Abstract

The author developed a small low cost broadband networking router using FreeBSD to support a telemedicine application. Our router design provides IPsec based virtual private networking (VPN) and quality of service (QoS) arrangements, simultaneously supporting two-way real-time video and audio, camera control, streaming video replay and medical record access over the public Internet using Cable-modem links from physician’s homes to the Internet. These routers have been critical for the implementation of the telemedicine project after several other attempts with proprietary “solutions” have failed. FreeBSD’s integrated IPsec code, QoS facility, firewall, and its ability to squeeze the entire system down into a file system image of less than 8 MB, had been instrumental for the development of our routers. Above all, however, this project would not have been possible without the availability of the system’s source code, the ability to investigate bugs, rapid turn-around in the user-support community, and the ability to add missing features into existing software, which is made possible by the open source software development paradigm.

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