LONDON, October 27 /PRNewswire/ --

- Scalability and Centralised Management Cited as Major Drivers in Purchasing Decision

Optenet, a leading global IT security company and a provider of intelligent, integrated content security solutions, today announced that its Optenet Secure Web Gateway solution has been deployed by healthcare IMT provider, The Health Informatics Service (THIS), on behalf of their client organisations in the South West Yorkshire and surrounding areas of England. The Optenet solution protects against data leaks, ensures email security and monitors Web usage. The deal was signed through the Optenet Partner Programme in conjunction with authorised partner Network Technology Solutions (NTS), an approved vendor of the NHS.

THIS had not previously employed a dedicated filtering solution at the NHS sites it managed, instead relying on the reporting function of proxy servers to view Web traffic. As a result, IT administrators were spending several hours each week performing manual reviews of Web usage and using valuable human capital to look for anomalies. THIS immediately recognised the need for a more robust content filtering solution in order to confidently classify and quarantine incoming traffic, monitor Web usage by employees and prevent data leakage across its hospital trusts.

After an extensive trial of several leading content security products conducted by THIS infrastructure managers, Optenet scored highest among all competitors and was selected for its flexibility, accuracy, categorisation, reporting capabilities and ease of use. The reports generated by the Optenet solution during trials also provided detailed information about employee Web usage at NHS sites, which reinforced the need for Optenet's Web filtering capabilities.

After testing several solutions, Optenet became the clear choice to meet our security needs. It provides the most intuitive user interface, the easiest deployment and the most affordable price point, said Steven Shaw, senior confidentiality and IMT security officer at THIS. Optenet's ability to categorise Web content allows our IT managers to view the types of data that traverse each healthcare site's network in great detail, so they can monitor and improve employee productivity. Additionally, we were most impressed with the level of modularity that Optenet allows. As we add or subtract branches from our purview, the powerful central management console allows us to easily adjust without needing to reconfigure the entire solution across the network.

THIS deployed the Optenet solution on behalf of several South West Yorkshire healthcare organisations, including Calderdale Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, NHS Wakefield District, Southwest Yorkshire Mental Health NHS Trust, Calderdale Primary Care Trust and NHS Kirklees. Collectively, Optenet protects between eleven and fifteen thousand end users across these sites.

Optenet's product portfolio, which includes the appliance-based Optenet Secure Web Gateway for enterprises, provides Web filtering, anti-spam, anti-virus, firewall protection and more, and is the most integrated security solution in the industry. Deploying a single solution for all of these applications eliminates the costs and complexity associated with relying on multiple security products. Optenet is the only security vendor that delivers a natively integrated set of security applications that can be managed centrally and customised to meet the specific security requirements of each customer.

In this age of increased focus on data protection, securing healthcare networks is not a luxury - it's critical to business operations, and IT managers need tools that are completely reliable, said Javier Peralta, Sales Director for Optenet in the UK. Optenet's strength is its ability to support widespread campus deployments and remote sites from a single management console, making it a perfect solution to secure hospital trust networks.

About Optenet

Optenet is a global IT security company that provides high-performance content filtering solutions to service providers and large enterprises worldwide. Optenet's technology protects 75 million end users around the globe, including the customers of many of the world's leading ISPs and mobile operators, as well as employees of global enterprise organisations. For more information, visit www.optenet.com .

About NTS

NTS (UK) is a network and system integrator specialising in IT security, providing independent advice and expertise to public and private sector organisations. NTS (UK) is vendor independent, allowing the company to advice on a solution to meet individual needs. For more information, visit www.ntsuk.co.uk.

About Optenet's Partner Programme

As Optenet continues to grow as a leader in the security technology market, it has developed a qualified distribution network that acts as an extension of the team, offering value-added services to support and implement security solutions around the world. The company's Sales Partners fall into three categories: Gold Certified Partner, Premium Certified Partner and Authorised Partner. Optenet supports its channel partners with joint marketing and certification programmes, and is dedicated to providing consistent, updated information about both the product road map and strategies for sales success. To learn more about the Optenet Partner Programme, please visit: http://www.optenet.com/en/pdf/programa_partners_en.pdf

About The Health Informatics Service

Hosted by Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, The Health Informatics Service provides IMT related support to healthcare organisations in and around South West Yorkshire. Many client organisations utilise the full product range while others select specific products according to their needs. The Service offers a comprehensive range of IMT services along with many specialist products only found in a large service of this type. These include programming, mapping support, statistical analysis, networking, confidentiality and IMT security. For more information visit www.this.nhs.uk.

MEDIA CONTACTS: Marta Gomez Brian Alberti Optenet DMG Europe Ltd. +34-618-857-630 +44-(0)-782-517-7562 communication@optenet.com optenet@daviesmurphy.com http://www.optenet.com http://www.daviesmurphy.com Web site: http://www.optenet.com http://www.ntsuk.co.uk http://www.optenet.com/en/pdf/programa_partners_en.pdf http://www.this.nhs.uk

Marta Gomez of Optenet, +34-618-857-630, communication@optenet.com; or Brian Alberti of DMG Europe Ltd., +44(0)782-517-7562, optenet@daviesmurphy.com