SideScan™ Filtering Technology

SideScan filtering is a firewall-independent technology that reviews every packet of information going out to the Web – including HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, NNTP, Skype™, Chat, Peer-To-Peer and Streaming Media – and stops Web sites or file sharing applications that have been blocked. Operating in much the same manner as a network sniffer, it scans all network traffic, accurately filtering a full 100 Mbps of bandwidth, as much as two-times the bandwidth possible with other vendor's Internet filters.

Many competing products rely on an alternative technology called pass-through filtering. They function like a gateway to the firewall, stopping and reviewing every packet before it passes through. This approach can be a serious bottleneck that dramatically reduces network performance, especially in high bandwidth environments. In addition, because this filtering approach relies on the firewall, if it goes down for any reason it can prevent the firewall from working properly - or completely jam-up the network.

Because the NetSpective Solution is firewall-independent; it does not present a point of failure to Internet traffic. It's also easier to implement pass-by filters because they do not require any changes to workstation settings; unlike pass-through filtering that require settings to be changed on individual network workstations accessing the Internet.

Another benefit of NetSpective's pass-by filtering is that it never presents a compatibility issue. With pass-through technology, on the other hand, companies need to be sure that their Internet filter is compatible with their firewall or face the expense and hassle of implementing a new firewall.