Radware today announced that its LinkProof, CertainT 100 and Web Server Director intelligent application switches are being used by UCAS, the UK central organisation that processes applications for university and college places, to ensure the availability and performance of its main student applications web site.
Radware is the leader in Intelligent Application Switching (IAS), ensuring availability, performance and the integrity of networked applications across the enterprise. The Radware solution is being used in the network infrastructure that supports the web site http://www.ucas.com/, as part of a series of network enhancements designed and managed by secure network integration specialist Peapod.
UCAS, based in Cheltenham, UK, has been taking student applications online since 2002 and has been successful in achieving multiple operational efficiencies by doing so. To date, more than 45 per cent of applicants for the 2003 intake have used either Apply, the new web-based system, or the Electronic Application System (EAS). The UCAS web site was externally audited in November 2002, by ABC Electronic, as having 20,060,659 million page impressions for the month. This figure represents a yearly increase in traffic of around 100 per cent. UCAS deployed Radware's intelligent application switching solutions on Peapod's recommendation as it anticipated a surge in online applications.
"The UCAS web site is now such a critical component of the university and college application procedure in the UK that it absolutely cannot afford to go down," said Steven Harrop, Director of Technology at UCAS. "However, we needed to ensure that we had available capacity for the application peaks, be able to mitigate our risks and costs by utilising multiple ISPs and yet deliver a reliable and effective service to our online users. Radware is enabling us to do this through more intelligent network equipment that puts UCAS in control of its web capacity needs."
"Radware's intelligent application switching gives the best possible availability and security of applications and so is ideal for high-demand web sites," said Dominic Byrne, general manager for northern Europe, Radware. "The UCAS web site is under immense and growing pressure during certain periods of the year, but optimised application performance and responsiveness is required all year round. Radware is ensuring that the web site retains its availability and performance, but at the lowest possible cost."
"Peapod has worked with UCAS for several years and seen first hand its
web traffic grow exponentially," said Chris Durnan, Managing Director, Peapod UK. "Radware was a perfect fit for UCAS and the solution enables near 100 per cent uptime to be maintained."
The Radware solutions deployed cover every aspect of UCAS' web availability, integrity and performance requirements:
- LinkProof manages the operation of all Internet links across multi-homed networks, guaranteeing uninterrupted online services and optimised content delivery for reliable, high performance and cost effective connectivity. By intelligently routing traffic and controlling bandwidth service levels across all Internet links, it enables effective link utilisation, accelerating responsiveness, controlling bandwidth consumption and scaling operations economically.
- Web Server Director (WSD) ensures the full availability, optimised operation and complete security of server farms, guaranteeing the reliability and highest performance of mission critical applications across the network. It is being used by UCAS to eliminate bottlenecks, failures and downtime from its network securely.
- CertainT 100 processes Secure Socket Layer Transactions at Gigabit speeds, offloading servers and accelerating throughput for maximum performance, cost effective SSL handling and immediate ROI. At peak times up to 70 per cent of all UCAS traffic is transaction based using SSL security.'
About Radware
Radware (NASDAQ:RDWR) is dedicated to providing Intelligent Application Switching, guaranteeing the best operation and servicing of IP applications and enterprise traffic across the Internet. Radware aligns application needs with the network infrastructure to seamlessly allocate resources, optimise application operations and extend security, ensuring the integrity of critical business processes. Radware's solutions address the needs of corporate enterprises, service providers, and e-commerce business through one or more of our award winning products including: Web Server Director (WSD), Cache Server Director (CSD), Application Switch III (ASIII), FireProof, Content Inspection Director (CID), LinkProof, Peer Director, CertainT 100. Our comprehensive suite of products service end-to-end application operations, providing robust and scalable network traffic assurance. For more information, please visit us at www.radware.com.
About UCAS
UCAS is the UK central organisation through which applications are processed for entry to full-time first degrees, HNDs and university diplomas. The mission of UCAS is to support and encourage an active partnership between applicants and education providers, enabling learners to make informed choices to achieve their full potential through higher education and providers to admit committed learners on an equal and fair basis. Each year, UCAS processes more than 450,000 applications to approximately 330 universities and colleges. For more, see www.ucas.com
About Peapod
Peapod UK is a leading provider of Information Security Solutions in the network and internet security marketplaces. Its roots date back to 1991 and over the years has helped to service and maintain over 750 clients security networks spanning the public and private sectors. Peapod is a value added reseller ensuring the right solution is proposed, supplied, implemented and supported. A team of BS7799 lead auditors, PRINCE 2 Project Managers and a group of highly accredited technical consultants support the business. www.peapod.co.uk.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, general business conditions in the Internet traffic management industry, changes in demand for Internet traffic management products, the timing and amount or cancellation of orders and other risks detailed from time to time in Radware's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Radware's Form 20-F.
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