use of email and instant messaging is great for productivity, but at the same time it is causing a major headache in these three areas. Our software is designed to relieve that headache by bringing the use of unstructured communications under firm control."
Alan Rodger, of industry analysts Butler Group, agrees. "Orchestria enables enterprises confidently to face the challenges of regulating their use of electronic communications," he observed in a recent technical audit of the company's software. "The solution's management features fulfil the most advanced requirements of organizations that are burdened by regulatory and legislative pressures that govern organizational communications."
Availability and Pricing
Orchestria's Active Policy Management v3.0 is available immediately. Pricing is determined according to the individual customer organization's requirements. Further information is available from Orchestria on 212-364-5300, info@orchestria.com or at www.orchestria.com.
About Orchestria
Orchestria is the leading innovator in technology that provides unprecedented levels of real-time visibility and control of all electronic communications, including email, the Web and Instant Messaging. This process is known as Active Policy Management (APM).
Orchestria's APM solution dynamically applies specific and explanatory policy at the point of interaction, which means that non-compliant events, such as information boundary breaches, document-sharing violations or inappropriate disclosures are determined and filtered as they occur.
Orchestria APM has been deployed by some of the world's largest corporations, including Wall Street banks, which face an increased regulatory environment since the introduction of legislation such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) and SEC/NASD regulations. Its pioneering technology analyzes content, context and concepts; enforces corporate policy; optimizes existing storage solutions; eliminates unauthorized data loss; and ensures regulatory compliance.
Founded in August 2000, Orchestria has offices in New York and London, and a dedicated development facility based in Taunton, UK. It is a privately held company. More details can be found at www.orchestria.com.
Contacts
VisiTech PR
Melody W. Callaway, 303-752-8638
Melody@VisiTechpr.com
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