ðə fɹˈiː ˌɛnˌeɪˈɛs pɹˈɑːdʒɛkt wʌz stˈɑːɹɾᵻd ɪn ɑːktˈoʊbɚ tˈuː θˈaʊzənd fˈaɪv baɪ ˈɑːlɪviɚ kˈɑːtʃɚdlæbˈeɪ hˌuː bˈeɪst ɪɾ ɔnðɪ ˈɛm zˈiəɹoʊ ˈɛn zˈiəɹoʊ wˈɔːl ɛmbˈɛdᵻd fˈaɪɚwɔːl ænd fɹˈiː bˌiːˌɛsdˈiː sˈɪks.zˈiəɹoʊ.
The FreeNAS project was started in October 2005 by Olivier Cochard-Labbé who based it on the m0n0wall embedded firewall and FreeBSD 6.0.