Exploring Ubiquiti's Dream Machine: A Unified Networking Experience

Ubiquiti is a technology solution company that offers wireless networking solutions, products, and services. Robert J. Pera founded the company based in New York City and was started in 2005. The company concentrates most of its efforts on developing and producing reasonably priced wireless networking products that are scale-assembled and user-friendly, however, at the premium industry level.

A Unified Networking Experience. The Ubiquiti Dream Machine (UDM)

The Ubiquiti Dream Machine (UDM) is a robust and scalable multi-purpose platform that packs many features into one beautiful solution. The UDM is sometimes called the all-in-one network appliance, managed by the cloud, and can work like a gateway, switch, wireless access point, or even network video recorder.

The UDM offers a comprehensive networking solution for both homes and businesses, delivering fast dual-band WiFi with advanced security features all tied together by the UniFi Network app.

What is the UDM?

The UDM is a cylindrical device weighing 1.10 kg that measures about 110mm x 184.1mm. The device is enclosed in a polycarbonate enclosure and comes with a white LED ring depending on the selected square location of sensors along the perimeter.

The UDM is equipped with a quad-core Arm Cortex A57 processor at 1.7 GHz, 2 GB of DDR RAM, and storage space that totals just 16 GB of eMMC storage onboard.

It features four gigabit Ethernet LAN ports, one gigabit Ethernet WAN port, and an Ethernet interface, among others. UDM also includes an internal dual-band Quad-Polarity antenna that allows 802.11ac (WiFi 5) functions with respect to the rampant area covered – MIMO via 4x4 connectivity is supported as well. The UDM can deliver wireless throughput of up to 1.7 Gbps and support one hundred concurrent clients at any given time.

It has a universal AC input, 100-240V AC, 0.6A Max., 50/60 Hz, and it is powered up to the maximum consumption power, which is equal to 26W when a UDM device works on a full scale.

It is equipped with a factory reset button, as well as fan cooling and comes with a power cord, screwdriver and wall-mount bracket.

What can the UDM do?

The UDM can perform various functions that are essential for a modern network, such as:

Gateway

It can serve as a router and firewall on your network, giving you the ability to connect to the internet, NAT, and port forwarding, among others. The UDM is also capable of carrying out application-aware quality of service (QoS), sanctification rates for both application and device, failover on the Internet with LTE backup, reporting internet outages and quality.

As well as being integrated into next-generation security features, which comprise signature-based intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS) that provide intelligence to identify malicious traffic through deep packet inspection content filtering.

Switch

You can choose UDM as a networking switch, and it comes with wired connectivity, power over Ethernet (PoE), and network topology are all available.

It can also handle advanced networking features, like

• Licence-free SD-WAN software
• Openness WireGuard L2TP
• OpenVPN server
• OpenVPN client
• OpenVPN
• And IPsec site-to-site VPN one-click Teleport
• Identity VPN policy-based WAN
• VPN routing DHCP relay
• Customisable DHCP server IGMP proxy in accession to IPv6 ISP backing.

Wireless Access Point

The UDM can function as a wireless access point for your network; it offers you wireless connectivity, WiFi QoS, and a guest network.

The UDM can also undertake wireless security features such as WEP, WPA-PSK, WPA-Enterprise 802.11w/PMF and BSSID.iperf (port-to-port testing).

Plus, it can also support a maximum of eight SSIDs per radio and has 802.1Q VLAN tagging support.

Network Video Recorder

For your network, UDM can function as a Network Video Recorder that provides video surveillance, video recording and playback.

• Motion detection
• Event recording
• Timelapse

Live view and alerts are other video management features that the UDM can also perform and support up to 20 Ubiquities UniFi Protect cameras and store up to 5 TB of video footage.

How to use the UDM?

It can be easily set up and managed through an iOS, Android, Windows, Linux or Mac device with UniFi Network application.

The UniFi Network application provides a simple and intuitive interface that allows you to control and adjust settings and get constant updates from your UDM as well as any other UniFi devices connected to it, even if you are not home.

The UniFi Network application can enable you to use additional capacities such as statistics, insights, and alerts even at a distance through the remote firmware update.

Moreover, the UDM can be combined with other Ubiquiti devices like UniFi Switch and UniFi Access Point and even has a Protect Camera or Cloud Key. It may also be supported through third-party devices such as smart TVs, gaming consoles, printers and cameras.

Why choose the UDM?

The UDM is a product that offers many benefits for your network, such as:

Simplicity

"I'm looking for a stackable, manageable switch." The UDM simplifies your network by combining multiple functions into one device. 

You don't have to buy many separate routers, switches, and hubs that also need to connect together with elements such as cables and power outlets. 

Universal Device Management also makes it easier for you to manage your network by having a cloud-based platform that you can log in from anywhere and on any device.

Performance

The UDM ensures the utmost performance for your network as it offers fast and reliable internet and wireless and video services. 

The system is also good at offering top-notch performance for your network security through end-to-end, fully comprehensive protection against threats and attacks.

Scalability

Next, the UDM allows for scalability of your network in that you can scale and customise it whenever it suits your needs best and further facilitates your network's scalability, supporting up to 100 UniFi and 1,000 client devices.

Affordability

The system provides cost savings for your network through a solution that is cheaper and consumes less energy than other vendor solutions; thus, you can save when it comes to hardware costs, software licenses, and maintenance expenses. 

In addition to everything else it does, it is affordable as a network investment with a device that won't easily break or become outdated for many years.

UDM is one of the products that will change your networking outlook forever.

SUMMARY

Ubiquiti is a recognised leader in the wireless networking industry and offers cost-efficient, scalable and easy-to-manage products for businesses and ordinary people. The rate at which they have reached the top with differing solutions is a testament to their innovation, and they are now very much a go-to for businesses big and small on a global scale. And with The Ubiquiti Dream Machine, they’ve just proved they can take it to the next level of software engineering.