Dirk Morris - Untangle
CTO
Speaking Topic: Trade-Offs in Building Entire Networks in Software

Dirk Morris is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Untangle and visionary behind the Untangle Gateway Platform. Prior to Untangle, Dirk was Chief Architect at Akheron Technologies, where he invented the patent-pending High Bandwidth Transparent Vectoring used in the company's proxy firewall engine. He has also held positions as lead engineer at VerticalNet and H.L.L.C. Consulting, developing Java-based distributed monitor and intrusion detection systems. Earlier in his career, Dirk worked on survivability simulations at CERT/CC (Computer Emergency Response Team), the renowned, federally-funded Center for Internet security operated by Carnegie Mellon University. Dirk earned a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics from Carnegie Mellon University.

Abstract

Dirk will layout a new model for deploying software at the network gateway to overcome the challenges of running multiple applications (firewall, IPS, VPN, AV, anti-spam, anti-spyware, etc.) on standard x86 based hardware. Dirk will present an insider’s look at the tradeoffs Untangle made when designing a virtual network and tricks learned in maintaining high performance between competing applications running on the same system.