We've sold 300 units! This is the size of our initial production run. You are welcome to purchase more, but be aware that your ship date may be delayed by a few months. (In the long term we plan to sell these directly and via sites like Amazon, but in the mean time we can continue to take orders here.)

Introducing the ZeroTier Edge

Are you an IT professional, system administrator, developer, or power user? Do you want a plug-and-play solution to virtualize your network that's more powerful and easier to use than the usual tangled mess of VPN tunnels, insecure port forwards, and other hacks?

Want to support independent open source innovation in network virtualization and enterprise network management?

ZeroTier is a funded enterprise networking startup that's been helping IT professionals and developers deploy powerful networks easily for years. Our open source network virtualization software runs on servers, cloud VMs, desktops, laptops, phones, inside apps via our SDK, and on embedded/IoT devices. It's used by everyone from casual users to large publicly traded companies.

Now we've decided to offer a hardware device that puts the power of our entire software stack into a convenient package that can be deployed anywhere in minutes.

The ZeroTier Edge is a plug-and-play VPN and SD-WAN appliance that provides physical ports into virtual networks. These ports work just like regular Ethernet, allowing the Edge to provide connectivity to almost any kind of device speaking any Ethernet-based protocol. Connect any Ethernet or Wi-Fi capable device to virtual networks in minutes.

Features

The Edge offers features and performance comparable to enterprise VPN and SD-WAN boxes costing anywhere from $500 to several thousand dollars, and without mandatory recurring operational costs.

• Web management console accessable on your local LAN or through ZeroTier itself.
• Integration with ZeroTier Central for remote administration of all Edge devices across your entire organization.
• Works instantly with no configuration in most environments, allowing the Edge to be deployed by non-IT personnel at remote locations. The Edge ships configured to join a special ZeroTier virtual network allowing it to be remotely configured from anywhere.
• Powerful network virtualization with a rules engine supporting security monitoring, advanced distributed firewall rules, and policy based network micro-segmentation.
• Replace conventional VPNs by installing ZeroTier on any device and joining the same virtual networks as the Edge. All devices communicate peer-to-peer on the same virtual LAN. You no longer need local VPN servers, appliances, or cloud VPN tunnels.
• Secure your LAN by putting it behind a gateway that encrypts all traffic to/from the Internet and other sites.
• SD-WAN style redundancy and fail-over with support for multiple Internet connections and private site-to-site (e.g. MPLS) links.
• No mandatory recurring costs due to ZeroTier's distributed peer-to-peer architecture. Support, SaaS services, and commercial management software are available but are not required.
• Powered by open source ZeroTier network virtualization software and Linux.
• The Edge acts as a local ZeroTier root server for ZeroTier devices on your LAN, allowing them to operate locally even if your Internet connection goes down and with improved performance.
• Lifetime software updates as long as your device has an Internet connection. We will be adding new features constantly and you will get them all at no additional cost.
• Dual-core 64-bit ARM processor capable of handling a gigabit of full-duplex encrypted traffic. The Edge is fast enough to connect even medium sized corporate branch offices and industrial sites.
• Dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi supporting both client and access control mode.

Project Status

As of today (late October 2017) the hardware platform for the ZeroTier Edge has been fully prototyped and most of the software has already been written.

The device that you see is an actual prototype with a custom-designed 3d-printed case manufactured right here in Irvine, California. We have already benchmarked and qualified the hardware and secured agreements with our upstream hardware vendors.

The heart of the Edge is ZeroTier itself, a software based virtual network switch with several years of operational history. We will be adding some new features to ZeroTier to support the Edge's planned functionality including multi-path, improved fail-over support, QoS awareness, and improved remote control capability. The Edge will also require a web UI and some systems control software. Some of this has been prototyped but it will require additional development.

Risks and Challenges

Depending on how many orders we receive we may have to scale up production. If we receive less than a thousand orders we are equipped to manufacture the Edge in-house using 3d printed enclosures. If we receive more orders we'll need to switch to a bulk-manufactured case. If we receive a very large number of orders we've discussed fully outsourcing the production of the hardware but this will require some amount of supervision.

There are certain risks and challenges intrinsic to all hardware projects. Manufacturing lead times for upstream vendors are not entirely under our control. It's also possible for unforeseen problems to appear with the hardware platform that necessitate changes. We've researched several back-up plans involving variations on the hardware just to be sure that we can deliver if we are forced to change our plans.

FAQ

Q: What hardware does the Edge use? Is it open?
A: The Edge is built on a version of the Espressobin network-oriented single board computer. It is available directly and is an open hardware platform.

Q: Will the Edge be fully open source?
A: Linux and the ZeroTier network virtualization engine are open source. The Edge will contain some proprietary ZeroTier software for its web UI and remote administration capabilities. ZeroTier Central, our commercial management software, is also proprietary, but the Edge can be used without it if you run your own network controllers.

Q: How many Edge devices can co-exist on the same ZeroTier virtual network?
A: There is no hard limit, but there is a slight amount of bandwidth overhead for bridging so you may see increased bandwidth use with more than ~10-20 bridges on a network. This overhead is not high in most cases so it's usually not a big problem.

Q: How many devices can be bridged?
A: There is no limit. Network switches and wireless access points can be connected to the virtual LAN side of the Edge to connect any number of devices to a virtual network.

Q: Can I use the Edge on a fully private non-Internet-connected network?
A: Yes but this requires some setup. ZeroTier can provide commercial support for such configurations.

Q: Can I use the Edge to connect proprietary or legacy devices that don't speak standard IP?
A: In most cases yes-- ZeroTier can carry any Ethernet traffic including old protocols like IPX or proprietary industrial control protocols that run over plan Ethernet. Broadcast and multicast work as well.

Q: Can I deploy multiple Edge devices at the same location for redundancy?
A: Yes.

Q: How secure is the cryptography used in the Edge?
A: Information about ZeroTier's cryptography can be found in its manual.

Q: If the Edge is open source powered can I build one myself?
A: We have many users already who use ZeroTier's network bridging functionality to build their own local physical-to-virtual bridges. These can be VMs or can be built on top of platforms like the Raspberry Pi. This works just fine but requires a fair amount of Linux and networking know-how and can be time consuming to configure and get right. The purpose of the Edge is to offer a professionally produced plug-and-play option for business and power users.

About ZeroTier

ZeroTier's mission is to directly connect the world's devices. We're a four year old funded startup in Irvine, California (near Los Angeles) with a proven track record of delivering secure and powerful enterprise networking software. Check our about page for more information.