Blue Coat Offers Virtual WAN Optimization Appliances

Blue Coat Systems, a player in the Application Delivery Networking space, has 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 optimise 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 improve flexibility and lower operational costs.

Rather than provide a virtualised environment for consolidating other branch office functions on its physical turn-key appliances, Blue Coat virtualised its own solution to run on standard servers, offering a more flexible 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.

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Optimised Application Delivery

The ProxySG Virtual Appliance accelerates centralised enterprise applications, remote file access, e-mail and back-ups in branch offices, including enhanced optimisation for internally-hosted or cloud-based SharePoint and Exchange 2003 and 2007. As with the hardware-based appliance, ProxySG Virtual Appliance is designed to optimise 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 utilising split-streaming, local caching and pre-population technologies.

Increased Infrastructure Flexibility

As the ProxySG Virtual Appliance solution operates on a VMware vSphere running natively on industry-standard servers, it enables IT organisations to realise 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.

‘VMware Ready’ Certified Virtual Appliance

The Blue Coat ProxySG Virtual Appliance is also among the first WAN optimisation 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 optimised for VMware vSphere, helping to ensure ‘ready-to-run’ reliability and security.

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, 150 and 300 concurrent users, respectively.

Price and Availability

ProxySG Virtual Appliance is available March 31, 2010. Pricing for the software is on a subscription basis, including service and support.

ProxySG Virtual Appliance is available from Dell and Dimension Data worldwide as well as other certified Blue Coat channel partners.