  IGR J16493-4348 was one of the first new sources to be detected by the
INTEGRAL gamma-ray telescope in the 18-100 keV energy band. Based upon spatial
coincidence the source was originally associated with the free radio pulsar PSR
J1649-4349. Presented here are the results of 2.8 Ms of observations made by
the INTEGRAL mission and a 5.6 ks observation with the Swift X-ray Telescope.
Spectral analysis indicates that the source is best modeled by an absorbed
power law with a high energy cut-off at E$_{cut}$~15 keV and a hydrogen
absorbing column of NH=5.4$^{+1.3}_{-1}$ x 10$^{22}$ cm$^{-2}$. Analysis of the
light curves indicates that the source is a weak, persistent gamma-ray emitter
showing indications of variability in the 2-9 and 22-100 keV bands. The average
source flux is ~1.1 x 10^{-10} erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ in the 1-100 keV energy
band. No coherent timing signal is identified at any timescale in the INTEGRAL
or Swift data.
  The refined source location and positional uncertainty of IGR J16493-4348
places PSR J1649-4349 outside of the 90% error circle. We conclude that IGR
J16493-4348 is not associated with PSR J1649-4349. Combining the INTEGRAL
observations with Swift/XRT data and information gathered by RXTE and Chandra
we suggest that IGR J16493-4348 is an X-ray binary; and that the source
characteristics favour a high mass X-ray binary although an LMXB nature cannot
be ruled out.
