| Type | Limited company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Technology |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
| Products | Proxy Server, Web cache, DNS Server, DHCP Server, IPAM, WAN optimization, Content Filtering, VOIP, Vulnerability assessment |
| Website | www.appliansys.com |
ApplianSys, founded in 2000, is a privately held venture capital-backed technology company based in London, United Kingdom.[1] It designs, builds and markets Internet server appliances[2][3] that are deployed in more than 80 countries.[4] Forrester Research have listed ApplianSys as being a key vendor in the worldwide IP Address Management market, with its DNS engine used in a third of all GPRS networks.[5]
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ApplianSys' portfolio of appliances include more than 20 models[6] split across a range including DNSBOX (DNS, DHCP and IP Address Management), CACHEBOX (Web cache, Proxy Server, WAN Optimization and Content Filtering) and VOIPBOX (VOIP Acceleration).
All products are offered in 1U Rackmount or Small Form Factor formats. They are configured via secure web interfaces, with central management console appliances available for large scale deployments.
The DNSbox range was launched in 2001. It is divided into 4 series[7]:
They are typically deployed in a 'hidden master' configuration, with the management appliances running on a separate secure network to the DNSBOX100 series appliances that handle queries. A VPN is then used between the appliances for zone transfers.
Management appliances use a combination of open source and proprietary software, developed by ApplianSys and Nixu.[8]
According to IDC's 2007 IPAM report the average DNSbox customer manages 15,000 IP addresses.[9]
CACHEBOX is a dedicated web caching proxy appliance with models targeted at Education, SME, Corporate/Governmental and ISP markets. Five models are currently available:
All models feature content delivery network support, allowing sites such as YouTube that use multiple back-end servers to be effectively cached. ApplianSys's licensing model does not restrict by number of users or throughput supported by each device.
CACHEBOX's caching engine employs code from the Squid project.[10]
Customer types include:
VOIPbox is a Voice Over IP WAN Acceleration appliance that allows internet links to carry many more calls than otherwise possible.
When deployed, VOIPbox appliances create tunnels between one another. VOIP traffic is then carried over the tunnels, subject to techniques including bandwidth shaping, Quality of service, header compression and optimisation. Audio data itself is not compressed, allowing call quality to be retained.
It enables for example, a 128K ADSL line that would otherwise carry 3 G.729 calls to handle up to 28.
ApplianSys maintains its own hardened Linux operating system that has been developed from the ground up with appliance use in mind. All products make use of industrial grade compact flash that in most cases stores both the OS and configuration files, minimising or removing reliance on non solid state storage for reasons of both performance and reliability.[14]
After initial deployment using a VGA or serial console, all configuration of ApplianSys products is performed via a secure web interface.[15]