Blue Coat PacketShaper provides industry's first visibility and control of IPv6 “Shadow Networks” and drives performance up to 8 Gbps

DUBAI, UAE: Blue Coat Systems Inc., the technology leader in Web security and WAN optimization solutions, announced PacketShaper version 9, a new software operating system release for Blue Coat PacketShaper appliances that introduces the industry’s first network-, application- and content-level visibility and control for IPv6 “shadow networks” which have, up until now, run undetected on existing corporate IPv4 networks.

In addition, the new software enables scalable performance of up to 8 Gigabits per second (Gbps) to meet increased network demands with more video and other rich media, large software downloads and other network application traffic.

Visibility and control over IPv6 shadow networks
With a growing number of endpoints and WAN services enabled for IPv6, traffic has begun to emerge onto IPv4 enterprise networks far in advance of transition plans, creating new entry points for potential security threats and introducing compliance issues. Many companies already have IPv6 access from their service providers. Content is now widely available over IPv6 from providers such as Netflix, YouTube and via emerging Peer-2-Peer (P2P) applications. At the same time, many desktop and mobile endpoints, including tablets and mobile phones, are fully IPv6 ready.

These endpoints may be publically addressable and operate outside of traditional security configurations. Employees sometimes use these shadow networks to freely conduct file sharing, download video, access pornography and get around other network activity usually restricted by company policies.

PacketShaper version 9 adds IPv6 application and content visibility to the most powerful real time classification engine available today, with granular understanding of 700+ applications and tens of millions of Web sites categorized into 84 content categories. PacketShaper appliances are an increasingly critical tool for businesses and organizations to use in understanding the application traffic on Internet gateways and WAN links, managing the performance of applications across those networks and in providing awareness of security threats and compliance issues.