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Blue Coat Systems, Inc., the technology leader in Application Delivery Networking, today announced that it has released a new software plug-in that adds Apple software updates, including updates for Apple iTunes, Safari operating system and iPhone, to the applications that Blue Coat® PacketShaper® appliances can discover, monitor, assess and control. With the ability to identify approximately 700 applications, PacketShaper appliances enable enterprises to gain comprehensive understanding and control of how applications use bandwidth at their Internet gateway points or across the Wide Area Network (WAN) to branch offices.
Apple software updates can often be large, ranging up to 100 Megabytes in size. Although employees may have installed iTunes on their company laptop computers for use in their leisure time, periodic Apple software updates may download while attached to the corporate network and consume all or a large portion of the available bandwidth. PacketShaper appliances can now identify these specific software updates and limit the amount of bandwidth allocated to them or enforce rules over what can be downloaded, at what time of day and with what priority. The new Apple software update classification complements an existing capability to discover, monitor and control music, videos and other content downloaded from the iTunes store.
“Companies need to manage and protect the bandwidth they have at Internet gateway points and across the WAN to ensure that critical business processes are not impaired or interrupted,” said Nigel Hawthorn, VP EMEA Marketing . “The new ability to classify Apple software updates enhances the granular application visibility and comprehensive control that PacketShaper appliances provide, enabling businesses to align network use with business requirements.”
In addition to managing the bandwidth usage and priority of Apple software updates with PacketShaper appliances, companies with Blue Coat ProxySG® appliances (bluecoat.com) can benefit from dramatic bandwidth savings because software updates, such as those for iTunes, can be cached at the Internet gateway or branch office so that they only need to be downloaded a single time rather than for each person requiring one. For instance, if there are 200 employees with iTunes installed and each needs updated software, the software can be downloaded once to address those users, rather than 200 times. PacketShaper appliances can also ensure that even a single download does not consume bandwidth needed for other critical processes.
Availability
The new software plug-in for Apple software is available immediately and is free of charge to customers with a current maintenance agreement.
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