Blue Coat introduces proxy appliance for Middle East branch offices

Organizations are continuing to rely on Web applications and communications to conduct mission-critical business processes. As enterprises extend access to the Internet and Web applications to the branch office, the IT organization must implement the same level of Web visibility, control and performance at the branch that is provided by proxies at the network core.

"Proxy appliances are the foundation for Web security," said Ray Kafity, Blue Coat Middle east general manager. "As organizations extend their Web applications across the entire enterprise, they must also extend their proxy-based architecture for Web security out to the branch offices. Blue Coat ProxySG 200 is the first affordable, fully-functioning proxy appliance that allows them to do this."

The ProxySG 200 Series appliance is the newest member of the Blue Coat family of proxy appliances. The appliance allows the enterprise IT organization to extend the Web policy controls in place at headquarters out to the branch. The 1U rack-mount proxy appliance is built upon Blue Coat's SGOS custom operating system designed for high-performance Web object handling, and contains all the same powerful features and functionality found in Blue Coat's 400, 800 and 8000 Series proxy appliances. The ProxySG 200 comes with up to 512 megabytes of memory, 40 gigabytes of disk capacity and a built-in pass-through card.

"Not only do we provide higher proxy functionality and greater performance than software-based proxies," said Nigel Hawthorn, EMEA Marketing Director, "but with the release of the ProxySG 200, we are lower priced too."

"Distributed organizations need a cost-effective means for enabling and managing a secure, high-performance Web security infrastructure across the entire enterprise," said Lucinda Borovick, director of datacenter networks for IDC. "Blue Coat is addressing Web security demands at the remote branch with its new entry level proxy appliance."

The ProxySG 200 integrates with the centralized management capabilities of the Blue Coat Director management platform, which allows administrators to distribute, backup, and restore policy files for multiple ProxySG 200 appliances across an enterprise network. Administrators are able to manage policies by device, group, or region, and detailed reporting provides administrators with custom, easy-to-interpret reports about Web usage across the network.

The Blue Coat ProxySG 200 Series appliance is available today from Blue Coat Systems and its global network of reseller partners.