Revolutionizing the Network Gateway

Downloadable software instead of costly, inflexible appliances. Better yet, open source software.

Forget about having to add another appliance each time you need another network app. How about using one off-the-shelf server. Need a new application, download it on the same server.

The Untangle Gateway Platform is a commercial-grade open source solution for blocking spam, spyware, viruses, adware and unwanted content on the network, setting up secure remote access and more. Check out all 14 network applications available today for free.

The Open Source Advantage

The Untangle Gateway Platform is built around 30 of the best open source projects. But more than just adding features and integrating projects, Untangle has developed a new way of streamlining communications overhead between the application modules. We call this “virtual pipelining.” It’s what let’s us run so many applications on one x86 server. We also developed a “virtual rack interface” that makes downloading and installing new apps easier. (Check out our video overview for a live if not real-time demonstration.)

Untangle’s code (over 500,000 lines of it) is open source. To be specific, it’s licensed under the GNU General Public License v2 (GPL v2), which means it’s free to use, modify and even distribute. Frankly we also believe open source engineering practices are the best way to go. 

Easier

Let’s face it, networking isn’t easy. And “raw” open source software – unless it says “Ubuntu” or “Firefox,” forget it. But things don’t have to be unnecessarily hard. Especially for what should be mundane things. Like installing a new network application. Or, dealing with updates. Or, getting a basic configuration going. 

We’ve dedicated ourselves to making those things easier. Download, try it and let us know what you think.

Gateways and Platforms are Cool

Wherever possible we favor implementing network functionality at the gateway. Just seems more efficient that way. Get stuff at the source. Doesn’t mean there aren’t some things like anti-virus/spyware software that should also be deployed on desktops. But let’s be real, most bytes come from the net, not fobs or CDs. 

It’s also easier to manage one gateway than 50 PCs.

As the name suggests, the Untangle Gateway Platform is a platform – clever, huh. It currently supports 14 applications, but the limits haven’t been touched. Given that it’s open source, you or the community can always add more applications. (We’ll certainly be adding to the list.) Or, make improvements to the platform itself to support yet another class of network applications. Platforms are extensible. Open source is inherently customizable.

This provides a lot of flexibility and “future-proofing” – and let’s you choose how you want things to work, not us. Our talks with our many channel partners suggest that this type of flexibility is right up their alley.

Software versus Hardware Appliances

We think software is a whole lot better than hardware appliances (the stuff SonicWall and WatchGuard sell). Here are a few reasons: