Untangle Adds WireGuard VPN Support, AT&T 4G LTE

Untangle today launched an update for its small- to mid-sized business (SMB)-focused SD-WAN platform with support for WireGuard VPN tunnels and 4G LTE connectivity on AT&T’s network. Untangle today launched an update for its small- to mid-sized business (SMB)-focused SD-WAN platform with support for WireGuard VPN tunnels and 4G LTE connectivity on AT&T’s network. The vendor claims that customers can now quickly configure VPN connections between their Untangle SD-WAN appliances and the company’s NG Firewall using WireGuard. Untangle added support for WireGuard VPN tunnels to its NG Firewall platform last October. “Having previously seen success in integrating WireGuard VPN in our NG Firewall, we’re excited to offer small businesses an even stronger offering in our latest update to SD-WAN Router, which will make administering a virtual network as simple as accessing an app,” said Heather Paunet, VP of product and marketing at Untangle, in a statement. WireGuard is an open source VPN protocol that claims to be “faster, simpler, leaner, and more useful than IPSec” while offering higher performance compared to OpenVPN. Until now, Untangle’s SD-WAN platform has relied on the OpenVPN protocol for configuring tunnels between branch office appliances and the security gateway located at the SMB’s corporate headquarters or in the cloud. According to Paunet, while less performant, OpenVPN was ideal because it was easier to configure and understand than IPsec. WireGuard falls somewhere in the middle, offering many of the performance advantages of IPsec while being far simpler to configure, Paunet said. That simplicity is critical, especially in environments like schools where the physics teacher might also be in charge of IT, she added. In addition to WireGuard VPN, Untangle also announced new 4G LTE connectivity options via AT&T. Untangle’s SD-WAN has supported cellular connectivity over LTE in addition to WiFi and fiber, since the launch of its eSeries appliances in 2019. With today’s update, customers can now extend additional network redundancy via an AT&T SIM card in the SD-WAN appliance. Untangle claims the combination of high-performance VPN tunnels for routing and 4G LTE connectivity makes the platform a better choice for connecting bandwidth-constrained locations or remote workers. Untangle has steadily introduced new functionality to its SD-WAN platform since it launched in early 2019. The company last April rolled out predictive routing to its SD-WAN platform, and in early December added support for local network segmentation via VLANs. The former enabled the company to identify, classify, and apply routing policy to encrypted traffic based on information embedded in the first packet. Meanwhile, the latter provided additional tools for SMBs to more effectively manage their internet connections by simplifying the process of defining VLANs.