(Author’s Note: This is the second in a multi-part series based on the Futuriom 50 research series on promising cloud technology startups. the first part is here.)
You may have read the news about business slowdowns and possible layoffs. This will encourage technical managers to deeply evaluate their future cloud strategies, with an increasing focus on hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructures.
Reasons for hybrid and multicloud During discussions with cloud technologists, they suggested cloud infrastructure that would allow them to more efficiently manage and consolidate the myriad of applications, data, and infrastructure in the cloud, including their own infrastructure. said that it is necessary. He also wants to take back some control rather than handing all his keys to the public cloud giant.
Hybrid and multi-cloud technologies are also trends that are perfect for the current environment. To improve the operational efficiency of our technology infrastructure. This is what Mark Zuckerberg said at his Meta earnings call yesterday. Expect this to evolve into his 2023.
Modern high tech operational supercomputer i
Many of the startups in this space are looking for direct return on investment (ROI) by offering more efficient ways to operate during downturns that are attractive to both technology managers and chief financial officers (CFOs). offers. Let’s dive into the individual trends identified in the latest Futuriom 50 report and some promising young companies to watch in hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructure.
More Cloud Means Hybrid Infrastructure
First Destination: Cloud Networking. In summary, more clouds means hybrid and multicloud infrastructures. As data from the 2022 Multi-Cloud Networking (MCN) Survey shows, most (63%) of those surveyed currently use two to three cloud services, with 17% using three or more of his doing. Additionally, 87% of his 102 director-level and above IT and networking managers surveyed are considering investing in his MCN in the next 1-5 years.
87% of network managers surveyed expect to invest in MCN solutions in the next 1-5 years. N=102
To connect all these clouds, you need an MCN. Cloud providers themselves build vast amounts of infrastructure that can be used around the world, but they can also connect private data centers, branch offices, or applications running on partner infrastructure. increase.
A wide range of MCN tools have emerged to help administrators build dynamic networks that connect both private and public cloud infrastructures, including leveraging traditional installed infrastructure. MCN solutions typically use network abstractions and overlays to tie together the network infrastructure of public and private clouds.
Some startups to watch at MCN are:Ah:
MCN pioneer Aviatrix has a networking platform designed to help administrators build and manage multi-cloud and hybrid cloud networking in one place, helping with visibility, compliance and security. Aviatrix raised $340 million at a multi-billion dollar valuation.
Prosimo focuses on multicloud networking at the application level, providing tools designed to connect cloud networks and workloads with zero trust security and greater operational visibility. Co-founder and CEO Ramesh Prabagaran is a networking industry veteran with experience at Cisco, Viptela, and Juniper Networks.
Graphiant seeks to solve the headache of maintaining app security and quality of service using a “stateless core” approach that shifts network control to software at the edge.
cloud scale networking
There is also a lot of innovation happening in cloud-based networking and operations. DriveNets built the first cloud-native megascale networking platform for the telecommunications industry. The platform can also perform analytics and monitoring functions using a white-box based scale-out architecture. His co-founder and CEO, Ido Susan, has a track record of innovation in the telecommunications industry, and the company has raised nearly $600 million, making it a promising initial public offering (IPO) candidate.
Arrcus provides open networking solutions for 5G, edge and access networks with its highly scalable, ultra-low latency, carrier-grade network operating system and service platform. Founded by an experienced team from Cisco and Broadcom and led by former VMware executive Hekar Ayyar, Arrcus is committed to lowering the operating costs of multi-cloud networking at scale.
The open networking movement that started in the public cloud is moving to the enterprise on-premises market enabling hybrid infrastructures and private cloud networks. With a focus on orchestration and visibility, Aviz Networks is developing a complete suite for managing and orchestrating open networking using SONiC. The Aviz team has decades of experience in the networking and application domain and hails from NVIDIA, AWS, Cisco, F5, LinkedIn and more.
Hedgehog builds automation and networking stacks for SONiC and Kubernetes environments, with a focus on bringing greater usability to the cloud native world using open source networking platforms.
NetDevOps for hybrid cloud
As you can see, there is a lot of innovation underway in multi-cloud and hybrid cloud networking. This requires better management and integration with myriad cloud platforms and applications.
Another important trend in the cloud is the Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) approach. This allows you to program and automate your infrastructure using code and orchestrations programmed into your application. We believe this trend will be integrated into NetDevOps to further automate cloud infrastructure using monitoring and analytics.
Companies in the NetDevOps monitoring and analytics space include Kentik and NetBrain. Kentik integrates app, user and customer data with network traffic in real time. The goal is to tie every network event or analysis to what matters: revenue and costs, customer and user experience, performance, and risk. NetBrain’s Problem Diagnosis Automation System (PDAS) is a no-code, multi-vendor network operations platform designed to address the costs of day-2 operations at scale.
Another interesting private company to watch is Itential, which offers a suite of low-code and no-code automation tools that enable administrators to operate complex network configuration and orchestration tasks using an IaC approach. built. The convergence of network pragmatic management and data is also gaining momentum and will be part of the NetDevOps movement.
Manage code and APIs in a multicloud world
Modern hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructures not only mean more application programming interfaces (APIs), but also the need for better code management in general. Code and APIs should be managed and protected. There are some interesting private companies in this space with potential IPOs.
Kong provides a cloud-native API platform designed to help you create better ways to manage and connect your APIs. Led by veteran entrepreneur Gil Don, Wib aims to be the world’s most comprehensive API security platform, providing granular API inventory and security management.
EngFlow’s tools help developers work more efficiently by providing a platform for managing and sharing code for builds and tests. Another interesting company in the code management space is SonarSource. SonarSource provides a DevOps platform designed to inspect and analyze your code to ensure it’s clean and secure.
SASE reaches the cloud
The hybrid and multi-cloud trend is also spurring activity in the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) and Software-Defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN) space. These technologies started as a way to automate and secure enterprise edge networking platforms, but can now become tools for multi-cloud and hybrid connectivity. Many of the companies in this space that Futuriom has tracked over the years (CloudGenix, Silver Peak, Viptela, and VeloCloud) have already been acquired, but the rest of the leaders are in strong positions with potential for his IPO. Developed into an independent company.
Aryaka Networks offers managed SD-WAN and SASE services with Zero Trust security capabilities, including private Layer 2 and Layer 3 networking options for middle-mile connectivity.
Cato Networks provides global connectivity across 65+ Point of Presence (PoP) private networks with full security suites, routing and service level agreements.
Versa Networks offers SASE and SD-WAN platforms powered by artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) to deliver true multi-tenancy and advanced analytics in the cloud, on-premises infrastructure, or a combination of both. increase. Recently, we have also been focusing on solutions that enable MCN.
As you can see, there are a variety of interesting companies that span many aspects of multi-cloud and hybrid cloud infrastructures. We’ll continue this series next week to talk about startups in the unified cloud security space.
