When a new threat, protocol, or mission requirement shows up in the field, waiting for the next OS release isn’t just inconvenient, it can be a critical operational risk. Every cycle spent waiting is a cycle your adversaries don’t. For data diode customers running critical one-way transfer infrastructure, that gap between “we need this capability” and “we finally have it” has historically been dictated by OS release calendars, not mission timelines. 

Owl Talon® v3.5 closes that gap by expediting the speed of new capabilities reaching you without a break in security. Here’s what’s new in the latest version Owl Talon v3.5, available for customers today, and where it’s headed next. 

Grow Your One-Way Protection Without the OS Wait 

Platform extensibility is the headline feature in Owl Talon v3.5. It allows Owl® and our trusted partner ecosystem to develop and ship Protocol Adapters (PAs) independently of the core Owl Talon OS, and to update them in the field without a full OS reinstall. CVE patches, and eventually full OS updates, are expected to follow that same lightweight path in future releases. 

For customers, this means faster access to new capabilities and integrations, without waiting on Owl’s OS release calendar, and installing them doesn’t cost you a system reinstall or extended downtime. For teams running data diode infrastructure at scale, that adds up to shorter maintenance windows, fewer full re-certification cycles, and engineering time freed up. And because Owl retains control of the process throughout, the platform stays locked down and U.S. Government-compliant. In short: customers realize new capability on their timeline, installed with minimal disruption, without giving up the security posture they rely on.  

3 More Ways Owl Talon v3.5 Saves Time and Reduces Risk 

Beyond extensibility, Owl Talon v3.5 brings additional updates designed to help our customers in can’t-fail environments realize new capability faster, spend less time on maintenance and re-certification, and resolve support issues easier, all without compromising the hardware-enforced, one-way protection Owl Talon is built on. Here’s a closer look at what else is new: 

• Better Visibility into Field Appliances, Wherever You Are: Two new licenses give field teams deeper visibility into deployed appliances, no site visit required. Remote Diagnostics Licenses add enhanced troubleshooting capabilities, so support and engineering teams can diagnose issues faster and remotely. SSH Access Licenses provide secure remote login and command execution for authorized personnel. Together, these licenses reduce time to resolution on complex field issues without requiring an on-site visit, saving travel time and cost while keeping every session accountable, a meaningful win for remote or hard-to-access deployments. 

• OS Hardening Reduces Compliance Friction: Owl Talon v3.5 addresses CVE updates and moves the underlying OS to a current, enterprise-grade Linux foundation, keeping the platform aligned with what auditors and ATO reviewers expect and giving regulated industries and U.S. government customers a straightforward, plannable answer to ATO maintenance and STIG questions.  

• Move Files Faster When It Matters Most with Enhanced RFTS: Remote File Transfer Service (RFTS) PA improvements, validated across all supported hardware platforms, mean faster, more reliable file transfers for high-volume or time-sensitive one-way workloads. For customers moving large log sets, backups, or sensor data one way, that translates to less time waiting on transfers to complete and more confidence that time-sensitive data arrives when it’s needed. 

What’s Next on the Roadmap 

Looking ahead, Owl is already putting the extensibility model to work: a Modbus Protocol Adapter (PA) will reach customers in the coming weeks through Owl Talon’s v3.5 extensibility mechanism. Modbus Transfer Service (MBTS) enables real-time data to be collected from industrial control systems within a plant and securely transfer it across Owl Talon to end-users (operations, production, maintenance, etc.) outside the security perimeter of the plant. That means faster access to this new capability, without downtime or a full reinstall. 

For customers who need high-speed one-way transfer along with deployment and resiliency flexibility, Owl Talon Torrent® just announced it’s cardkit-only configuration, designed to let customers integrate Owl Talon Torrent directly into their own chassis or existing infrastructure, reducing footprint and hardware costs while keeping the same validated one-way protection. High availability (HA) support will also be coming to Owl Talon Torrent for the environments where uptime and infrastructure integration matter as much as speed.  

Ready to Take the Next Step in Hardware-First Security? 

From 100 Gbps enterprise class solutions to a portable, field-ready device for incident response, Owl Protocol Filtering Diodes give customers U.S. Government-validated, multi-layer, hardware-enforced, protocol-aware one-way protection, built on a simple but critical distinction: it runs in hardware, not software. While others implement protocol filtering, syntax verification, or content inspection in software-only, Owl enforces these checks in every layer of hardware., That hardware foundation is what separates true one-way, protocol-aware protection from traditional software-based perimeter defenses, giving government and mission-critical customers a level of assurance that’s harder to bypass, tamper with, or exploit than software alone can offer. It’s a big reason Critical Infrastructure, defense, and intelligence operators choose Owl over the alternatives to safely move information one way, supporting use cases like Defensive Cyber Operations, database replication, log forwarding, and file transfer at speeds up to 100 Gbps.  

Whether you’re just getting started with Owl Talon v3.5 or looking to go deeper on how these updates fit your deployment, here’s where to go next: 

• Learn more about Owl Talon v3.5: Watch our on-demand webinar, where our product management and engineering leaders discuss the new features and what they mean for your deployment. 

• Sign up for product alerts: Be the first to hear about future Owl Talon updates, including the upcoming Owl Talon Torrent card kit release, new Protocol Adapter support, and more. 

• Discover Owl IRD: Need a portable, field-ready PFD for incident response or data transfer from high‑value networks that are too sensitive to touch? See how the Owl IRD can help. 

• Talk to our team: Every mission has different requirements. Contact us to talk through your specific challenges and find the right PFD for your environment.