The time has finally arrived. The past year has been like being under a court ordered media blackout. I can finally talk about the product that I and some very talented people have been working on at StillSecure. It’s time to take off the wraps and tell you about Cobia™.
Today StillSecure is announcing Cobia Unified Network Platform software for networking and security. 
The principles embodied in my UNP whitepaper are now incorporated into a software product you can download and use for free. Cobia significantly advances the state of the art represented by today's fixed-appliances, through Cobia's modular, open source software architecture that can operate virtually anywhere in a network.
You can read the official description in my product announcement blog post [here], the press release [here], or the Cobia site at http://cobia.stillsecure.com. Now, let me tell you a bit more about Cobia.
1. Cobia is a software platform for networking and security.
Cobia is software, not like the fixed appliances, or the software in them, that I’ve blogged about so often. Because it is software, Cobia can operate on a variety of hardware platforms (Intel/AMD) including off-the-shelf servers and computers, hardware appliances, blades such as blade servers and blades within network infrastructure gear. It can be expanded with new capabilities, take advantage of the current and future hardware advances, and expand as additional network and security tools and technologies become a part of our secure network infrastructure.
2. Cobia is plug-n-play network and security modules.
Rather than the take-it-or-leave-it approach of most appliances, Cobia is comprised of a base software platform, called the Cobia Framework, upon which Cobia Modules are installed. Cobia is all about modularity, right down to its software architecture. Cobia Modules for networking and security are available today on the Cobia site. Additional modules are under development and as the Cobia community grows, I anticipate there will be a variety of people creating modules for Cobia.
3. Cobia is free.
Cobia is free to use in your business and personal network infrastructure. You can install it on one computer or several and use it for free. There are commercial licensing options if you have profit motives for Cobia, like selling it, bundling it on hardware, building products with it, bundling your product with Cobia, etc. The Cobia site has licensing specifics and FAQs on Cobia licensing options. StillSecure will also be offering some commercial products on Cobia in the future. We will also offer commercial paid-for support (email, phone, 24x7) in the near future in addition to the free online user supported forums.
4. Cobia utilizes general purpose computing hardware.
Run Cobia on a server, desktop, or an appliance. Run it on a new computer or an old one. Take advantage of the latest Intel/AMD multi-core processors, PCI-Express bus, or fastest drives to get maximum performance. Or run it on something you have laying around on the office. Obviously if Cobia is to be a part of your network infrastructure you’ll want to put it on good hardware, but the point is you have the choice of what hardware you want to run it on. You also have flexibility in the upgrade path of that hardware. Add memory, change processors, or upgrade the entire box. The choice is yours. Check out Cobia’s minimum hardware requirements.
5. Place network and security services where you want them in the network.
Cobia is about flexibility. Cobia frees networking and security services from being tied to a specific hardware appliance. Cobia’s modules aren’t bound to any one piece of gear. Run it anywhere in the network, rather than where a specific appliance box is located. Need/want to run everything on one box, go right ahead. Maybe it makes more sense for your network to run the router, firewall and IPS on one box, and DHCP, DNS and AV gateway on another. The point is, you choose now, and you can change it later.
6. Cobia is an open source product.
Source code is included. You don’t have to look at it, compile it or care about it to use Cobia. It’s there for those that do want to dive into the code, modify it or create their own Cobia Modules. We created Cobia under a dual-use license structure. The StillSecure Community License provides source code and is how you can use Cobia for free in your business or personal network infrastructure. Up until now, StillSecure has done all of the development on Cobia. With the start of the Cobia beta we put in place the new dual-use license structure, offering Cobia source code to those interested in helping develop Cobia or customizing Cobia. If you have read my blog you can probably figure out why we created our own open source license for Cobia but this is something I’ll blog about in more detail at a later time.
7. Virtualizing the network.
Virtualization is all the rage in data centers these days. Many looking at the future of networking see virtualization in our not too distant future. Cobia ushers in virtualization for networking and security right now. Today, you can run Cobia as a VMware instance on Windows or Linux. Download Cobia from the site ready to run in VMware. And that’s not all. I have a lot of plans for virtualization in Cobia – that’s something I’ll share with everyone over time.
8. More to come.
The announcement of Cobia is really the beginning of a vision, not just the culmination of the hard work put in to get to this point. As an open platform, Cobia can be used and extended in a variety of ways. And my team at StillSecure will continue to develop not only new modules but also additional technology to further the future of Cobia. One of the reasons Cobia is offered as open source is to foster innovation with the technology. Yes, StillSecure is a for-profit company and we will have plenty of opportunity to make money with Cobia. But just as important, Cobia is about enabling partners and customers with the technology. It is my hope that Cobia is the seed for many new innovations to come; innovations made by Cobia users, customers, partners and StillSecure.
You can't work this hard on a product and not be passionate about it. Clearly I am and I truly believe in the path we've chosen for Cobia. There’s far more to say about Cobia than I’ve said in this blog post, so over time I’ll be sharing more thoughts about Cobia, in its current form and where it’s headed. I hope this gives you more insight into Cobia.
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