FaceTime Survey Shows 38% Of IT Managers Ignoring Web 2.0 Risks

PRESS RELEASE

BELMONT, Calif. (March 2, 2010) " FaceTime's fifth annual survey showed social media and Web 2.0 applications have been adopted by 99% of end users to support business processes, even though 38% of IT professionals believe there is no social networking present on their networks. Web chat also featured in 95% of organizations, yet was recognized by only 31% of IT Managers showing vivid differences between IT estimates and reality. IT Managers also reported an increasing requirement for the logging of IM (40% of IT respondents) and content posted to social networks (27% of IT respondents).

The survey shows that use of Internet applications has grown from being present in 78% of enterprises in 2007 to 99% of enterprise networks, with tools ranging from public IM, Skype, file sharing, web conferencing, and IPTV becoming commonplace. Some 53% of end users indicated that newer Web 2.0 tools are "better than those provided by my employer."

The survey, conducted in December 2009, compared end user attitudes with IT perceptions and included 1654 responses . This data was then compared with actual traffic gathered from 155 FaceTime Unified Security Gateway security appliances deployed globally.

Social networking use for business has grown exponentially While 95% of users now use social networking for business reasons, 61% said they use public social media sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube every day, up from 51% in 2008,. Fifteen percent use these sites "constantly throughout the day." The use of tools such as Twitter for work purposes has risen almost sixfold in 12 months and now is used by 78% of end users.

"The power of social networks and public Web 2.0 tools for business is proven, as we've seen in the universal adoption by end users, even alongside corporate-provided tools. The IT function needs to take a serious look at the reality of what is happening on their networks and find ways to securely support public Web 2.0 applications," said Sarah Carter, director of marketing for FaceTime. "Our survey not only shows dramatic differences between what IT professionals believe is taking place on the network and what end users are actually using, but also shows a significant rise in the requirement to secure, control and retain content in the social networking and Web 2.0 space."

The use of Web 2.0 applications does not occur in isolation; deployment of Unified Communications on the same enterprise networks has continued apace. Ninety-two percent of IT professionals see the enforcement of a standardized UC platform as key, including the blocking of rogue public IM required for security, corporate identity and e-Discovery purposes.

While malware attacks through Web 2.0 applications continue to be the largest concern for IT professionals " 69% of organizations reported at least one Web 2.0-related attack " worries about employee productivity with relation to Web 2.0 have fallen significantly, with just 24% reporting productivity concerns as an issue, down from 74% in 2007. Fourteen percent report data leakage over social networks and 18% indicate incidents occurring over social networks where disciplinary action was required.

A trend is beginning to emerge in relation to archiving and eDiscovery for Web 2.0 content. Sixty-six percent of organizations have been provided with guidance on retaining email traffic, this falls to 40% for IM and chat, but the requirement to retain content posted to social networks has appeared for the first time. Legal counsel has provided 27% of organizations with guidance on the retention of this content, with a further 42% of IT professionals anticipating that this will happen "shortly."

Copies of the survey are available on the web at http://www.facetime.com

About FaceTime Communications Inc.

FaceTime Communications enables the safe and productive use of Unified Communications and Web 2.0, including social networks, blogs, and instant messaging. Ranked number one by IDC for five consecutive years, FaceTime's award-winning solutions are used by more than 1,500 customers for the security, management and compliance of real-time communications. FaceTime supports or has strategic partnerships with all leading public IM network and Unified Communications providers, including AOL, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Skype, IBM and Cisco.

FaceTime is headquartered in Belmont, California. For more information visit http://www.facetime.com.

Media Contacts:

Sarah Carter FaceTime Communications 650-631-6452