ContentWatch Releases New Internet Filtering Appliance

CGIDir
Thursday, November 16, 2006; 05:52 AM

ContentWatch, a provider of Internet protection solutions for homes, businesses, education, and government organizations, today announced the release of the ContentProtect Professional Appliance. The new ContentProtect Professional Appliance is an Internet filtering appliance that helps businesses and organizations enforce their Internet Usage Policy through policy-based Internet filtering. Implementing the ContentProtect Professional Appliance will help businesses and organization, increase employee productivity, reduce liability and preserve bandwidth.

The ContentProtect Professional Appliance provides the same great filtering technology as ContentWatch’s client-based software product, ContentProtect Professional, within a single server appliance. Designed with ease of use in mind, the appliance is plugged in to the network and with minimal configuration begins enforcing the organization’s Internet Usage Policy. The appliance requires no software installation or configuration on individual computers and will automatically protect the network and employees by blocking access to websites that conflict with the organization’s Internet Usage Policy. By implementing, organizations will benefit from increased employee productivity and focus while reducing the risk of inappropriate content entering the work place.

A recent study conducted by International Data Corporation (IDC) concluded that 30 to 40 percent of Internet use in the workplace is not business related. (Source: IDC, Secure Content Management Report, March 2004).

“ContentWatch is one of the first security vendors to offer ‘end-to-end’ Internet management and protection to businesses and organizations,” said Jack Sunderlage, President and CEO of ContentWatch. “The Internet has become a common staple in the workplace. With more mobile and remote users, businesses are faced with the growing challenge of increasing employee productivity and protecting their computers, networks and employees from objectionable content and security threats regardless of where and how the user connects to the Internet.”

Sunderlage continued, “The ContentProtect Professional Appliance, combined with the ContentProtect Professional client option, round out our security offering by providing a more holistic approach to manage and protect Internet access—especially to organizations that have a mobile workforce with notebook computers.”

IDC also stated, “Employee Internet Management (EIM) has traditionally been deployed on servers at the gateway. Today’s risks dictate that additional policy enforcement points should exist at the desktop and network levels as well as at the gateway.”

ContentWatch has achieved a significant milestone with the release of the ContentProtect Professional Appliance. Most server-based or appliance-base filters rely on static URL lists for filtering. The ContentProtect Professional Appliance uses patent-pending dynamic contextual analysis (real-time filtering) to filter Internet content. Analyzing content on the fly is a more effective way to filter Internet content as Web content can change hourly and new Web sites are created each day. Products that rely on static URL lists become easily outdated.

Some of ContentProtect Professional Appliance key features include:

• Plug-and-Play Configuration – Minimal configuration is required in order to connect the appliance in-line to your network.
• Intelligent Filtering Detection – No double filtering if client software is loaded even though client is logged on to the corporate network.
• Multiple Filtering Profiles – Permits administrators to create organization, group, or individual filtering settings for employees.
• Dynamic Content Analysis – The appliance uses dynamic contextual analysis (in conjunction with word and URL lists) to filter Web content; analyzing content on the fly.
• Time Management – Permits administrators to set the time of day when users can access the Internet as well as a time quota feature that permits administrators to assign a block of time to a user.
• Customized Lists – Permits administrators to create customized lists of unacceptable or acceptable Web sites
• Web Based Management and Reporting / Single Point of Administration – Allows administrators to manage Internet policies, users, and computers, as well as view reports from anywhere and any computer as long as an Internet connection is available.
• Toll-free Technical Support