Blue Coat System, a provider of Web security and WAN optimisation solutions, announced that Ajman University of Science and Technology (AUST), a private institution of higher education in the United Arab Emirates, has deployed Blue Coat ProxySG and PacketShaper appliances to accelerate the delivery of important content and applications while protecting against Web-based threats.
AUST faces constantly growing Internet demand from 8,000 students and staff as well as demands placed by new services, such as a sophisticated e-learning system and an online library, that add to the university’s overall bandwidth requirements, representatives of the university said.
“To operate within the bounds of our network capacity, it became imperative for us to have visibility into Web traffic and then be able to intelligently manage it,” said Mohammed Salman, IT director, AUST. “We found that Blue Coat solutions provided precise, yet flexible controls, a high level of Web security and considerable Internet bandwidth savings while also enhancing the Internet experience for our students and staff.”
AUST deployed PacketShaper appliances to discover and categorise applications on the network, measure network application performance, guarantee quality of service (QoS) for priority applications and mitigate the network impact of non-business applications and content, AUST said.
The university also deployed Blue Coat ProxySG appliances at its Internet gateway to provide comprehensive, real-time protection against Web-based malware and other malicious content without compromising network performance, it was reported. Through the use of industry-leading technology, the ProxySG appliances improve the user’s Web experience by caching frequently accessed content on site, AUST pointed out.
“Like many organisations, Ajman University of Science and Technology must balance a large appetite for content and new applications with limited network resources and a need for effective security,” said Steve Daheb, CMO and senior VP, Blue Coat Systems. “Only Blue Coat solutions can effectively address these contradictory challenges by combining visibility and Web security in a way that allows the university to intelligently and flexibly accelerate and secure its network.”
The AUST Network was founded in 1988, as a private institution of higher education. Today it is a multi-campus, multi-discipline cutting-edge university that employs the latest technology. It has more than 600 academic and administrative staff and an additional 350 support staff. AUST selected the Blue Coat solution after an exhaustive vendor evaluation. Systems integrator GBM Dubai managed the implementation and training, AUST said.
