It’s every parent’s constant battle: how to keep kids away from the from the sections of the internet that we don’t want them to see. From web filters on computers, and screen locking apps on phones, to custom DNS solutions on routers, there are a multitude of available solutions, but many of them have serious drawbacks in one or more areas. Now a new product aims to change all that with a single, easy to manage wireless router.
The Gryphon, from Gryphon Online Safety, Inc., is the brainchild of John Wu, a Motorola veteran with twenty-four years of experience in the wireless industry, and Arup Bhattacharya, who developed the media processors for the iPod. Together they began developing the Gryphon to be an all-in-one security answer for both homes and small businesses.
At its core, the Gryphon is a neatly designed wireless router which utilizes the latest WiFi technology, machine learning, virus detection, a cloud-based smart block list, and a smartphone app for system management. Three wired network ports on the back of the device allow it to manage a household’s wired connections as well.
The Gryphon’s design blends well with modern decor.
I spoke to company CEO John Wu for a bit about the Gryphon, and about the process of taking this device from concept, through a successful Kickstarter period, to full-fledged product launch on Gryphonconnect.com and Amazon.
“We started at the end of 2016 with the Kickstarter campaign, which helped gauge customer acceptance/desire for the product, and to get the word out. Full production and final product development happened in 2017. We began shipping to backers in December of 2017, and will have completed shipping all units to Kickstarter backers by March 23rd, 2018.
One of the most important components with our success was that we’d already raised some venture capital before launching our Kickstarter campaign. Product development is a lot more expensive than most people think, and there can be unexpected snags along the way. We encountered a heat issue with early prototypes that delayed production for a few months. However, we kept good communication with our backers, and let them know what was going on. In the end, we only had one customer ask for a refund, and that was due to some extenuating life circumstances.
We are working with a good manufacturer, with two decades of experience making WiFi routers for big name brands. It’s one thing to produce a couple of hundred units to fulfill a Kickstarter campaign, it’s quite another to be able to scale that product line up to meet demand for thousands, or tens of thousands of units. “
Gryphon co-creator John Wu came up with the idea for Gryphon after his daughter accidentally found some inappropriate content while searching for Princess images.
Compared to existing security solutions, the Gryphon offers some significant advantages for both ease of use and setup. No more needing to remember the home login for managing a router (it’s usually 192.168.0.1, but not always). No more fighting to install OpenDNS or some other filtering product. No more dealing with parental controls buried in separate sub-menus of every single internet connected console, each with its own terminology and quirks.
A single Gryphon can cover roughly 3,000 square feet, enough for most single-family homes. Larger spaces, businesses, and homes with a lot of vertical space (the two story + unfinished basement + finished attic my family rented for a while, for example) can utilize the Gryphon’s mesh features to link two or more Gryphons into a single network.
John noted that there are over one hundred Gryphon devices now live. The overwhelming feedback from end users has been that it’s easy to install and use. Single point device management, single point virus blocking, and easy management of specific connected devices from the smartphone app.
As a parent who sometimes feels like an amateur network administrator thanks to the proliferation of both wired and wireless devices in my household, the Gryphon sounds like a great tool. I’m looking forward to setting one up in my own home at some point soon. Now if only it could do something about my kids crying when one of them decides to blow up the other’s house in their shared Minecraft world.
