Akonix's L7 Enterprise, Face-Time Communications IM Auditor, Guardian, and RTG500, IM-Age's IM Policy Manager, and IMlogic's IM Manager 6.0 are reviewed instant messaging (IM) systems designed to more fully support the security, liability, and productivity exposures of IM use and to assure compliance with federal corporate policies. Companies also want support for real-time or just-in-time information exchange. L7 Enterprise gets the highest marks overall, especially for policy control and granularity; logging, archiving, and reporting; and directory integration. IM-Age has the best non-IM authentication and one of a kind feature set. Akonix has a plug-in architecture, support for many operating systems (OSs), directory services vendors, and IM platforms; and an antivirus engine that is closely integrated into the package. IM Auditor is easy to use and the DMZ/border product is available as Guardian software or a hardened RTG500 Linux appliance. However, IM Auditor cannot save or schedule reports. IM Policy Manager combines gateway and optional client in an application that permits monitoring by users who are not on an enterprise network. IM Policy Manager is also the only system reviewed that encrypts IM sessions and file transfers. IM Manager 6.0 is a complete solution with gateways between IM services for multi-IM environments and federation between corporations, but it also cannot save or schedule reports.