Blue Coat Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:BCSI), the technology leader in Application
Delivery Networking, today extended its Application Delivery Network
Infrastructure with the introduction of a new family of virtual WAN
Optimization appliances. Blue Coat® ProxySG®
Virtual Appliances run on industry-standard servers and are designed to
optimize the delivery of advanced business applications and streamline
the consolidation of branch office IT infrastructure. A server running
the new ProxySG Virtual Appliance can also support Microsoft Windows
Server 2008, various networking functions and any locally-run
applications to maximize flexibility and lower operational costs.
“Server virtualization is enabling WAN optimization vendors to offer
flexible solutions for branch office boxes (BOBs) by providing WOCs as
virtual appliances that run as a guest on off-the-shelf hardware,” said
Joe Skorupa, vice president, Gartner. “This approach enables enterprises
to consolidate branch office IT infrastructure and lower cost without
compromising on capabilities.”
Rather than provide a virtualized environment for consolidating other
branch office functions on its physical turn-key appliances, Blue Coat
virtualized its own solution to run on standard servers, offering a more
flexible and cost-effective solution than proprietary appliances that
can accommodate other selected applications. ProxySG Virtual Appliances
have gone through extensive testing and validation at Dell for
deployment on its PowerEdge servers.
Optimized Application Delivery
The ProxySG Virtual Appliance accelerates centralized enterprise
applications, remote file access, email and back-ups in branch offices,
including enhanced optimization for internally-hosted or cloud-based
SharePoint and Exchange 2003 and 2007. As with the hardware-based
appliance, ProxySG Virtual Appliance is designed to optimize Web-based
applications, including cloud-hosted Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) that
use SSL encryption for communication over the Web. The virtual appliance
is also purpose-built to provide integrated delivery and management for
live and on-demand video from internal company resources or external
sources utilizing split-streaming, local caching and pre-population
technologies.
Lower Operating Costs & Increased Infrastructure Flexibility
Since the ProxySG Virtual Appliance solution operates on a VMware
vSphere™ running natively on industry-standard servers, it enables IT
organizations to realize streamlined operations through the deployment
of a flexible consolidation platform. VMware vSphere includes full
support for Microsoft Windows Server and branch office networking
functions, including DNS, DHCP, local print services, local
authentication, Unified Threat Management (UTM) solutions such as
firewalls, intrusion prevention and VPNs, and more. It can host
line-of-business applications concurrently.
Businesses can now take advantage of the scalability and attractive
price/performance offered by readily available servers to effectively
consolidate and virtualize multiple functions on a single server. The
new platform with virtual WAN optimization lowers branch office
operating costs, including equipment and power, and simplifies
administration and management.
VMware Ready™ Certified Virtual Appliance
The Blue Coat ProxySG Virtual Appliance is also among the first WAN
optimization solutions to achieve VMware Ready™ status. Blue Coat worked
closely with VMware to ensure that the product runs efficiently in the
virtual environment and meets all technical criteria and specifications.
The VMware Ready program is a validation program designed to provide the
best possible user experience among virtual appliances being deployed in
production. This status indicates that Blue Coat has followed best
practices and the software is optimized for VMware vSphere, helping to
ensure “ready-to-run” reliability and security. As a VMware Ready
virtual appliance, the solution will be listed in the VMware Virtual
Appliance Marketplace and distinguished from other products listed in
the directory with a VMware Ready logo.
“Virtualization continues to be a game-changing technology that helps
customers contain costs and boost efficiencies across datacenters and
branch offices,” said Parag Patel, vice president, alliances, VMware.
“Now that the Blue Coat ProxySG Virtual Appliance has achieved VMware
Ready™ status, customers with distributed enterprises can flexibly and
cost-effectively respond to their application and infrastructure
requirements with the confidence that the solution is optimized for the
VMware platform.”
Blue Coat ProxySG Virtual Appliance Family
The new family of ProxySG Virtual appliances are available in four
models for deployment in branch office environments with 10-300 users.
The models include the ProxySG Virtual Appliance VA-5, VA-10, VA-15 and
VA-20 that support up to 10, 50, 125 and 300 concurrent users,
respectively.
Blue Coat continues to offer a full line of hardware-based ProxySG
appliances that are designed to serve branch offices of all sizes for
standalone WAN optimization, Secure Web Gateway capabilities,
distributed control of WAN links and integrated video delivery and
management.
“ProxySG Virtual Appliance provides a significant leap forward in
providing enterprises with the means to accelerate distributed business
processes to branch and remote offices while also providing the
flexibility and cost-savings needed for additional consolidation,” said
Brian Ball, senior vice president and general manager of Application
Delivery Networking, Blue Coat Systems. “Our family of virtual
software-based appliances serves as a milestone in the multi-dimensional
expansion of our vision for the Application Delivery Network and will
further help our customers to speed business-critical applications,
contain costs and boost user productivity.”
Price and Availability
ProxySG Virtual Appliance is available March 31, 2010. Pricing for the
software is on a subscription basis, including service and support. US
list prices start at $1,110 a year for a VA-5 model supporting up to ten
simultaneous users. A single ProxySG Virtual Appliance can accommodate
up to 300 simultaneous users in a branch or remote office. ProxySG
Virtual Appliance is available from Dell and Dimension Data worldwide as
well as other certified Blue Coat channel partners.
About Blue Coat Systems
Blue Coat Systems is the technology leader in Application Delivery
Networking. Blue Coat offers an Application Delivery Network
Infrastructure that provides the visibility, acceleration and security
required to optimize and secure the flow of information to any user, on
any network, anywhere. This application intelligence enables enterprises
to tightly align network investments with business requirements, speed
decision making and secure business applications for long-term
competitive advantage. For additional information, please visit
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 the Securities and Exchange
Commission reports filed by Blue Coat Systems, including but not limited
to the risks described in the most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form
10-Q, particularly under the heading “Risk Factors.”
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.
Blue Coat Systems
Steve Schick, 408-220-2076 (Media)
press@bluecoat.com
Jane
Underwood, 408-220-2318 (Investors)
jane.underwood@bluecoat.com
or
Merritt
Group for Blue Coat Systems
Danielle Eccleston, 415-247-1662
(Media)
eccleston@merrittgrp.com