Critical Links is a provider of networking and communications equipment for use in the small and medium enterprise IT/Communications infrastructure and for schools with their school 2.0 platform known as the Education Appliance , which deploys and manages Classmate PC

Classmate PC

The Classmate PC, formerly known as Eduwise, is Intel's entry into the market for low-cost personal computers for children in the developing world. It is in some respects similar to the One Laptop Per Child trade association's Children's Machine , which has a similar target market...

s at schools, and has other features that support 1:1 learning, networking and administration capabilities at schools. Its headquarters

Headquarters

Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...

 are in Fairfield, New Jersey

Fairfield, New Jersey

Fairfield is a township in far northwestern Essex County, New Jersey, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the township population was 7,466. Fairfield is the least densely populated town in Essex County....

.

The company is ISO 9001

ISO 9000

The ISO 9000 family of standards relates to quality management systems and is designed to help organizations ensure they meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders . The standards are published by ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, and available through National...

 and CMMi Level 3 certified.
Critical Links edgeBOX was a "Best of Show" award winner in the "Best SMB Solution" category at Internet Telephony Awards in 2008.
edgeBOX was also suggested by Entrepreneur Magazine

Entrepreneur Magazine

Entrepreneur is a publication that carries news stories about entrepreneurialism, small business management, and business opportunities. It is published by Entrepreneur Media Inc., headquartered in Irvine, California....

  as a contributor to a green office, since it cuts the number of separate devices needed and thus, power consumption. Critical Links edgeBOX was one of the four finalists for the TechWorld green product of the year award in 2008 and was selected as the best convergence product in 2007 .

Corporate history

Critical Links was founded by Joao Carreira

João Carreira

João Carreira is an engineer, academic, technology entrepreneur and business leader who has co-founded Critical Software in Portugal and has grown it into a global group of technology companies....

 and began operations in 2006.

Critical Links has adapted native IP telephony technology and unified communications strategy for use in SMB

Small and medium enterprise

Small and medium enterprises or small and medium-sized enterprises are companies whose headcount or turnover falls below certain limits.The abbreviation "SME" occurs commonly...

(small and medium business) networks. Critical Links supplies multiservice access platforms for converged voice and data networks for small and medium businesses.
Critical Links' flagship product edgeBOX includes VoIP/IP-PBX, Router, VPNs, security, NAC, QoS and a WiFi access point as well as a fax server, web server, e-mail server, print server and data storage. It is available on a range of hardware platforms that support up to 300 users, with different form factors and a host of broadband interfaces such as BRI/PRI(T1/E1), FX0/FXS, Ethernet etc. Critical Links typically serves SMBs through a global network of VARs, System Integrators, OEMs and Service Providers.