Blue Coat (News - Alert), which provides Web security and WAN optimization solutions to companies, scored well enough on two fronts to be recognized as a Champion for WAN Optimization, and also received the Trend Setter award from the Info-Tech Research Group.

"Info-Tech's recognition of our technology excellence is a validation that our vision and product direction are well aligned to new market requirements and ideally suited to help customers address them," noted Steve Daheb, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Blue Coat.

Companies recognized as champions are considered to have a strong market presence and are regarded as trend setters for the industry. Blue Coat's focus on Web and video acceleration, as well as advanced reporting, was also lauded.

"The shift to Web-based applications and widespread use of video in the enterprise demands a new type of WAN optimization technology that helps businesses manage the Internet as if it is their corporate network," added Daheb.

The analyst firm acknowledged Blue Coat for unique asymmetric acceleration, which significantly reduces bandwidth and improves performance of cloud-based applications, its product innovation and its robust video optimization.

One particular product that impressed the Info-Tech research group was Blue Coat's MACH (News - Alert) 5 appliance, which was stated to be the only solution that offered asymmetrical optimization for content downloaded from the public Internet.

Further, MACH 5 appliances helped prevent saturation of a Company's WAN or Internet gateways and   accelerated the delivery of cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS (News - Alert)).

Blue Coat products reportedly address the traditional WAN optimization challenges that are usually aftermath of data center consolidation, and the company claims to be well positioned to deliver the next generation of WAN optimization to accelerate future cloud-based initiatives.

Blue Coat Systems, Inc. announced that 86 percent of FORTUNE Global 500 companies have deployed Blue Coat solutions to optimize and secure their networks. Blue Coat customers include 49 of the 50 largest companies in the United States.

Of the FORTUNE Global 500 companies based in Europe and the Middle East, 97 percent are Blue Coat customers, including 60 of the 70 largest companies in the region. In Asia Pacific, 75 percent of the largest companies are also Blue Coat customers, including 23 of the 25 largest companies.