Messaging

Monitor Instant Messaging

Here's a massive solution to the problem of the solicitation of minors on the Internet. Stellar Internet Monitoring's application logs all instant messages exchanged on your network, in addition to logging all Web activity.

by ISP-Planet Staff [March 13, 2003]

Stellar Internet Monitoring, of Bonita Springs, Fla., says that its Internet monitoring system can log actual IM messages. The company says that whereas its competitors only know who talked to whom, Stellar Internet Monitoring's product can actually record the contents of messages, sending an alert when questionable topics are raised in discussions by children, employees, or spouses.

The product is aimed at large ISPs with 150,000 subscribers or more. It stores data in an Oracle database (which is secure but expensive). Most implementations of the software store HTTP and IM activity in databases on parallel large computers with a great deal of storage space and RAID protection for the data. The application itself runs on the Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system, and the Oracle database runs on the UNIX on Linux platform.

 

Administrator's user usage report

The product logs user activity by IP address, and accesses RADIUS data to correlate the IP address with a user if IP addresses are dynamically assigned.

The owner of the Internet account, who might be a parent or might be the head of a small business, obtains Web access to the data on an application service provider (ASP) model, where the software resides on servers, and all interaction with the software is through a Web browser.

"The main concern here is the children," says Valerie McCausland, Stellar Internet Monitoring director of marketing. "If a my daughter is on IM and is talking about meeting a guy, I probably want to go home and talk to her."

"Another advantage of the ASP model," adds Matt Carey, Stellar Internet Monitoring regional sales manager, "is that parents can check the alerts while they're on vacation."

Pricing and availability
Stellar Internet Monitoring's ISP Edition is available now.

Pricing depends on the visibility of the ISP, its size, and its growth potential. It starts at around $25 per user per year for an ISP with 200,000 users, but can vary widely. "We're extremely interested in deals that can obtain visibility for our product," explains Eric Cole, the company's vice president of sales.

"Whatever price we charge," adds Carey, "we see a markup opportunity of 100 percent."

That may be optimistic for all but the largest ISPs. After installation fees and a maintenance contract, the price will have risen. However, if you are a large ISP and are concerned about criminal IM traffic, especially with regard to minors, you should take a close look at this product.

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