Science & Technology
Science and Technology
Science and Technology 
Mon, January 12, 2009
UK National Health Service Hospital Selects Blue Coat to Speed Delivery of Medical Images over WAN
SUNNYVALE, Calif.--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Blue Coat Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: BCSI), the leader in WAN optimization and Secure Web Gateway, today announced that Kettering General Hospital, a UK National Health Service (NHS) general hospital, has deployed Blue Coat® ProxySG® appliances to enable the transmission between facilities of medical images, such as X-rays and MRI scans, across its Wide Area Network (WAN). With the WAN optimization capabilities of Blue Coat ProxySG appliances, the hospital can now use its Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS) for fast, reliable network transmission. The solution has decreased the time taken to load large images by 80% and eliminates expensive and time-consuming hand delivery between sites.
With its staff of 3,200 serving the community of Northampton, England, Kettering General Hospital utilizes the NHS Trust WAN to share information with other health care facilities and providers. In the past, the hospital's ten Megabits per second (Mbps) network links made it nearly impossible to send medical images using PACS. The hospital had to print digital X-rays or images onto film and employ a courier company to deliver them to regional clinics. Now, by sending images across the WAN, the hospital speeds delivery and eliminates costs related to printing the films and physically sending them by courier.
"WAN optimization enables us to extend our investment in PACS for cost savings and improved service across all of the Trust sites," said Phil Taylor, senior IT operations analyst for the Kettering General Hospital NHS Trust. The hospital could send the high-quality medical images within its own site thanks to its 1000 Mbps internal network, but sending images to other sites, such as the nearby Rushden Hospital, just 12 miles away, had been impossible without WAN optimization from Blue Coat ProxySG appliances.
"Blue Coat ProxySG appliances have turned an expensive, time-consuming manual process into a fast, efficient one that results in better levels of healthcare," said Nigel Hawthorn, vice president of EMEA marketing, Blue Coat Systems. "ProxySG appliances can make a tremendous difference in accelerating a wide variety of applications and content to branch offices and remote locations."
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 ].
About Kettering Hospital
Kettering General Hospital is a medium-sized district general hospital which provides a wide range of services to about 300,000 people in North Northamptonshire. The hospital has served its local community since 1897. It became an NHS Trust in 1994 and is currently working to become a Foundation Trust. The Trust's goal is to provide the highest standards of care for all of its patients and to fully support carers and visitors.
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.
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