Bluecoat SG 210

The remote office/branch office (ROBO) is a vital component of enterprises conducting business across a country or around the world. Companies utilize branch offices by bringing their businesses and services closer to the communities which they serve; cost effectively reaching customers in many geographic regions. Banks and insurance companies, for example, are totally dependent on the branch office scenario.

While many organizations have fortified Web access at headquarter locations, they face a growing number of security issues resulting from telecommuters and remote offices. The ROBO site, however, has always presented a unique problem for IT administrators. Securing these locations has become the new challenge for distributed enterprises. Administrators grapple with the tasks of installing, configuring and managing secure networks in remote branch offices where IT professionals are generally scarce, and dedicated communication links are difficult and expensive to maintain. A primary goal of IT is to reduce costs to support ROBO users and applications while increasing security.

Another concern for security administrators is that a remote branch office with direct Internet access is providing an unprotected "back door" entrance to the entire corporate network. Internet access opens the way to Web-based threats such as Web viruses and malicious code which can infect the entire network. More often, these threats utilize port 80 -- the open HTTP port on the firewall. Further compounding the problem is that the employees at remote offices may lack the skill or tools to recognize Web security threats, much less the capability to block them.

The BlueCoat SG210 Series addresses security vulnerabilities at ROBO locations by securing, monitoring and controlling access to all Web, rich media and instant messaging content for users. The Blue Coat Security Gateway also improves utilization of WAN links by limiting and throttling bandwidth, ensuring WAN availability for critical applications. Combined with Blue Coat's Director and Reporter products, the SG210 provides the foundation for comprehensive ROBO security for government, corporate and educational organizations.