Blue Coat Systems' ProxyClient combines application acceleration with security for mobile workers.
Blue Coat Systems hopes to capitalize on the growing interest in WAN
optimization software for road warriors and remote workers with the
Jan. 14 introduction of a client that combines application acceleration
with security.
Blue Coat's new ProxyClient follows the first iteration of its WAN
optimization software for laptops with added Web filtering as well as
centrally managed anti-spyware and anti-phishing.
Although only a handful of the so-called softWOCs, or software-based
WAN optimization controllers, are available to date from vendors such
as Blue Coat, Riverbed and ICT, industry analysts predict significant
growth for the market niche, Gartner analyst Joe Skorupa said.
"It's very early in the development of this market, but I think
we'll see significant adoption," said Skorupa. "When mobile
professionals hear about it, they start screaming -How do I get
this?'"
Gartner forecasts revenues from software-based WOC clients to range
from $50 million to $250 million, depending on how fast the average
selling price drops.
Click here to read more about how Blue Coat Systems accelerates video over WANs.
With its Web filtering, the ProxyClient controls where users can go
on the Web and what sites they are allowed to visit. It protects
laptops from inappropriate access and keeps the laptop from going to
phishing sites or other sites that have spyware.
Existing customers at Richardson Partners Financial in Toronto hope
to use the new ProxyClient to "maintain the same security policies"
applied in the office when users are on the road, according to Andrew
McKinney, director of technical services.
"We use Blue Coat security and optimization internally, but we have
a mobile work force, and we lose that outside the company wall,"
McKinney said. "The end hope is to have a similar experience from a
security and performance perspective outside of the office as well."
The Blue Coat ProxyClient also adds byte caching, which looks for
patterns in the data going across the WAN link, and when it identifies
redundancies, it eliminates them. "It's like compression that builds a
library from what it sees in your flow of traffic. With the
ProxyClient, it can [speed performance] by as much as 35 times and cut
bandwidth use in half to deliver applications," said Johnathon
Cervelli, Blue Coat's product marketing manager.
The new byte caching improves the performance of Blue Coat's
original SG Client software by as much as five times. It includes a
real-time performance indicator that graphically displays the results
of the acceleration.
The ProxyClient also includes location awareness, which
automatically applies appropriate WAN optimization depending on whether
the user is in a branch office that already has a ProxySG appliance or
working remotely.
The ProxyClient, due by early April, is free to existing ProxySG
appliance customers without the security functions. Web security and
control requires a Blue Coat WebFilter license. The acceleration
function is free for existing WebFilter licensees.
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