VMware agreed to acquire Avi Networks, start-up offering multi-cloud application delivery services. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Avi Networks, which is based in Santa Clara, California, delivers multi-cloud application services including a Software Load Balancer, Intelligent Web Application Firewall (iWAF) and Elastic Service Mesh. Avi’s central control plane and distributed data plane deliver application services as a dynamic, multi-cloud fabric which intelligently automates decisions and provides unprecedented application analytics and on-demand elasticity. Avi customers can dispatch services such as load balancing and web application firewall to any application using one centralized interface. Avi technology runs across private and public clouds, and supports applications running on VMs, containers and bare metal. The company claims hundreds of global enterprise deployments, including Fortune 500 companies representing the world’s largest financial services, media, and technology companies.
VMware said it will offer both built-in load balancing capabilities as part of VMware NSX Data Center, and an advanced, standalone ADC. Avi Networks will further enable VMware to bring the public cloud experience to the entire data center—automated, highly scalable, and intrinsically more secure with the ability to deploy applications with a single click.
“VMware is committed to making the data center operate as simply and easily as it does in the public cloud, and the addition of Avi Networks to the growing VMware networking and security portfolio will bring us one step closer to this goal after the acquisition closes,” said Tom Gillis, senior vice president and general manager, networking and security business unit, VMware. “This acquisition will further advance our Virtual Cloud Network vision, where a software-defined distributed network architecture spans all infrastructure and ties all pieces together with the automation and programmability found in the public cloud. Combining Avi Networks with VMware NSX will further enable organizations to respond to new opportunities and threats, create new business models, and deliver services to all applications and data, wherever they are located.”
“Unlike existing ADC solutions, Avi Networks’ distributed ADC is designed for modern data center and public cloud deployments, with an architecture that mirrors cloud principles,” said Amit Pandey, chief executive officer, Avi Networks. “Upon close, customers will be able to benefit from a full set of software-defined L2-7 application networking and security services, on-demand elasticity, real time insights, simplified troubleshooting, and developer self-service.”
Avi Networks cites customer momentum
The company says large enterprises are replacing their legacy ADCs (application delivery controllers) with the Avi software platform for both data center and cloud use cases. Avi claims hundreds of global enterprises, including the world’s largest financial services, media, and technology companies, are now using its platform. Instead of managing hundreds of physical or virtual appliances, Avi customers can dispatch services like load balancing and web application firewall to any application using one centralized interface. Avi’s technology effortlessly spans bare-metal servers and private and public clouds, making it a natural choice for hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
“There’s a reason we take so many customers from legacy vendors,” said Avi Networks CEO Amit Pandey. “We remain the only enterprise-grade solution that deploys consistently across all environments. In response, legacy vendors are developing siloed solutions for each environment or attempting to modernize through acquisitions. Meanwhile our architecture and controller technology are years ahead and getting better all the time. It’s no wonder that enterprises are choosing Avi Networks for their business-critical applications.”
Avi Networks also noted that it has also updated its platform with over 250 new features, including advanced controller and process analytics, client log streaming, and the release of Avi SaaS — the world’s first cloud-managed load balancing solution.
Avi pulls in $60 million including an investment from Cisco
Cisco resells the Avi Vantage Platform in markets around the world, and Avi closely integrates with Cisco ACI, Cisco’s intent-based networking and automation solution for the data center.
Avi Networks offers an application delivery controller (ADC) with a Software Load Balancer, an Intelligent Web Application Firewall, and an Elastic Service Mesh for container-based applications. The company says that as businesses shift their operations to clouds such as Azure and AWS, its intent-based software offers easier management, faster performance, greater elasticity, deeper analytics, and more powerful automation than legacy ADC vendors.
Avi also reports that it has tripled its bookings over the past year, with significant adoption by the Global 2000 and 20% of the Fortune 50.
This latest round brings Avi’s total funding to $115 million.
“Modern applications are driving a new urgency with which enterprises are automating their networks and application delivery systems,” said Amit Pandey, CEO of Avi Networks. “Cisco software and infrastructure are a cornerstone in this transformation. I am thrilled about this strategic investment from Cisco and our continued joint efforts to deliver the elasticity, intelligence, and multi-cloud capabilities that enterprises need.”
- Avi Networks is headed by Amit Pandey, who joined the company as CEO in 2015. Previously, Pandey spent nearly a decade at NetApp in a wide range of executive positions, and followed that with two successful stints at startups - first as CEO of TerraCotta that was acquired by the European software giant, Software AG and next as CEO of Zenprise that was acquired by Citrix.
- Avi Networks was co-founded in November 2012 by Umesh Mahajan, who previously was VP/GM of Data Center Switching at Cisco; Murali Basavaiah, who previously was VP Engineering at Cisco for NX-OS Software and Nexus 7000/MDS product; and Ranga Rajagopalan, who previously was Sr. Director of Engineering at Cisco and responsible for NX-OS systems/platform software for the Cisco Nexus 7000.
