The Challenge
A leading Internet Service Provider (ISP) in London was looking for a hardware platform for its business clients. The existing solutions were causing a number of problems:
Overheating under VPN traffic
The existing routers overheated under encrypted traffic load (IPsec/OpenVPN), causing instability and packet loss.
Lack of SFP+ ports
Without optical connectivity, speeds were limited to 1Gbps – insufficient for corporate clients requiring a 10G backbone.
Vendor lock-in dependency
Proprietary firmware limited flexibility. The client wanted the freedom to install pfSense or OPNsense.
No failsafe on crashes
When the firewall appliance software crashed, the ISP's customers lost internet access until a restart.
The IWILL Solution
We supplied a 1U Rackmount Network Appliance from the Network Security series with the latest generation Intel Core processors:
AES-NI hardware acceleration
Intel Core processors with built-in AES-NI encryption instructions. VPN tunnels (IPsec, WireGuard, OpenVPN) operate at full line-rate speed without CPU overhead. This means lightning-fast VPN speeds without delays, even with hundreds of concurrent tunnels.
10G SFP+ optical connectivity
Addition of 4x 10G SFP+ ports via modular NIC modules for high-speed backbone connectivity. Suitable for ISP environments where 1Gbps is no longer sufficient. QSFP+ 25G/40G is also supported.
LAN Bypass "Fail-Open" protection
If the device stops (software crash, update), the internet connection is not interrupted – traffic passes directly through the bypass ports. A critical feature for ISP environments where even a second of downtime means losing customers.
Complete software freedom
Standard x86 hardware, compatible with pfSense, OPNsense, VyOS, Untangle, Sophos XG and any Linux/FreeBSD distribution. No vendor lock-in, no hardware licensing fees.
Result
The client successfully launched the “Managed Firewall” service for its corporate subscribers. Complaints about slow VPN decreased by 80%, and LAN Bypass ensured uninterrupted service even during software updates.
