Visuality Systems

Visuality Systems was founded in 1998 by Sam Widerman, who had previously served as CEO of the Israeli branch of Siemens Communications. By 2000, the company was recognized as a corporate partner in the "Peace Infotech" initiative, a network established by the Peres Center for Peace to foster regional development through the information technology sector; the initiative included other technology firms such as Hewlett-Packard and Sapiens.^[1]

Through a collaboration with Microsoft, including patent and business agreements, Visuality Systems has contributed to the integration of the SMB protocol across diverse environments, supporting dialects from SMB1/CIFS to SMB 3.1.1.^[2]

In 2006, the company's CIFS/SMB stack was incorporated into Green Hills Software's GHNet networking stack for use in telecommunication gateways.^[3]

The company's NQ series (the predecessor to the YNQ library) was cited as a primary SMB solution for Wind River Systems' VxWorks real-time operating system in virtual platform development.^[4]

In addition to Green Hills^[5] and Wind River,^[6] the company maintains collaborations for protocol compatibility with vendors including NetApp,^[7] Toradex,^[8] BlackBerry QNX,^[9] Paragon,^[10] and Embedded Access (MQX).^[11]

Visuality Systems is recognized in technical literature as a provider of commercial SMB client and server libraries for non-Windows storage systems, offering an alternative to open-source stacks in environments high-availability environments.^[12]

The company also participated in cross-border technological cooperation projects involving teams from Jordan, supported by the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation.^[13]

Visuality Systems has demonstrated SMB protocol interoperability with other industry players, including Microsoft, Apple, and Linux developers, at the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) Storage Developer Conference.^[14]

In the 2020s, the company expanded its presence in the industrial and embedded markets. At Embedded World 2024 in Nuremberg, Germany, Visuality Systems showcased the latest iterations of its YNQ stack, focusing on its integration with modern real-time operating systems and CPU architectures.^[15] This followed the company's expansion into the Eastern European industrial sector, including an exhibition of its SMB solutions at the MachTech & Innotech Expo in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 2023.^[16]

Visuality Systems develops Server Message Block (SMB) client and server implementations for non-Windows platforms. The primary products include:

• YNQ: A portable C-based library designed for integration into embedded systems and virtual platforms.^[4] YNQ enables devices running Linux, real-time operating systems (RTOS), and other non-Windows environments to participate in SMB file sharing and network interoperability.^[15] The solution integrates with various CPU architectures and operating systems including VxWorks, QNX, and ThreadX.^[15]

• jNQ: A pure Java client library released in 2017 to provide SMB 3.1.1 functionality, including encryption and pre-logon integrity, addressing security requirements emphasized following the WannaCry ransomware attack.^[17]

These solutions support all SMB dialects, allowing legacy systems - including those running Windows CE - to maintain compatibility with modern security standards such as AES-128-GCM encryption.^[18]

Both YNQ and jNQ are included in the List of products that support SMB, alongside other commercial and open-source implementations.