Net6 was a startup founded in 2000 that created products in Security, Voice over IP

VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...

protocols Protocol may refer to: Sociology and politics * Protocol (politics), a formal agreement between nation states * Protocol (diplomacy), the etiquette of diplomacy and affairs of state * Etiquette, a code of personal behavior Science and technology ...

and SSL VPN.

History

Net6 was originally called WebUnwired and was founded in 2000 by Murli Thirumale (an Ex VP and GM at

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

), Goutham Rao (an Operating Systems Architect at

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

), Jon Thies and Russell Lentini. Thirumale was the CEO of Net6 and Rao was the CTO and Chief Architect. The company originally focused on secure application access from mobile devices, and later shifted focus toward

protocols and SSL VPN technology. The company created two hardware appliances called the Application Gateway for

and the Access Gateway for SSL VPNs.

Partnerships

Net6 secured OEM deals for its product lines in 2000 from

Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational corporation, multinational digital communications technology conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develo ...

. In 2002 and 2003, Net6 added further OEMs for its product lines from

Nortel Networks Nortel Networks Corporation (Nortel), formerly Northern Telecom Limited, was a Canadian multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in Montreal, Quebec, ...

Avaya Avaya Holdings Corp., often shortened to Avaya (), is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, that provides cloud communications and workstream collaboration services. The company's platform includ ...

Systems and

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

. Net6 primarily sold its products through their partner channels.

Funding

* In 2000, Net6, then known as WebUnwired secured $8M in series 'A' funding from

Sierra Ventures Sierra Ventures is an American venture capital firm based in San Mateo, California. It is focused on early stage emerging technology companies. History The firm was founded by Peter Wendell in 1982 in Menlo Park, California. Early investments i ...

and Olympic Venture Partners. * In 2004, Net6 raised an additional $8M in series B funding from

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...

venture partners.

Acquisition

In December 2004, Net6 Inc was acquired by

Citrix Systems Citrix Systems, Inc. is an American multinational cloud computing and virtualization technology company that provides server, application and desktop virtualization, networking, software as a service (SaaS), and cloud computing technologies. C ...

for $50M. The acquisition marked Citrix's entry into the telecommunications security space, and Citrix continues to market the Access Gateway product under the Citrix Access Gateway(tm) product name, led by the management team of Murli Thirumale (CEO), Goutham Rao (CTO), Russell Lentini and Jon Thies (Principal Architects), Gordon Payne (VP of Marketing) and Joe Eskew (VP of Sales).

References

External links

Citrix corporate website
{{Citrix Systems Citrix Systems Networking hardware companies American companies established in 2000 2004 mergers and acquisitions Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct computer hardware companies