When Less is Much More – Introducing the Virtual Web Security Gateway

Virtual security appliances are quickly gaining momentum as the ideal solution to secure remote and branch offices.  But what is all the fuss about? Virtualization technology has been around for years if not decades and other virtual security solutions, such as firewalls, have been available for a very long time.  A few market drivers are fueling the excitement behind virtual security appliances and, in particular, virtual web security.

It’s not uncommon, even today, for enterprises to backhaul their remote office traffic to their headquarters for security reasons. Enterprises are quickly realizing that the bandwidth resources required to support this additional traffic, as well as delays and latency experienced by the user, make this model less than ideal.

What are the alternatives? Installing a smaller version of the HQ security infrastructure at every remote office is a costly proposition. However, virtualization offers enterprises the ability to install multiple appliances on a single server. The network infrastructure that a remote office needs could reside on a single hardware platform, saving you the cost of purchasing and installing disparate hardware appliances.

The consolidation of IT resources is one of the most significant market drivers. To reduce expenses, many enterprises are consolidating and reducing IT staff. With fewer resources, these enterprises are seeking a solution that can be managed by fewer IT administrators without sacrificing security. With a common platform shared across multiple applications, IT administrators do not need to be trained on individual hardware associated with each appliance.  Taking the appliance hardware management out of the picture allows IT administrators to focus on managing applications, not appliances.

Meanwhile, the security landscape has evolved significantly in the past few years. Threats that use to target websites with denial of service attacks have now evolved to broadly target users with mass market malware.  Millions of Facebook users can be infected with malware in just a few hours. As the threat landscape becomes more sophisticated and dynamic, web security gateways become an indispensable component of an enterprise’s security strategy. 

The need to secure remote offices without backhaul, consolidation of IT administrators and the importance of web security gateways as a critical security component of every enterprise location are all driving the new requirement for a virtual web security gateway solution.

Our introduction of the Blue Coat Secure Web Gateway Virtual Appliance demonstrates that we are committed to directly addressing this need. Our new offering combines the robust security features of our ProxySG appliances with the benefits and flexibility of a virtual appliance, enabling businesses to easily extend the same level of protection and control to their remote office locations.