Blue Coat Unveils New High-End Proxy Appliance

Blue Coat Unveils New High-End Proxy Appliance

		BLUE COAT SYSTEMS PROXYSG(TM) 8000 SERIES The Blue Coat ProxySG(TM) 8000 Series appliance provides total visibility and control of Web communications with wire-speed performance. (PRNewsFoto)[AG] SAN FRANCISCO, CA USA

ProxySG 8000 Appliance Enables Large Enterprises to Keep Pace With Increasing Amount of Web Traffic SAN FRANCISCO, RSA Conference, Feb. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Blue Coat(TM) Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: BCSI) today introduced the ProxySG(TM) 8000 Series appliance, the highest-performing appliance in Blue Coat's ProxySG family. The appliance handles Web traffic four-times faster than Blue Coat's previous high-end version. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040223/SFM122 ) The ProxySG 8000 is optimized for visibility and control of Web communications at large headquarter offices, enabling enterprises to keep pace with the ever-increasing amount of Web traffic traversing the network. The ProxySG 8000 is built upon a custom operating system, SGOS(TM), designed for maximum object handling, which is the fundamental element of all Internet content. Its ability to apply granular policies in real-time enables wire-speed performance. The 8000 Series appliance is powered by dual 3.2 GHz Intel Xeon processors with up to 4GB of memory and 584GB of disk capacity. It handles the most highly saturated Web environments, making the ProxySG 8000 the optimal platform for content filtering, instant messaging control, Web anti-virus and peer-to-peer file sharing control. "The Blue Coat ProxySG platform provided the missing piece to our security infrastructure, enabling us to deploy Web-based virus scanning for the first time in an efficient, high-performance manner," said Brad Hillebrand, manager of enterprise technology for Fellowes, which manufactures a wide-range of technology accessory solutions for today's workspaces. "Blue Coat's existing proxy appliances are unbelievably fast, and enable us to inspect and apply anti-virus policy to Web traffic without any of our employees noticing. We are glad to see Blue Coat taking this performance and functionality to new heights." "Before the ProxySG, back doors were wide open across our network, and as a result, our network security suffered from numerous virus infections," said Chuck Walker, senior network administrator for Tennis Corp. of America, which owns 30 tennis and fitness centers and manages fitness centers for many top companies including McDonald's, General Motors, and Kraft Foods. "Blue Coat's ProxySG appliances helped us identify the back doors in our network created by IM and Web email, and gave us the control to thwart future virus infections. Since locking these down with Blue Coat, we have not experienced an infection." Blue Coat's entire line of proxy appliances leverage existing authentication systems to enable flexible policy enforcement down to the individual user. Users can be logged, coached and restricted based on the acceptable Web use policies established by the security administrator. "The 'real-time' nature of the Internet creates a demand for security solutions with 'real-time' performance," said Steve Mullaney, vice president of marketing for Blue Coat. "The introduction of the ProxySG 8000 is the logical next-step for enterprises to match their growing Web traffic usage with high-performance, granular Web controls." Pricing and Availability The Blue Coat ProxySG 8000 Series appliance will be generally available in March 2004 from Blue Coat Systems and its global network of channel partners. Pricing for the appliance starts at $39,995 and offers four flexible models that meet the needs of today's most demanding Web environments. For more information, or to locate an authorized Blue Coat partner near you, please contact Blue Coat at 408-220-2200. About Blue Coat Systems Blue Coat enables organizations to keep "good" employees from doing "bad" things on the Internet. Blue Coat wire-speed proxy appliances provide visibility and control of Web communications to address today's new business risks -- such as inappropriate Web surfing, viruses brought in via back door channels such as instant messaging and Web-based email, and network resource abuse due to peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing and video streaming. Trusted by many of the world's most influential organizations, Blue Coat has shipped more than 18,000 proxy appliances. Blue Coat is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and can be reached at 408-220-2200 or http://www.bluecoat.com. FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: The statements contained in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements, including statements regarding Blue Coat Systems' expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are based upon information available to Blue Coat Systems as of the date hereof, and Blue Coat Systems assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. These and other risks relating to Blue Coat Systems' business are set forth in Blue Coat Systems' most recently filed Form 10-Q for the quarter ended October 31, 2003, and other reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. NOTE: All trademarks, trade names or service marks used or mentioned herein belong to their respective owners.