Blue Coat Systems, Inc., the technology leader in Application Delivery Networking, today announced that it has joined the Microsoft System Center Alliance to enhance and support Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 and Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V), part of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, solutions over the Wide Area Network (WAN) to branch offices and over the Internet to remote workers. Blue Coat will also participate in the Microsoft Management Summit 2009 from April 27-May 1, 2009 in Las Vegas.

In addition to accelerating enterprise applications and remote files across the WAN, Blue Coat^® ProxySG^® appliances can now optimize and accelerate software updates, configurations and patches that have been packaged by a company’s IT department for distribution to its users using Configuration Manager and App-V. For example, a 40 megabyte update file that previously required nearly four minutes to cross the WAN can now be delivered in under five seconds. A large software installation package of 375 megabytes that previously required slightly more than an hour to transfer across the WAN can now be transferred in a few seconds. As a result, the ProxySG appliances can also free up WAN bandwidth for critical business applications.

ProxySG appliances also optimize and accelerate the delivery of on-demand applications using Microsoft App-V. In Blue Coat performance tests, Microsoft Office Word 2007 delivered through App-V benefited from a 70 percent improvement in the amount of time to launch the application remotely and a 98 percent reduction in bandwidth consumption.

Blue Coat^® ProxyClient^® software, the first WAN optimization client with integrated security and control for remote users, can also accelerate the delivery of software and applications delivered by Configuration Manager or App-V. ProxyClient software utilizes WAN optimization technologies, including byte caching, to accelerate access to files, such as spreadsheets and presentations, and to speed the response time of remote Web applications. ProxyClient also uses the Blue Coat WebPulse™ service, a real-time cloud computing security service, to enforce a company’s centrally managed Internet usage policies and to protect against malware, spyware, mobile malicious code and phishing exploits.

“As Microsoft System Center and App-V continue to advance application technologies for both servers and clients, we value the efforts of companies such as Blue Coat Systems to optimize the Wide Area Network for delivering distributed applications,” said Karri Alexion-Tiernan, Director of Product Management for App-V. “With centralized management and applications on one hand and users distributed in branch offices on the other, the network and the application must come together to meet the demands for remote response time.”

“Blue Coat ProxySG appliances can dramatically accelerate enterprise applications and files across an enterprise’s Wide Area Network to branch offices, while at the same time significantly reducing bandwidth consumption to contain or reduce operational expenses,” said Dave Asprey, vice president of technology and corporate development, Blue Coat Systems. “We are pleased to be part of the Microsoft System Center Alliance and to support and enhance the delivery of software through Microsoft’s innovative Configuration Manager 2007 and App-V products.”