MultiCom

MultiCom is the products name of a broad range of broadband router and firewalls, including VPN IPSec gateway with strong encryption and security, developed and manufactured by Lightning MultiCom in Switzerland, Europe.

MultiCom products development originated at EPFL in Lausanne, in the Laboratory of Computer Communication in 1992 by a group of computer enthousiasts, which earlier developed the Smaky Swiss computer system. Later that year a startup, Lightning MultiCom was founded to commercialize these products, allowing multiple ways of network communication.

The very first product developed, the Classic MultiCom, has been used by SWITCH, the Swiss academic Network for early remote links over ISDN. Later, the Pocket MultiCom ([1998] review by C't) has been considered as a high-performance ISDN router despite its small size.

In 1999, the engineers took the decision to embedd the open-source Linux operating system into MultiCom products for broadband Internet access for ADSL, CATV and HDSL/SDSL lines.

Carriers such as France Telecom and Swisscom, and Swiss banks picked the MultiCom Products for linking companies and schools to the Internet. Industrial Solutions have been developed around the MultiCom products. Even the European Space Agency has used these products for the EGNOS GPS extension project for its ground network.