14 DAY TRIAL // Turris Omnia is a new open source router that comes with powerful hardware and a Linux distro based on OpenWRT. It’s a smashing hit on Indiegogo, and there is still time to get one.
There are so many routers available in the stores that it’s really hard to decide on what you actually need or want. The majority of the routers are usually closed source, so you only have to rely on the companies that built them for support, which usually manifest in the form of a few firmware upgrades.
There is a better way of handling security for your router, and that’s using a product based on a Linux distribution that’s upgraded on the spot, every time a vulnerability is found. You won’t find a lot of these on the market. Turris Omnia aims to fill that gap by offering an OS based on OpenWRT that will be updated on the fly by the makers of the router.
Turris Omnia is quite powerful and versatile
Allowing outside people to upgrade your router can present some problems, right from the start, but that’s another issue. Makers of Turris Omnia, CZ.NIC implemented pretty much anything that you could ever want and all they could think of.
Turris Omnia has a 1.6 GHZ dual-core ARM processor, 1GB of DDR3, 4GB of flash storage, 5 Gbit ports, 1 GBit Wan port, 2 USB 3.0 ports, two mini PCI Express port, 1 mSATA PCI Express port, a SIM card slot, and even pin headers with GPIO support, just in case.
It can be used as a NAS, a virtual server, regular router, and because it’s based on an open source OS, it will also support a wealth of applications.
All of these features come with a hefty price. Turris Omnia has a retail price of $285 (€268), but if you back them up on Indiegogo, you will be able to buy it with just $189 (€178). It’s also worth pointing out that you can buy only the board inside the router for just $99 (€93).