Frequently Asked Questions - Mithril Firewall

The firewall you normally get from your Internet provider only has very basic features and protection. While it might work well at home or on very small business network, it is usually not very reliable and may not provide enough "horsepower" to handle the traffic on a larger network. (Hint: if you find that your Internet access is slow even though you are paying for a fast connection, it is very likely that your firewall is underpowered.)

They do that but they can do a lot more. Remember that your firewall is what separates your network from another (usually the Internet). If it locks up or fails completely your entire organization will lose their access to the Internet. The same thing happens if your Internet Service Provider (ISP) goes down. The Mithril Appliance itself is designed with an impressive amount of redundancy built in so it is unlikely to go down or lock up. Mithril also allows you to have any number of redundant Internet connections from different providers so if a provider goes down it can automatically failover to the other connection(s) and your organizations stays up and running.

Mithril is our simple yet powerful firewall-as-a-service solution. It is a combination of computer hardware, software and service designed to make it easy for an organization to acquire, install, configure and manage the firewall that protects the IT assets on their internal computer network. (And yes, it was named after the precious silvery metal that was strong enough to stop powerfully thrown spears in JRR Tolkien's masterpiece The Lord Of The Rings.)

Selecting, acquiring, installing, configuring, managing and monitoring an industrial strength firewall can be very complicated. We want to make it as simple as renting a car. We consult with you or your IT consultant to determine the optimal configuration for your organization. We configure the hardware, ship it to you, help you plug everything in and confirm that everything is working properly. We then monitor the firewall to make sure it stays up and running, and manage it as your organization's needs change. We own the hardware and replace it as required. And all you have to do is pay a fixed monthly fee.

In a nutshell, Mithril gives you world-class network protection, maximum uptime, optimal Internet connection speeds, minimal drain on your IT staff/consultants time and a fixed monthly fee that saves you money and eliminates large cash outlays.

Firewall configuration and management is complex and may be outside the skillset of your IT staff and/or consultant. Our experts live and breathe firewalls and can probably perform these tasks more efficiently and cost effectively. Mithril can also free up IT staff and allow them to focus on other aspects of your IT infrastructure. Mithril's high availability design is far superior to other firewalls in its class so you are getting state-of-the-art service and equipment that is replaced and upgraded as required. In fact, many of Mithril's features are only available on enterprise-class firewalls.

The short answer is that Mithril can be a Next Generation firewall if your organization needs those features. Typical functions of traditional firewalls such as packet filtering, network- and port-address translation (NAT), statefull inspection, and virtual private network (VPN) support are sufficient for many organizations. Next-generation firewalls go a little deeper and check packet content payloads and matching signatures for harmful activities such as exploitable attacks and malware. This comes with a price: increased load on the firewall hardware and possibly a reduction in Internet connection speed. Mithril hardware is "over designed" and capable of handling the increased load. Our experts will help you decide what features you need during your initial configuration interview and periodically as your organization's needs change.

Yes. You can substantially improve security by adding Mithril firewalls to your network to prevent the proliferation of threats if they get inside.