Blue Coat Systems Inc. |
Type | Privately held company |
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Industry | Application Delivery Network |
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Predecessor(s) | CacheFlow |
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Founded | 1996 |
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Headquarters | Sunnyvale, California, United States |
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Key people | Greg Clark (CEO) David Murphy, (President and COO)[1] |
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Products | Proxy SG, MACH5, K9 Web Proxy, PacketShaper, CacheFlow |
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Revenue | US$496M (FY 2010)[2] |
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Operating income | US$39.3M (FY 2010)[2] |
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Net income | US$42.9M (FY 2010)[2] |
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Total assets | US$696M (FY 2010)[3] |
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Total equity | US$386M (FY 2010)[3] |
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Employees | more than 1,250 (as of 2010)[4][dead link] |
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Parent | Thoma Cressey Bravo |
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Website | http://www.bluecoat.com/ |
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Blue Coat Systems Inc., formerly CacheFlow, based in Sunnyvale, California, United States is a provider of Web security and WAN optimization solutions. Founded in 1996, Blue Coat provides products to more than 15,000 customers worldwide. It identifies itself as an application delivery network (ADN) specialist.[5][6] Blue Coat Appliances are primarily used in industry as security appliances providing Web Proxy and Content filters with a secondary use as a Cache Engine. Usually used in conjunction with a firewall rather than in lieu of same.
On December 9, 2011 Blue Coat agreed to be acquired by Thoma Cressey Bravo for $1.3 billion. With the closing of the transaction, Blue Coat stock was delisted from NASDAQ and was no longer a publicly traded company.[7][8]
History
Blue Coat Systems was founded in 1996 as CacheFlow, with the original headquarters in Redmond, Washington.
Daftar/Tabel -- products
- Web Security
- ProxySG, Multi-part enterprise software and hardware appliance, designed for companies with a large number of computers.
- Cloud Service, Cloud based web security
- WAN Optimization
- MACH5, Accelerate internal and external applications for distributed employees.
- PacketShaper, Content-aware visibility and control over network and applications.
- Personal Security
- K9 Web Protection, Free to use Protection for use as a parental control and to filter internet browsing.
- Service Provider Caching
- CacheFlow, Caching solutions for carriers customers.
Acquisitions
In 2006, Blue Coat acquired NetCache from NetApp.[9][10]
In 2008, Blue Coat acquired Packeteer, a networking management company.[11][12][13]
In 2010, Blue Coat acquired S7 Software Solutions, a provider of software migration products and services.[14]
In Dec 2012, Blue Coat acquired Crossbeam
Involvement in Syria
In October 2011 it was reported[15][16] that the US government is looking into claims made by Telecomix that the Syrian government is using the company's products in order to restrict internet access. The hacktivist group released 54GB of log data alleged to have been taken from seven Blue Coat web gateway appliances that depict search terms including 'Israel' and 'proxy' were blocked in the country using the appliances.[17]
Corporate Enemy of the Internet
On 12 March 2013 Reporters Without Borders named Blue Coat Systems as one of five "Corporate Enemies of the Internet" and “digital era mercenaries” for selling products that have been or are being used by governments to violate human rights and freedom of information. Blue Coat equipment has been sold to the governments of Bahrain, Burma (Myanmar), China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela.[18][19][20]
See also
- Application Delivery Network (ADN)
References
- ^ Schick, Steve (March 26, 2012). "Blue Coat Names Industry Veteran as Chief Operating Officer and President". Blue Coat Systems Inc. Retrieved March 26, 2012.
- ^ a b c Blue Coat Systems (BCSI) annual SEC income statement filing via Wikinvest.
- ^ a b Blue Coat Systems (BCSI) annual SEC balance sheet filing via Wikinvest.
- ^ "Blue Coat Systems Corporate Fact Sheet". http://www.bluecoat.com/doc/direct/10 246. Retrieved March 29, 2011.
- ^ Alva, Marilyn (October 22, 2009). "Bandwidth Police Help Keep Corporate Networks Humming". Investor's Business Daily. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
- ^ "Blue Coat swings to $8.4M Q2 profit". Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal. November 24, 2009. Retrieved December 27, 2009.
- ^ "Blue Coat Agrees to be Acquired by Private Equity Firm Thoma Bravo". December 9, 2011.
- ^ "Blue Coat to Operate as a Privately Held Company and Aggressively Advance its Leadership in Web Security and WAN Optimization". February 15, 2012.
- ^ Chris Williams (June 23, 2006). "NetApp flogs NetCache to Blue Coat". The Register.
- ^ Rebecca Munro (October 19, 2006). "Blue Coat looks for partners to help NetCache transition". ARNnet.
- ^ Greene, Tim (April 21, 2008). "Blue Coat to buy Packeteer Traffic shaping, application visibility, customer list are the reasons". Network World. Retrieved December 27, 2009.
- ^ Lawson, Stephen (April 21, 2008). "Blue Coat to Acquire Packeteer for $268 Million". PC World. Retrieved December 27, 2009.
- ^ Press release – Blue Coat Completes Acquisition of Packeteer June 9, 2008
- ^ "Blue Coat Systems acquires S7 Software Solutions". Reuters. February 12, 2010. Retrieved March 29, 2011.
- ^ "US probes Syria's use of internet blocking equipment". BBC. October 24, 2010. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
- ^ "Syria using American software to censor Internet, experts say". The Washington Post. October 22, 2010. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
- ^ "Blue Coat denies sale to Syrian censors". Information age. October 25, 2010. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
- ^ "Corporate Enemies: Blue Coat", The Enemies of the Internet, Special Edition: Surveillance, Reporters Without Borders, 12 March 2013
- ^ "Planet Blue Coat: Mapping Global Censorship and Surveillance Tools", Citizen Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto, 15 January 2013
- ^ "Rights Group Reports on Abuses of Surveillance and Censorship Technology", John Markoff, New York Times, 16 January 2013
External links