SUNNYVALE, Calif., Oct. 8, 2002 -- Blue Coat Systems Inc. announced that Salt River Project (SRP), the nation's third-largest public power and water utility, has selected the Blue Coat SG800 Port 80 Security Appliance to secure more than 4,000 employees' use of personal Web-based email applications, such as Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail.
Salt River Project had previously prohibited the use of personal Web email applications because of Web-related virus threats that might enter the network through the open port 80.
"Securing our enterprise from the latest viruses is paramount, and while our corporate email could easily be protected at the e-mail server, personal Web email traversing the open port 80 was not deployed due to latency issues associated with Web-based virus scanning," said James Heyen, principal network analyst for the Phoenix-based Salt River Project.
"The Blue Coat SG800 has enabled SRP to restate our policy on the use of personal Web email applications through the product's high-performance platform and integration with anti-virus providers via the ICAP protocol, greatly improving the performance of Web-based virus scanning."
The Blue Coat Systems SG800 Web Security Appliance seamlessly integrates with anti-virus providers that support the standard-based ICAP communication protocol, which ensures minimal impact to existing network topology and transparency to end-users.
The Blue Coat SG800 Security Appliance intelligently inspects all Web content and forwards designated content to the ICAP-supported anti-virus product for detection and cleaning. Clean content is immediately delivered to the requesting user and stored in cache on the Blue Coat Systems appliance. Subsequent requests for the same content are then served directly from the Blue Coat appliance, resulting in a dramatic performance improvement to end-users.
"Web email applications utilizing HTTP through port 80 threaten the integrity and security of enterprise infrastructures today, acting as a wide-open door for malicious mobile code to enter," said Bob Pratt, director of product marketing for Blue Coat Systems. "Blue Coat Systems is enabling enterprises like Salt River Project to solve this dilemma with its unique Web security appliance that draws on advanced proxy-caching technology, as well as anti-virus technology partnerships with Symantec and Trend Micro."
SRP, based in Phoenix, was established in 1903 as the nation's first multipurpose reclamation project authorized under the National Reclamation Act. Today, SRP is the nation's third-largest public power utility and one of Arizona's largest water suppliers, providing power to customers throughout a 2,900-square-mile service territory in central Arizona. It operates or participates in seven major power plants and numerous other generating stations, including thermal, nuclear and hydroelectric sources. More information on SRP is located at http://www.srpnet.com/ .
About Blue Coat Systems
Blue Coat Systems, a Web security company, has developed the industry's first port 80 security appliance. Safeguarding many of the world's largest corporate networks, this high-performance security appliance intelligently protects against Web-based threats by policing port 80 -- the primary hole in the enterprise security infrastructure. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, Blue Coat Systems can be reached at 408-220-2200 or at http://www.bluecoat.com.
Source: Blue Coat Systems, Inc.
