AlbSoft

Type	Limited company
Industry	Networking hardware
Founded	1995
Headquarters	Riga, Latvia
Key people	John Tully, CEO Arnis Riekstins, CTO
Products	Routers, Firewalls
Revenue	62.5 million Euros (2011)
Net income	20.6 million Euros (2011)
Employees	80
Website	www.mikrotik.com

Mikrotīkls Ltd., known internationally as MikroTik, is a Latvian manufacturer of computer networking equipment. It sells wireless products and routers. The company was founded in 1995, with the intent to sell in the emerging wireless technology market. As of 2007, the company had more than 70 employees. The company's products are known as low-priced alternatives for expensive routers and Ethernet radio relay lines.

Contents 1 RouterOS 1.1 Features 1.2 Release dates of RouterOS 2 RouterBOARD 3 Cloud Core Router 4 Use in developing IT markets 5 References 6 External links

RouterOS

The main product of MikroTik is a Linux-based operating system known as MikroTik RouterOS. Installed on the company's proprietary hardware (RouterBOARD), or on standard x86-based computers, it turns the computer into a network router and implements various additional features, such as firewalling, virtual private network (VPN) service and client, bandwidth shaping and quality of service, wireless access point functions and other commonly used features when interconnecting networks. The system is also able to serve as a captive-portal-based hotspot system. The operating system is licensed in increasing service levels, each releasing more of the available RouterOS features. A MS Windows application called Winbox provides a graphical user interface for the RouterOS configuration and monitoring, but RouterOS also allows access via FTP, telnet, and secure shell (SSH). An application programming interface is available for direct access from applications for management and monitoring.

Features

RouterOS supports many applications used by Internet service providers, for example OSPF, BGP, Multiprotocol Label Switching (VPLS/MPLS), OpenFlow. The product is supported by Mikrotik through a forum and a wiki, providing assorted and thematic examples of configurations. RouterOS supports Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) as well as Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6).
The software provides support for virtually all network interfaces that the Linux kernel 2.6.16 supports, except wireless, where the Atheros and Prism chipsets are the only supported hardware, as of 3.x version.

Release dates of RouterOS

• v6 - April 2013 (to be released at MUM 2013)^{[citation needed]}
• v5 - Mar 2010
• v4 - Oct 2009
• v3 - Jan 2008

RouterBOARD

The company manufactures a series of integrated circuit boards, marketed under the name RouterBOARD, as well as accessory components which implement a complete hardware operating platform for RouterOS.
The RouterBOARD line, combined with RouterOS, is marketed at small- to medium-sized wireless Internet service providers, typically providing broadband wireless access in remote areas. Products include pre-assembled SOHO routers, wireless 802.11n MIMO and TDMA devices for indoor and outdoor use, and also bare PCB routers for integration into custom solutions.

Cloud Core Router

In November 2012 MikroTik released the Cloud Core Router integrated unit which is based on the Tilera CPU supporting 16 - 36 CPU cores, 12 × 1000Base-T ethernets and up to 4 SFP (MiniGBIC) interfaces, as well as "fast-path" packet forwarding between interfaces (with claimed 24 million packets per second forwarding rate). This unit targets the medium-sized network providers as well as try to be a well priced alternative to the other more well known brands.^[1]

Use in developing IT markets

In 2004 a project begun to build low-cost Internet infrastructure in rural Mali. MikroTik routers and operating systems were chosen because of their low cost, flexibility, the fact that the system already had "a substantial user base in Mali", and had a user interface deemed "superior to other products".^[2] MikroTik routers were also preferred for a WLAN project in Burkina Faso,^[3] and MikroTik's proprietary Nstreme protocol performed better than IEEE 802.11 under the project's conditions.^[4]
In 2008, the Municipality of Piripiri, Piauí State, Brazil, decided to use MikroTik routers exclusively to build the infrastructure for providing free Internet access.^[5] MikroTik routers are also popular in the Czech Republic and Hungary, where they enjoy a good reputation.^[6]
Under OLPC program, Uruguay deployed a nation-wide wireless network in schools. Probably the largest Mikrotik deployment in a country with a total population of 3 million.^{[citation needed]} Approximately 200,000 students received a small laptop which connected to Mikrotik access points.