SUSTAINABLE SOFTWORKS BRINGS OS X PRODUCTS TO MACWORLD
CUMBERLAND, R.I.- Sustainable Softworks, developers of award-winning
Internet and security software, will be one of the featured companies in
MacTech Central at MacWorld Jan. 8-12.
Peter Sichel, the company’s president and chief engineer, will be
discussing new products for OS X and the latest versions of Sustworks’ OS 9
tools. He will be accompanied by Ben Lachman, developer of gNAT.
gNAT was acquired by Sustworks in the fall. It is the basis of the
company’s first OS X product, IPNetShareX. IPNetShareX is Sustwork’s
entry-level Internet connection sharing program. It gives users graphical
access to the Mac OS X Network Address Translation (natd) services. Natd is
an inherent Mac OS X service which can be set up to share a single Internet
connection among multiple computers without requiring a dedicated hardware
router.
Although IPNetShareX does not contain the more powerful features of
Sustwork’s award-winning IPNetRouter software (such as filtering, DHCP
server and port mapping), it can still serve many simple network needs,
according to company officials.
“IPNetShareX, like other NAT-based Internet sharing solutions, imposes some
limitations due to sharing a single public IP address,” said Sichel. “While
basic email, web surfing, and file transfer work well with NAT, some games
and streaming protocols do not.”
Sichel also will unveil a beta version of IPNetMonitorX, the OS X version
of the company’s popular set of Internet utilities. IPNetMonitorX provides
a set of commonly used Internet tools, such as Ping, Traceroute, Whois,
NSLookup, and more which allow Macintosh users to monitor and debug their
connections to the Internet. The tools are designed to help users quickly
identify problems, locate where the problem is, and gather data which can
be used to solve the problem, either directly or through their Internet
Service Provider.
“I’m excited about the release of IPNetMonitorX because the development of
these tools in Cocoa with BSD networking will be the basis of everything
else we do,” Sichel said. “It’s like building the hammer and saw before you
can build a house. It will allow us to harness the power of OS X to build
best-in-class networking solutions for the Mac platform.”
In addition to OS X products, Sustworks will show the latest version of
their OS 9 products, including IPNetMonitor. The just-released version
2.5.2 adds support for displaying TXT records in NSLookup, and several
other user-requested features.
Also on display will be version 1.6.3 of IPNetRouter, Eddy-award winning
Internet sharing software. IPNetRouter is now capable of serving as a
DynDNS.org client. The new version of IPNetRouter will automatically tell
DynDNS.org when a user’s public IP address changes. Because IPNetRouter’s
new function is triggered by an event mechanism when the IP address
changes, it is much more efficient than other mechanisms.
IPNetSentry v1.3.2 , the company’s personal firewall applications, now has
several enhancements of particular interest to webmasters, including the
ability to add or remove filters through Applescript. IPNetSentry recently
was updated to be compatible with Opera and iCab browsers.
Sichel will also demonstrate IPNetTuner, which allows users to optimize any
type of Internet connection for peak performance.
Sustainable Softworks’ products range in cost from $25 for IPNetTuner to
$89 for IPNetRouter. Several package deals offering significant value for
users are available. All of the company’s software comes with a free 21-day
trial period and can be downloaded at http://www.sustworks.com.
About Sustainable Softworks:
Sustainable Softworks is a small, growing virtual corporation based in
Cumberland, R.I., with employees in Michigan and suburban Washington, D.C.
The privately owned company is committed to helping individuals and small
organizations address their computing needs in a market dominated by larger
and more sophisticated customers and suppliers. The company focuses on
developing understandable and affordable information systems that fit the
environment. Rapid innovation and falling prices have not only created a
complex myriad of choices, but have also led vendors to focus on
incorporating advanced features for enterprise customers who can afford
them. Vendors want to sell and support the most sophisticated technology,
and the market is easily influenced to follow the leaders. What’s lost in
this process is a broad market perspective, and rational evaluation of what
is needed and what it will really cost. Sustainable Softworks offers a
mature, insightful view of information systems with an eye toward pragmatic
solutions for both large and small organizations. The company’s website can
be found at www.sustworks.com.
