Blue Coat Joins Family Online Safety Institute to Protect Kids in the Web 2.0 World

SUNNYVALE, California - Blue Coat Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: BCSI), the leader in WAN Application Delivery and Secure Web Gateway, today announced it has joined The Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI), an international non-profit organization dedicated to identifying and promoting best practices, tools and methods for online safety as a corporate member. Additionally, Blue Coat executive Laurie Coffin has joined FOSI's board of directors to assist in governing FOSI's strategic direction and initiatives.

"Blue Coat's Community Outreach Program and free K9 Web Protection software gives parents the educational materials and tools they need to make decisions to keep their families safe online," said Laurie Coffin, director of marketing communications at Blue Coat Systems and FOSI board member. "We have been impressed by the commitment of FOSI in promoting effective private-sector responses to educate communities about Internet dangers, and it's an honor to join with other leading companies and organizations in supporting FOSI."

"It is important we work together to strengthen awareness and education as tools to help protect children online," said Stephen Balkam, CEO of FOSI. "The Family Online Safety Institute welcomes the new partnership with Blue Coat Systems. Together, we can make the Internet a safer place for children."

Blue Coat joins a high profile community of FOSI members, including Google, Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, France Telecom, British Telecom, AOL and Telmex.

Designed for parents and families, K9 Web Protection implements the same enterprise-class Web filtering technology used by Blue Coat enterprise and government customers worldwide. K9 Web Protection divides the Internet into 60 categories, relying on Blue Coat's commercial filtering service that processes 100 million Web site rating requests per day. Parents can configure the software to block or allow specific categories, such as pornography, spyware, and adult/mature content, and also block access to the Web at selected times of day. Its effective coverage reaches more than one billion Web pages. In addition, K9 Web Protection takes advantage of Blue Coat's unique Dynamic Real-Time Rating (DRTR) technology to automatically assess new and unfamiliar Web sites "on the fly." K9 Web Protection is offered through the Blue Coat Community Outreach Program which provides materials and resources to educate Internet parents about the impact of the Internet on children and on parenting strategies.