By RICHARD WOOD
Local developer Yellowtuna Networks has established New Zealand and British distribution partners for its Mako ADSL Modem Firewall System.
For business users of Jetstream the "black box" Mako 1030-ISE does the job of an ADSL router, modem, and firewall while providing warnings and cutoffs when there is
excessive data use - all controlled by a central management service called Jetsecure which keeps the firmware on the devices up to date.
The Albany-based Yellowtuna developed the software, which is loaded on to devices made in Taiwan. Each Mako sells for $1000 including GST and the subscription to the central server is $1100 per Mako for two years. This is in addition to regular internet service provider charges.
Local IT and Apple Computer distributor Renaissance has picked up the product exclusively for New Zealand and telco integrator Quip!, 49 per cent owned by British Telecom, will resell the product in Britain. Work is continuing to match Australian and US ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) requirements. Yellowtuna began in 2000 as an IT integrator attempting to bring high-end computing advantages to small businesses. It used the open-source Linux operating system to provide low-cost company servers.
Director Simon Gamble said Yellowtuna's goal was to make a secure and managed ADSL connection as easy as plugging in a phone line.
Industry New Zealand has provided assistance and grants of about $200,000.
A customer can use Mako boxes at each site and centrally manage them from any web browser inside or outside the company. A customer may choose to have its reseller manage its boxes.
Mako boxes can be used as instant "virtual private networks" to enable secure communications between offices. The central management system automatically reconnects a VPN after a connection outage.
Traffic management reports allow a company to see which PCs are generating the traffic and provide a comparison to bills from a firm's ADSL supplier.
A warning system sends email the instant data use gets, for example, to 80 or 100 per cent of a free plan limit. Absolute levels can be set to cut off the connection and prevent huge data bills in case hackers take over a server.
The Yellowtuna is expected to turn over $7 million in the next 12 months after a spend of about $2 million in R&D to date.
href="http://www.yellowtuna.co.nz"target="new">Yellow Tuna
Jet Secure
