Unprecedented fraud and large fines highlight compliance requirements for unified communications.

Survey finds 45 percent of IT managers would be unable to produce an archive of specific employee communications

FaceTime Communications has seen growing concern among large organizations over the past several weeks, examining their ability to log, archive and retrieve instant messages.

The recent concern is fueled in part by news reports related to $7.1 billion in losses caused by a rogue trader at Societe Generale, a large French bank. Earlier this month, instant messages reportedly exposed a new twist in the scandal surrounding the record losses. Other cases also have brought e-discovery to the news forefront in recent months, including a patent infringement trial involving Qualcomm Inc. and Broadcom Corp. that resulted in fines to Qualcomm in excess of $9 million due to its untimely response to e-discovery requests. Among the changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure which took effect December 1, 2006, is a broad new definition of what constitutes discoverable electronically stored information. Companies need to keep track of all the e-mails, instant messages and other electronic documents they store--whether or not they define them as business records--and, if involved in litigation, be able to produce their "electronically stored information" according to specific requirements as part of the litigation discovery process. Put in simple terms, if the communication is saved electronically it is subject to the e-discovery rules.

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