OpenBSD is the foundation...

for many of the solutions we recommend. Why do we recommend OpenBSD? Some of the reasons are highlighted below:

• Maturity of the code base. There is over 25 years of development in the BSD code base.
• The OpenBSD developers/team have an obsession with security.
• Regular and predictable release schedule, every 6 months.
• Periodic source code audits
• New security and cryptographic tools are developed and integrated

Our engineers have been working with firewalls since the 1990s. During that time we have used many commercial and non-commercial solutions. The commercial solutions can be very expensive, and often lock companies into a particular vendor/solution.

We have used other open source based firewalls in the past, for example those using Linux as a foundation. We started to investigate the development models of the various Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) available. What we learned from our research showed us that a Linux distribution, like Fedora or Ubuntu, is an operating system kernel and then other utilities are grouped together and bolted onto the kernel. The end result, in theory, is a working operating system. With this model you have people developing the kernel and others developing the tools/software that make up the rest of the distribution. Ensuring that everything works together and is reliable and secure is difficult with this development model.

The various BSD based operating systems take a different approach. They are developed as a coherent complete system. The kernel is just one part of the operating system. The kernel and the rest of the operating system are integrated. The entire system is tested to ensure it is reliable and secure. Among the BSDs, OpenBSD is known for its focus on security. While new features are added regularly to OpenBSD, the developers take a conservative approach. Often new software/technology has bugs, many of which can affect the security of the system. Security takes precedence over the latest/greatest feature.

What does this mean to your business?

Using our solutions, your business will be using some of the most secure software available. Our solutions do not lock you into a particular vendor. We certainly hope that you will continue to use Balius Inc. for the solutions we provide. You are free to pick another provider for your support needs if you so desire. The software and documentation can be freely downloaded via the Internet by anyone. You can also choose to support and manage the solution yourself and only use our staff as the need arises. We certainly hope you would choose to use our Managed Services offering and let us perform the system administration duties solutions for you, we are experts in our field.

Licensing

Unlike commercial software solutions, there are no additional license costs to add a feature. For example if you want to add VPN services to an existing firewall, contact us and we can get it configured. Other commercial solutions could require you to purchase an additional license for the new feature.