Akonix Introduces Unified Policy Management Platform with the Launch of L7 Enterprise™ v7.0

Expands security, compliance and policy management capabilities from instant messaging to online conferencing, VoIP and electronic faxing

San Diego, CA – February 4, 2008 – Akonix Systems, Inc., the leading provider of policy and risk management solutions for real-time communications, today introduced Akonix L7 Enterprise v7.0, a Unified Policy Management (UPM) platform that monitors, applies and enforces policy and actions for the corporate use of unified communications (UC) applications, including public and enterprise instant messaging (IM), online conferencing, VoIP and electronic faxing.

Extending its leadership position in policy and risk management for public and enterprise IM, Akonix is broadening its product offering to provide a comprehensive suite of modules that addresses the security, archiving, content filtering, entitlement and reporting needs of additional forms of electronic messaging and real-time communications. The suite includes modules for setting policy on employee use of public IM (e.g. AOL Instant Messenger®, Google Talk, Microsoft® Windows Live™ Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger) and enterprise IM (e.g. IBM Lotus Sametime®, Jabber XCP™ and Microsoft Office Communications Server), plus new modules supporting online conferencing, VoIP and server-based faxing. L7 Enterprise v7.0 integrates with Microsoft’s UC platform, Office Communications Server (OCS) 2007, and consolidates policy management and enforcement across the full OCS 2007 Enterprise Edition. Conferencing and VoIP features for IBM Lotus Sametime 8 will also be available in early 2008, adding to Akonix’s current support for Sametime IM.

In addition to extending security and compliance policy across additional messaging and collaboration applications, Akonix L7 Enterprise v7.0 delivers economic value by minimizing total cost of ownership of electronic messaging with simplified, unified administration, systems management and operations; thus eliminating the redundant and unnecessary costs of enforcing and managing policy in separate silos. L7 Enterprise also reduces companies’ cost of regulatory compliance by eliminating silos of record retention, providing unified search and restore of archived electronic communications and comprehensive reporting for electronic records retention.

“Unified communications will significantly change the way people work by providing one user interface for all IP communications,” said Mark Levitt, program VP for Collaborative Computing and the Enterprise Workplace at IDC. “Akonix is recognizing this transition and supporting the next-generation of real-time workplace communications by providing a platform to ease its management and regulation.”

According to In-Stat and Wainhouse Research, as the supply chain for labor, goods and services becomes increasingly global and dispersed, companies are turning to UC to streamline “the flow of knowledge and information worker expertise” . The implementation of such communications methods increases efficiency and productivity, but in turn causes the amount of network vulnerabilities and corporate liabilities to rise. It also multiplies the number of electronic business records that require archiving. With v7.0 of L7 Enterprise, Akonix now provides a platform that simplifies and secures the use of UC in the workplace by centrally managing and enforcing policy, security and compliance.

“As companies continue to implement real-time communications applications to streamline collaboration, they are learning that managing and enforcing multiple policies for security, compliance and appropriate use is cumbersome and expensive, not to mention potentially non-compliant,” said Peter Shaw, CEO at Akonix. “Akonix has responded to these challenges by developing a platform for organizations to consolidate policy management, security, archiving, content scanning, entitlement and reporting to a Unified Policy Manager. This will enable businesses to cut costs by reducing policy touch points to a single, unified platform.”

The launch of L7 Enterprise v7.0 extends Akonix’s IM security, compliance and management expertise to additional forms of real-time, electronic communications, and provides a platform to set and manage policy for future communications modules. As a Unified Policy Management platform, L7 Enterprise enables businesses to cost-effectively manage messaging and collaboration for compliance laws and regulations, and protect against security threats, data leakage and inappropriate use by employees.

Akonix L7 Enterprise v7.0 is available immediately and factory configured on Akonix’s A1000 IM Essentials™, A1000™ and A6000™ appliances. To order or request more information, please call 619-615-9415 or email sales@akonix.com. Companies interested in putting Akonix products to work protecting their networks can receive a free 30-day evaluation at http://eval.akonix.com.

About Akonix
Akonix, the most deployed IM security and compliance product in the world, provides a Unified Policy Management (UPM) platform to monitor the use of unified communications applications in the workplace, administering and enforcing corporate policy and assisting with compliance regulations. The company offers a suite of UPM modules, simplifying and securing the use of real-time communications by managing all applications from a central location. L7 Enterprise performs security, archiving, content scanning, entitlement and reporting functions for real-time, electronic communications, including instant messaging, online conferencing, VoIP and electronic faxing.

Over 1.9 million people around the world rely on Akonix’s products to manage and enforce electronic messaging policy and meet compliance requirements. Akonix is an EMC Velocity Partner, HP Business Partner, IBM Business Partner, Intel Software Partner and Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. Furthermore, Akonix has developed business alliances and technology integrations with leading enterprise unified communications and IM platforms, including Bloomberg, IBM, Jabber, Inc., Microsoft and Reuters, and message archiving products from C2C, EMC, Fortiva, HP, Intradyn, Iron Mountain, Quest Software, Symantec, ZANTAZ and others.

For more information on Akonix and its UPM platform, please visit www.akonix.com.

Contact Information

Amy White

Senior account executive

LEWIS PR

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