Blue Coat Joins Family Online Safety Institute to Protect Kids in the Web 2.0 World
SUNNYVALE, Calif., May 27, 2008 - Blue Coat Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: BCSI), the leader in WAN Application Delivery and Secure Web Gateway, today announced it has joined The Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI), an international non-profit organization dedicated to identifying and promoting best practices, tools and methods for online safety as a corporate member. Additionally, the Blue Coat director of marketing communications, Laurie Coffin has joined FOSI's board of directors to assist in governing FOSI's strategic direction and initiatives.
"Blue Coat's Community Outreach Program and free K9 Web Protection software gives parents the educational materials and tools they need to make decisions to keep their families safe online," said Laurie Coffin, director of marketing communications at Blue Coat Systems and FOSI board member. "We have been impressed by the commitment of FOSI in promoting effective private-sector responses to educate communities about Internet dangers, and it's an honor to join with other leading companies and organizations in supporting FOSI."
"It is important we work together to strengthen awareness and education as tools to help protect children online," said Stephen Balkam, CEO of FOSI. "The Family Online Safety Institute welcomes the new partnership with Blue Coat Systems. Together, we can make the Internet a safer place for children."
Blue Coat joins a community of high profile FOSI members, including Google, Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, Telefónica, France Telecom, British Telecom, AOL and Telmex.
Designed for parents and families, K9 Web Protection implements the same enterprise-class Web filtering technology used by Blue Coat enterprise and government customers worldwide. K9 Web Protection divides the Internet into 60 categories, relying on Blue Coat's commercial filtering service that processes up to 100 million Web site rating requests per day. Parents can configure the software to block or allow specific categories, such as pornography, spyware, and adult/mature content, and also block access to the Web at selected times of day. Its effective coverage reaches more than one billion Web pages. In addition, K9 Web Protection takes advantage of Blue Coat's unique Dynamic Real-Time Rating (DRTR) technology to automatically assess new and unfamiliar Web sites "on the fly." K9 Web Protection is offered through the Blue Coat Community Outreach Program (www.k9webprotection.com), which provides materials and resources to educate Internet parents about the impact of the Internet on children and on parenting strategies.
About FOSI
The Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) is an international non-profit organization that actively works to identify and promote best practices, tools and methods in the field of online safety. The organization facilitates the meeting of thought leaders in technology, policy and education, culminating in its Annual Conference. FOSI also incorporates the work and mission of the Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA), the world's leading content labeling system for the Internet, providing families with the tools they need to protect their children and ensuring continued freedom of expression for content providers. FOSI is headquartered in Washington D.C. and has additional locations in the UK, Germany and Austria. For more information, please visit www.fosi.org.
About Blue Coat Systems
Blue Coat secures Web communications and accelerates business applications across the distributed enterprise. Blue Coat's family of appliances and client-based solutions - deployed in branch offices, Internet gateways, end points, and data centers - provide intelligent points of policy-based control enabling IT organizations to optimize security and accelerate performance between users and applications. Blue Coat has installed more than 40,000 appliances worldwide. Blue Coat is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and can be reached at (408) 220-2200 or www.bluecoat.com.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: The statements contained in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements, including statements regarding Blue Coat Systems' expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future, and including statements regarding the capabilities and expected performance of Blue Coat Systems' products. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are based upon information available to Blue Coat Systems as of the date hereof, and Blue Coat Systems assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. These and other risks relating to Blue Coat Systems' business are set forth in Blue Coat Systems' Form 10-K for the year ended April 30, 2007, and Form 10-Q filed for the quarter ended January 31, 2008 with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
