Product of the Day: Real World Linux -- NetSweeper

by Vendor Written
Product of the Day: Real World Linux -- NetSweeper

Product: Intelligent Web Filtering SolutionManufacturer: NetSweeper Inc.Address: 512 Woolwich Street, Suite 4,               Guelph, Ontario, Canada, N1H 3X7Telephone: 519-826-5222 Ext 41E-Mail: greg.apple@net-sweeper.comURL: www.net-sweeper.com

See How Artificial Intelligence Is Used in this Web Filtering Solution by NetSweeper

Industry analysts have recognized that the Content Security (CS) market is very important as an Internet management tool to control Web content, email scanning, and downloadable applications execution. Developed in Ontario's technology triangle, located west of Toronto, NetSweeper is a Linux-based Web filtering solution that uses proprietary technology to categorize inappropriate web sites on the Internet. It is a cost effective solution for corporations, Internet Service Providers, government organizations and educational institutions.

The artificial intelligence technology, the result of five years of development, provides accuracy, while control options can be global or to each user. URLs are intelligently categorized in real time. Newly scanned URLs are proprietarily communicated instantaneously around the world and made available to all customers. It self propels, self learns and populates itself intelligently.

The content filtering overcomes the exponential challenges of The Internet and is customizable. The guaranteed process ensures accuracy and speed. Corporate administrators, teachers and librarians have control of the network and are able to harness the Internet's power without creating speed bottlenecks.

Key features of the NetSweeper application include:

  • Real time URL content analysis

  • Per user customizable filtering

  • Generated reporting

  • Support for all authentication methods: Radius, LDAP, NT Domain

  • Easy integration and implementation

  • Web-based administration

  • Carrier grade scalability

One of the most innovative features of NetSweeper is its artificial intelligence technology. Many Web filtering solutions are based upon processes with lists that are generated by spiders, Web crawlers, human reviewers, and customer feedback. NetSweeper utilizes original thinking that speeds up the filtering process immensely. It employs artificial intelligence technology to categorize and filter the exponential growth of the Internet.

The A.I. engine scans URLs in real time to populate a master database. And as our customer base grows, the database become more and more accurate. All NetSweeper customers are connected to a Content Naming Systems (CNS) network, which is a distributed system used for transferring customer requests and performing the automatic updates of each NetSweeper server. We believe this process of collaborative filtering analysis provides the most comprehensive and technologically advanced filtering solution available today. And with so much communication over the Internet daily, NetSweeper's A.I. technology is generating over one million unique URLs each day. With 90% of our filtering employing A.I. technology, we also receive alerts from customers who have questions or have possibly identified situations that were not handled correctly by the system. Quality assurance specialists, whose role is to perform human intervention and analysis on current Internet usage trends, categorize "Web alerts".

We believe our artificial intelligence technology is the most advanced in the industry. And with over five years of dedicated development, we believe that we have the most reliable and tested content analysis technology currently available on the market. Linux's open source code has extensively helped our development team reach this plateau.

Our development team chose Linux because it is the most cost effective and reliable operating system in the industry. The choice has resulted in lower bottom line costs for our clients. We are able to deliver superior performance and security at a more competitive price than Web filters running on more expensive operating systems. One of the most appealing benefits of the Linux platform is free source code. Consequently, we have access to an ever-changing development pool without having to employ hundreds of developers. And, Linux is faster than other operating systems because there are less overhead requirements with Linux Kernel.

NetSweeper's native Linux distribution is Slackware. This distribution was chosen due to its completeness and its readily available supply of source code. We believe that it is one of the few distribution methods that have remained true to the original Linux concept. Since our Web filtering solution is a Linux-based application, it works on many distributions such as Red Hat, Mandrake, Debian, SuSe, and others. And as it is written in GNU C, it is also portable to other operating systems such as Sun, BSD, and Microsoft. In fact, large Tier 1 grade carriers have indicated a comfort level with NetSweeper because of its ability to run on other operating platforms like Sun Solaris.

We have designed a process that is capable of scaling and growing with the ever-increasing use of Internet in schools as well as the challenges presented by the Internet. School boards consistently choose NetSweeper for its functionality, accuracy, and performance. System administrators are, in general, very comfortable with Linux.

Selecting a Linux-based platform has enabled NetSweeper to develop a unique and innovative Web filtering solution.

email: potd@ssc.com

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