Blue Coat introduces Carrier Caching Appliance

href="http://dqchannels.ciol.com/content/reselleralert/110022504.asp">Blue
Coat Systems has introduced the
Blue Coat CacheFlow Appliance 5000 Series solution. This product
specifically addresses escalating international and mobile backhaul
bandwidth consumption and is targeted at service providers in regions
of the world where bandwidth is expensive and limited. Using
advanced caching technology, this new appliance will help scale
service delivery to meet the burgeoning subscriber demand for online
video, large file downloads and other web 2.0 rich media content
while improving subscriber experience. The new CacheFlow 5000
appliance can significantly reduce bandwidth consumption, delivering
a typical return on investment in six months with five-year savings
estimated in the millions of dollars based on current bandwidth
costs.

“Internet consumption patterns have
evolved from 'bandwidth-skinny,' short-duration activities to
bandwidth-hungry, always-on applications, such as online digital
media, video, voice/videoconferencing over IP, and online games,”
said Melanie Posey, Research Director-Telecom Markets, IDC. “As
media-rich Internet content and applications emerge and evolve,
network-based service providers must adapt to keep pace with
end-users' demands for capacity and quality of service,” he added.

The Bandwidth Crisis

In 2009, international Internet traffic
grew by 74 percent, and service providers added nearly 9.5 terabits
per second (Tbps) of new international bandwidth capacity, the same
amount as the total international bandwidth existing in 2007. Despite
the increased supply of bandwidth capacity, the significant growth in
Internet traffic has kept bandwidth costs high. In some regions of
the world, international bandwidth can cost hundreds of dollars per
megabit per second (Mbps) per month while in other regions, the same
bandwidth might cost as little as tens of dollars. Service providers
in regions where increasing bandwidth is cost-prohibitive risk the
ability to profitably scale their services to meet subscriber demand.
This problem is compounded by the fact that subscribers increasingly
expect a web experience that is fast and interactive.

Next Generation Caching

The CacheFlow 5000 appliance uses
advanced, purpose-built caching technology to address Web 2.0
content, large files and rich media, including video. This content
traditionally has been difficult to cache due to its large size and
dynamic nature.

CachePulse Brings Cloud Intelligence
to Caching

The CacheFlow appliance leverages the
new Blue Coat CachePulse service to obtain automatic, network-based
updates. This cloud-based service provides rules and instructions
designed to fine-tune CacheFlow 5000 appliances to better address the
changing Web and deliver consistent bandwidth savings. Customers can
provide direct feedback into the CachePulse community and share new
or emerging Web sites in their region that could benefit from better
caching.

'Shock Absorber' for Web Traffic

By installing CacheFlow 5000 appliances
in their networks, service providers can create a 'shock absorber' to
address traffic spikes that occur when websites and content become
popular over a very short period of time, such as coverage of a major
news, sporting or political event. With its high-throughput design,
the appliance has the ability to meet demands for bandwidth savings
at Internet peering points, as well as to be deployed in-region to
address backhaul traffic and the dynamic delivery of local content.

Web Compliance and Security

The CacheFlow 5000 appliance also runs
Blue Coat WebFilter to address cultural and regulatory requirements
and to mitigate malicious threats. It can also support custom, allow
and block lists and third party databases, including the Internet
Watch Foundation list.

Service Provider Trust and
Experience

The new CacheFlow 5000 appliance builds
on the longstanding experience of Blue Coat in working with service
providers and global telcos. Blue Coat has worked with this market
since being founded as CacheFlow in 1996, and currently counts each
of the world's top ten service providers as a customer.

“We had the opportunity to
participate in the beta of the Blue Coat CacheFlow 5000 appliance and
were impressed with the results. As other carrier customers will
agree, it is exciting to see the focus Blue Coat is putting on the
carrier market in terms of the purpose-built design and functionality
of this new product,” said Dr Viriya Upatising, Chief Technical
Officer, True Internet.

“In our region, international
bandwidth is quite expensive, so a product like the CacheFlow
appliance focused on bandwidth savings helps us manage the spiraling
costs of adding more users and traffic,” he continued. “In our
testing, the CacheFlow appliance effectively cached Web 2.0 content,
delivered consistently high bandwidth savings on general Web traffic,
as well as provided superior throughput and performance. We look
forward to deploying CacheFlow appliances in our network soon,” he
concluded.

New Purpose-Built Appliance for
Carriers

The CacheFlow 5000 appliance features 1
Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces for high-capacity
throughput and can scale to meet multi-gigabit demands through the
use of a clustered caching farm. The appliances have been validated
with industry-leading Layer 4-7 load balancing switches, including
those from Brocade, Radware, A10 Networks and others.

“The CacheFlow 5000 appliance
represents a significant leap forward in addressing the bandwidth
challenges facing service providers,” said Jason Nolet,
VP-Application Delivery Products, Brocade. “Building on our
long-standing partnership with Blue Coat, we have tested and
certified our ServerIron ADX application delivery controllers, as
well as Layer 2/3 switches and routers, with the CacheFlow 5000
appliance to deliver end-to-end networking capabilities with high
availability and high performance load balancing to the clustered
solution.”

“The CacheFlow 5000 appliance builds
on our expertise in delivering Web content and applications
effectively and securely,” said Christopher Casey, Director,
Service Provider Business, Asia Pacific, Blue Coat Systems. “Our
breakthrough caching technology addresses the monumental challenges
service providers face in meeting fiercely growing demand for video
and Web 2.0 content from mobile and fixed users,” he concluded.