Lightning MultiCom
 | |
| Private | |
| Industry | Internet |
| Founded | Zurich, Switzerland (1965) |
| Headquarters | Lausanne and Pully, Switzerland |
| Website | www.lightning.ch |
Lightning MultiCom is a Swiss developing company that creates Internet software and a manufacturer of secure network access appliances and web-server software. It also offers customized software and hardware. Lightning has developed and markets the MultiCom range of broadband router and firewalls, including VPN IPSec gateway with banking/government level encryption and security.
Since 2005, it also develops web-server software and providing services around this. Its most notable achievement is Community Builder, a Free and open-source software social networking software extension for Joomla running over 2,500,000 websites, according to Google.
History
Timeline
- 1965 Lightning founded as a family business, developing airport central-line lighting equipment, which is equipping Swiss airports since 1966 and up to today (2006).
- 1981 Lightning Instrumentation SA is founded
- 1992 A networking startup department was opened
- 1994 First compact router with leased line and ISDN with integrated backup and overflow
- 1995 First personal, pocket-sized ISDN router
- 1996 First router with integration of voice functions (customized development for a client)
- 1997 First router with optional strong 128 bit key encoding
- 2000 First complete Linux system embedded in a router
- 2002 First Linux-based routers engineered and delivered for a major aero-spatial project, EGNOS at the European Space Agency
- 2004 Business is re-incorporated as Lightning Multicom SA
- 2004 First High-Availability embedded Linux firewall and VPN gateway
- 2005 New group founded for Internet Web Server Software and Services
- 2012 Web server software reaches 450,000 active webmasters accounts, and 2,500,000 installations on websites.
Products
Hardware products are based on Linux, and software products on Open-Source under the GPL license. Lightning's firewalls address professional applications. Lightning currently provides network security to carrier, ISP, banks, media houses, law firms, accountancy firms, consultancies, and to government entities throughout Europe, Asia-Pacific and EMEA region.
Divisions
Lightning is currently divided into several core groups:
- Network Security Solutions Group - Develops and manufactures high-security firewall and VPN appliances
- Internet Access Group - Develops and manufactures highly integrated Internet access devices for ISDN, ADSL and leased line accesses.
- Internet Web Server software Group - created in 2005 develops web server software based on open-source packages, such as Joomla!.