Science & Technology
Science and Technology
Science and Technology
Wed, January 7, 2009 City and County of Honolulu Deploys Blue Coat Appliances to Optimize Web Access for Diverse Needs of Employee Base
SUNNYVALE, Calif.--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Blue Coat Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:BCSI), the leader in WAN optimization and Secure Web Gateway, today announced that the city of Honolulu has deployed Blue Coat® ProxySG® appliances with Blue Coat® WebFilter™ software to enforce IT policies consistently and manage network resources for more than 8,000 employees. With the ability to granularly define and enforce IT policies for different groups and individuals, ProxySG appliances enable Honolulu to optimize Web access privileges to meet the diverse needs of its employee base, including the fire department, the parks department, the budget department and others.
Blue Coat ProxySG appliances enable IT staff to designate groups and specify access privileges to accommodate their specific requirements. By establishing varying filtering levels for each group, Honolulu can give its employees access to the Web applications and content they need to enhance productivity.
Utilizing Blue Coat ProxySG appliances with Blue Coat WebFilter also protects employees from known spyware and malware hosts. Up-to-date information on the latest Web-based malware threats is automatically incorporated into Honolulu's filtering policies every five minutes through the Blue Coat® WebPulse® service, a cloud-based security service that complements the WebFilter software.
"Protecting 8,000 city employees, ranging from city council members to first responders, on a single network from malware and spyware threats while ensuring they have access to the tools they need to be successful in their jobs is quite the challenge," said Gordon Bruce, director and CIO for the City and County of Honolulu.
With Blue Coat ProxySG appliances, Honolulu has the ability to develop sophisticated IT policies for content and real-time applications, such as video. For instance, rather than simply blocking or allowing video traffic, Proxy SG appliances allow Honolulu to set up automated coaching pages that ask employees to consider if the intended Web activity is work related. IT staff can tailor these messages according to the established access privileges of each group.
"Video has established itself as a useful tool for collaboration, training and marketing and, as a result, it is no longer practical to fully block such traffic," said Kevin Biggs, senior vice president of Worldwide Sales at Blue Coat Systems. "With ProxySG appliances, employers like the City and County of Honolulu are adopting a trust-the-employee approach to controlling traffic on the network that is proving to be quite effective in both reducing traffic on the network and increasing employee productivity."
Blue Coat ProxySG appliances provide the visibility, acceleration and security that organizations like the City and County of Honolulu require to enforce IT policies without impacting application performance.
About Blue Coat Systems
Blue Coat secures Web communications and accelerates business applications across the distributed enterprise. Blue Coat's family of appliances and client-based solutions – deployed in branch offices, Internet gateways, end points, and data centers – provide intelligent points of policy-based control enabling IT organizations to optimize security and accelerate performance between users and applications. Blue Coat has installed more than 40,000 appliances worldwide. Blue Coat is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and can be reached at (408) 220-2200 or [ 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, and including statements regarding the capabilities and expected performance of Blue Coat Systems' products. 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' Form 10-Q for the quarter ended October 31, 2008 and Form 10-K for the year ended April 30, 2008, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Blue Coat, ProxySG and the Blue Coat logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Blue Coat Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.
