Bloxx, the innovator in Web and email security, today announced the release of virtual appliance versions of its Web Filter and Secure Web Gateway. The virtual appliances have identical functionality to the current hardware appliances, making them an ideal choice for organizations that have a virtualization strategy and are looking to move their security infrastructure to a virtual environment.

"These new virtualized products build on Bloxx's solid foundation in appliance-based Web filtering and security, but also deliver all the benefits offered by virtualization," said Graham Twaddle, Chief Technology Officer at Bloxx. "Bloxx is now able to offer unrivalled Web content filtering that includes our patent-pending real-time content analysis and categorization engine, Tru-View Technology, either as a hardware or virtual appliance".

mhs homes group, the largest landlord in Medway, is one of the first customers to deploy the Bloxx Virtual Appliance.

"We have recently deployed the Bloxx Web Filter Virtual Appliance and have been remarkably impressed with the smooth and straightforward installation, the functionality, and the overall performance of the product," said Stuart MacLellan, Head of ICT at mhs homes group. "The Bloxx support and implementation team pulled all the stops out to deliver this solution on a tight timescale and the rapid deployment along with all of the benefits that come with virtualization have already been hugely beneficial to the group."

• Genuine real-time content filtering and classification - dramatically improved coverage of the Web over filters which rely solely on out-of-date URL databases or keyword scanning
• Gateway level security - keeping networks and users secure (with enterprise-grade Sophos anti-malware protection in the Bloxx Secure Web Gateway)
• SSL Filtering - reducing the growing risks of HTTPs traffic

For more information on the Bloxx Virtual Secure Web Gateway and Web Filter, visit http://www.bloxx.com/c/virtual

Availability

The Bloxx Web Filter and Secure Web Gateway Virtual Appliances for VMware vSphere are available now in the UK and from January 2013 in the rest of world. A Microsoft Hyper-V version is expected to be available in early 2013. The Secure Web Gateway and Web Filter Virtual appliances are available in a range of configurations from the 100SV which supports up to 100 connected devices, to the Impresa-7SV which supports up to 10,000 connected devices. For larger deployments, multiple Virtual Appliances can be clustered and load balanced.