UK's Leading Mobile Provider O2 Turns to Crossbeam Systems to Secure Its 22 Million-Plus Subscribers

BOXBOROUGH, Mass., Feb. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Crossbeam Systems, Inc., the leading provider of next-generation security platforms for high-performance networks, today announced that mobile phone operator O2 in the United Kingdom, a division of Telefonica SA, is protecting its mobile network of 22 million subscribers as well as its corporate facilities with Crossbeam's X-Series security platform.

As the UK's exclusive distributor of Apple's iPhone for the last two years, O2 has felt the full impact of the explosion in smartphone usage, with an 18-fold increase in data traffic since the start of 2009. This traffic continues to double every four months due to the growing popularity of smartphones to surf the Web or watch videos.

Because smartphones allow a subscriber to open multiple, concurrent Internet sessions -- each of which must be secured -- O2 needed a high-performance network security platform that could scale with these demands and turned to Crossbeam's X-Series to provide the solution.

"Every time a mobile user opens an application like Google Maps, it automatically creates 20 or more sessions that need to be protected," said Ian Waggott, head of technical security for Telefonica O2. "Crossbeam offers the only solution that can easily handle the more than 6 million sessions operating concurrently on our networks. As a mobile operator, it's imperative that we can ensure the continued protection of our users as network traffic and bandwidth demands grow, without impacting performance. Crossbeam is a true visionary when it comes to delivering consolidated, scalable and high-performance security."

Both O2 and its parent company Telefonica have been using the X-Series for years to consolidate multiple security services on the chassis, benefitting from the cost-savings, ease of management and power consumption advantages of the platform. When O2 started experiencing the massive growth in network traffic due to smartphone usage, the company reevaluated the market's leading security vendors offering high-performance firewalls. Once again, Crossbeam outperformed its competitors.

"When you look at high-performance firewalls, there are very few vendors that can effectively do network address translations (NAT) under heavy traffic loads," added Waggott. "Crossbeam's X-Series delivering Check Point's firewall was by far the best solution on the market, delivering high availability and throughput under real-world conditions, even with NAT enabled."  

Crossbeam's X-Series security platform virtualizes best-in-class security applications on a scalable, carrier-class chassis. Customers benefit from a simplified architecture that delivers high-performance security at the industry's lowest total cost to operate -- 40 to 70 percent lower than competitors -- and provides unparalleled flexibility, scalability and built-in redundancy to intelligently manage traffic as security and network demands change. Today more than 900 leading enterprises and service providers, including 10 of the top 11 telecom carriers worldwide, rely on the X-Series.

"The growing use of smartphones and other handsets has become an enormous opportunity for wireless carriers," said Jim Freeze, Crossbeam's chief marketing officer. "Customers like O2 realize that even as they scale their networks to meet the data deluge, they still need to ensure the protection of users. That's where Crossbeam has established its reputation and expertise, providing a truly high-performance platform that gives customers the freedom to deploy the best-of-breed security applications of their choice."

About Crossbeam

Crossbeam Systems, Inc. transforms the way enterprises, service providers and government agencies architect and deliver security services. The basis of Crossbeam's solution is its Next Generation Security Platform, a highly scalable software and hardware platform that facilitates the consolidation, virtualization and simplification of security services delivery, while preserving the customers' choice of best-of-breed security applications. Crossbeam offers the only security platform that delivers unparalleled network performance, scalability, adaptability and resiliency. Customers choose Crossbeam to intelligently manage risk, accelerate and maintain compliance, and protect their businesses from evolving threats. Crossbeam is headquartered in Boxborough, Mass., and has offices in Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. More information is available at www.crossbeam.com.

Crossbeam Systems and Crossbeam are registered trademarks of Crossbeam Systems, Inc. All other company, product or service names not owned by Crossbeam mentioned in this press release are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE Crossbeam Systems, Inc.