Utah PTA and Blue Coat Systems Join Forces to Drive Greater Internet Safety, Community Action
Joint Initiative Promotes Internet Safety Champions and Use of Tools that Monitor and Block Offensive or Potentially Dangerous Websites
SUNNYVALE, Calif. and SALT LAKE CITY, June 20, 2006 -- Blue Coat® Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: BCSI), the leader in secure content and application delivery, and the Utah Parent Teachers Association (PTA) today announced that they are working together to promote greater Internet safety. The Utah PTA is the first PTA to actively promote Internet safety at a state level. It has launched this program with the goal of empowering community members to create safer, and more family-friendly, Internet-environments. Through this partnership, the Utah PTA will distribute information about Internet parenting to its member organizations and recommend use of filtering software and other tools, including Blue Coat’s K9 Web Protection, which is available free for families.
According to the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which is administered by the Utah Attorney General’s office, more households in Utah have computers than any other state in the country. More than two-thirds of Utah households have a computer, and almost half of all homes in Utah have Internet access. As such, Utah leaders, especially the PTA, play a critical role in promoting Internet safety nationwide.
“PTAs around the nation often look to the Utah PTA on a number of issues, and Internet safety is no exception,” said John Carosella, vice president of content control for Blue Coat Systems. “We’re living in the era of ‘Internet Parenting,’ and we need to help parents see how dramatically their roles have changed. Raising awareness is critical. Technology companies can be leaders in this area, bringing credibility and expertise. We’re hopeful that this first partnership with the Utah PTA will be a catalyst for broad community action.”
Blue Coat and the Utah PTA will continue to work together to create new educational materials for parents, to both raise awareness and provide solutions for the challenges of Internet parenting and online safety.
The Utah PTA is considering a new position for inclusion at the local PTA level, called “Internet Parent Champion,” who will act as a local educational and technical resource for the community, providing assistance and encouragement to parents who want to improve their Internet Parenting skills, and who need help in deploying tools that protect their children from Internet dangers.
“The Utah PTA and Blue Coat both agree that the issue of child online safety is paramount to the mental health of children," said Carmen Snow, president of the Utah PTA. "Parents need both education and tools to provide for the safety of their children while using the Internet. As an organization that provides leadership and guidance to parents of families with children, we feel real urgency and responsibility to play a greater role in helping keep children safe while online."About the Utah PTA
The mission of the Utah PTA is to help every child realize his full potential. To that end, the organization advocates for, and speaks on behalf of children and youth. It encourages positive involvement in all facets of a child's life and assists in developing skills to raise and protect children and youth. The Utah PTA promotes the welfare of children and youth in their homes, schools, communities, and places of worship. The organization supports the goals of the National PTA, to assist parents in developing the skills they need to raise and protect their children, and to encourage parent and public involvement in the public schools of this nation.
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 for all users and applications. Blue Coat has installed more than 25,000 appliances worldwide and is ranked #1 by IDC in the Secure Content and Application Delivery market. 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’ most recently filed Form 10-Q for the quarter ended October 31, 2005 and Form 10-K for the year ended April 30, 2005, and other reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
