Actiance
Encyclopedia
Actiance Inc is an American based multinational corporation
that develops the platforms required to enable the security, management and compliance of unified communications, Web 2.0 and social media channels. Headquartered in Belmont, California, Actiance supports all leading social networks, unified communications
providers and Instant Messaging
platforms, including Facebook
, LinkedIn
, Twitter
, AOL
, Google
, Yahoo!
, Skype
, Microsoft
, IBM
and Cisco
.
In 2001 the company launched its first compliance and security solution for IM networks, IM Auditor. Aimed specifically at the financial services
sector that needed to comply enables financial services organizations the ability to leverage the power of public instant messaging networks from AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo! for time-sensitive communications, while ensuring administrative controls are in place to comply with government regulations.
By 2003 over 50% of the top 100 financial services firms worldwide that needed to comply with Securities and Exchange Commission and NASD
record retention and supervisory requirements were using IM Auditor, whilst others were still questioning whether IM had a place in business networks.
Actiance introduced the first network appliance to control the use of IM in the enterprise in 2004. Capable of preventing unauthorized IM connections and stopping peer-to-peer
(P2P) filesharing on sites such as KaZaA
, Grokster
and Morpheus
, Real Time Guardian (RTG) identified and controlled access to the growing number of applications that traversed the network without the IT department’s knowledge. Actiance continued to add features to RTG including support for unified communication platforms such as Microsoft Office Communications Server and IBM Lotus Sametime
and in 2005 in response to the growing threat from worms and spyware traversing IM networks a zero day defence system was added.
In 2008, Actiance added new capabilities to RTG’s successor, Unified Security Gateway (USG), providing IT managers with management, security and control over 140 social networking sites, 20,000 individual Facebook widgets and more than 400 Web and real-time applications. Making USG the first secure Web gateway to combine content monitoring, management and security of Web 2.0 applications, such as social networks, instant messaging and Unified Communications, with URL filtering, malware and Web antivirus protection.
2010 saw another first for Actiance when it launched Vantage, IMAuditor’s successor, which included stringent security and compliance controls for Skype in the enterprise. Vantage provides granular security, policy controls and compliance features for real time and unified communications (UC) – providing management for the widest variety of UC and real time communications platforms; including Microsoft Office Communications Server and IBM Lotus Sametime, public instant messaging platforms such as Windows Live and Skype, web conferencing and industry focused networks like Reuters, Bloomberg and YellowJacket. Later that same year it include support for Microsoft Lync Server.
Also 2010 Actiance launched Socialite Enable, a security, management and compliance solution for enterprises using social networks. Socialite provides granular control of applications such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, and allows organisations to comply with regulatory compliance demanded by organizations such as such as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority
(FINRA) and the Financial Services Authority
. Available as both a software-as-a-service deployment (SaaS) or as an on-premises installation as a module of USG, Socialite Enable allows for organizations to control social media features and communications for users both on the corporate network and situated remotely.
In June 2011 Actiance announced Socialite Engage, a new platform that allows distributed teams to share content, engage with clients and prospects, and analyze the impact of the content on social media sites. Designed specifically to enable investment and insurance professionals to distribute pre-approved content, Socialite Engage enables any organization to manage social media in a secure and compliant environment, while allowing users to see at a glance which content had the most impact. It also leverages third party data sources, such as internal systems and data feeds, highlights channels that are the most effective and identifies potential sales leads.
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
that develops the platforms required to enable the security, management and compliance of unified communications, Web 2.0 and social media channels. Headquartered in Belmont, California, Actiance supports all leading social networks, unified communications
Unified communications
Unified communications is the integration of real-time communication services such as instant messaging , presence information, telephony , video conferencing, data sharing , call control and speech recognition with non-real-time communication services such as unified...
providers and Instant Messaging
Instant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
platforms, including Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a business-related social networking site. Founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. , LinkedIn reports more than 120 million registered users in more than 200 countries and territories. The site is available in English, French,...
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
, AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
, Skype
Skype
Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chat over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system...
, Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
and Cisco
Cisco
Cisco may refer to:Companies:*Cisco Systems, a computer networking company* Certis CISCO, corporatised entity of the former Commercial and Industrial Security Corporation in Singapore...
.
History
Established in 1997, Actiance provided call center and CRM enablement for instant messaging, web chat and email. Working closely with AOL, Yahoo!, MSN and Microsoft, Actiance established the industry's first CAP agreements (Certified Access Programs) providing enhanced access to the public IM networks. In 2000, Actiance was awarded "Most Innovative Use of Real-time Collaboration" at the Microsoft Exchange Conference.In 2001 the company launched its first compliance and security solution for IM networks, IM Auditor. Aimed specifically at the financial services
Financial services
Financial services refer to services provided by the finance industry. The finance industry encompasses a broad range of organizations that deal with the management of money. Among these organizations are credit unions, banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, consumer finance companies,...
sector that needed to comply enables financial services organizations the ability to leverage the power of public instant messaging networks from AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo! for time-sensitive communications, while ensuring administrative controls are in place to comply with government regulations.
By 2003 over 50% of the top 100 financial services firms worldwide that needed to comply with Securities and Exchange Commission and NASD
NASD
NASD may refer to:*National Agricultural Safety Database, maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention*National Amalgamated Stevedores and Dockers, a British trade union...
record retention and supervisory requirements were using IM Auditor, whilst others were still questioning whether IM had a place in business networks.
Actiance introduced the first network appliance to control the use of IM in the enterprise in 2004. Capable of preventing unauthorized IM connections and stopping peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application...
(P2P) filesharing on sites such as KaZaA
Kazaa
Kazaa Media Desktop started as a peer-to-peer file sharing application using the FastTrack protocol licensed by Joltid Ltd. and operated as Kazaa by Sharman Networks...
, Grokster
Grokster
Grokster Ltd. was a privately owned software company based in Nevis, West Indies that created the Grokster peer-to-peer file-sharing client in 2001 that utilized the FastTrack protocol. Grokster Ltd. was rendered extinct in late 2005 by the United States Supreme Court's decision in MGM Studios,...
and Morpheus
Morpheus
Morpheus may refer to:Characters*Morpheus , the principal god of dreams in the Greek mythology*Morpheus , a moniker for Dream, a fictional character in the comic book The Sandman...
, Real Time Guardian (RTG) identified and controlled access to the growing number of applications that traversed the network without the IT department’s knowledge. Actiance continued to add features to RTG including support for unified communication platforms such as Microsoft Office Communications Server and IBM Lotus Sametime
IBM Lotus Sametime
IBM Sametime is a client–server application and middleware platform that provides real-time, unified communications and collaboration for enterprises. Those capabilities include presence information, enterprise instant messaging, web conferencing, community collaboration, and telephony capabilities...
and in 2005 in response to the growing threat from worms and spyware traversing IM networks a zero day defence system was added.
In 2008, Actiance added new capabilities to RTG’s successor, Unified Security Gateway (USG), providing IT managers with management, security and control over 140 social networking sites, 20,000 individual Facebook widgets and more than 400 Web and real-time applications. Making USG the first secure Web gateway to combine content monitoring, management and security of Web 2.0 applications, such as social networks, instant messaging and Unified Communications, with URL filtering, malware and Web antivirus protection.
2010 saw another first for Actiance when it launched Vantage, IMAuditor’s successor, which included stringent security and compliance controls for Skype in the enterprise. Vantage provides granular security, policy controls and compliance features for real time and unified communications (UC) – providing management for the widest variety of UC and real time communications platforms; including Microsoft Office Communications Server and IBM Lotus Sametime, public instant messaging platforms such as Windows Live and Skype, web conferencing and industry focused networks like Reuters, Bloomberg and YellowJacket. Later that same year it include support for Microsoft Lync Server.
Also 2010 Actiance launched Socialite Enable, a security, management and compliance solution for enterprises using social networks. Socialite provides granular control of applications such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, and allows organisations to comply with regulatory compliance demanded by organizations such as such as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority
In the United States, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc., or FINRA, is a private corporation that acts as a self-regulatory organization . FINRA is the successor to the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. ...
(FINRA) and the Financial Services Authority
Financial Services Authority
The Financial Services Authority is a quasi-judicial body responsible for the regulation of the financial services industry in the United Kingdom. Its board is appointed by the Treasury and the organisation is structured as a company limited by guarantee and owned by the UK government. Its main...
. Available as both a software-as-a-service deployment (SaaS) or as an on-premises installation as a module of USG, Socialite Enable allows for organizations to control social media features and communications for users both on the corporate network and situated remotely.
In June 2011 Actiance announced Socialite Engage, a new platform that allows distributed teams to share content, engage with clients and prospects, and analyze the impact of the content on social media sites. Designed specifically to enable investment and insurance professionals to distribute pre-approved content, Socialite Engage enables any organization to manage social media in a secure and compliant environment, while allowing users to see at a glance which content had the most impact. It also leverages third party data sources, such as internal systems and data feeds, highlights channels that are the most effective and identifies potential sales leads.