Securing $12.1M in Series A funding, Kentik processes complex network traffic in real-time at multi-terabit scale, providing top Internet service providers and Web companies with fast, powerful operational intelligence.
SAN FRANCISCO – June 30, 2015 – Kentik, formerly known as CloudHelix, launched from stealth today with the industry’s first cloud-based network visibility and analytics solution capable of processing trillions of network data records per day and providing critical network intelligence at multi-terabit scale in real-time. The Kentik Detect service is the only platform to enable full visibility across an unlimited number of networks of any size for real-time, actionable insights into network traffic activity, DDoS attacks and peering efficiency – and the only platform making these capabilities available instantly via public or private-cloud SaaS to Web-scale customers today. Kentik also announced today the closing of a $12.1 million Series A funding round led by August Capital and with increased support from Kentik’s seed investors, to position the company for continued, rapid growth.
Kentik has redefined the state of the art for network visibility, delivering a new level of granular insights leveraging flow, SNMP and BGP data, via a single system and at terabit scale, with powerful portal access and rapid SQL-standard querying on real-time and historical terabit-scale Internet traffic. Kentik Detect is already gaining early traction in the market, with large-scale Internet service providers (ISPs), cloud-delivered security companies like OpenDNS, and Web companies like Yelp and Box deploying the SaaS solution.
“Kentik has given us the insight and visibility that we have not been able to achieve through other network performance monitoring products or open source tools,” said Sam Eaton, Director of Engineering Operations at Yelp. “With over 100 million average monthly unique visitors coming to Yelp, we see traffic reaching many gigabits per second, so it’s critical for us to be able to look deeply into all network traffic in real time and gain real insight. That’s where Kentik has helped. We can see things we simply couldn’t see before.”
Global IP traffic is forecasted to continue to grow exponentially, surpassing the zettabyte (1,000 exabytes) level in 2016. Yet, the tools that organizations use to support network management remain antiquated, fragmented, and do not provide the unified visibility and scalability needed for future network growth. At the same time, the lack of innovation in network management has resulted in unreasonably expensive, siloed tools that predate the current state of networking by more than a decade. According to market research firm Gartner, approximately 65 percent of network operators use more than six different monitoring tools to manage their IP networks, reflecting the hodgepodge approach that most teams have been forced to take.
“Establishing clear visibility is critical for operating today’s networks, but that depends on being able to gather and analyze huge, ever-increasing volumes of data,” said Christian Renaud, Senior Analyst of 451 Research’s Enterprise Networking Practice. “The use of technologies such as big data and SaaS to solve this challenge holds great potential, but there are few product or service options today that are truly fit for purpose. Kentik designed a solution on just such technologies, applying and optimizing them specifically to meet the needs of network operators.”
“Modern networks are under extreme stress, bearing the brunt of burgeoning traffic loads and constant security threats,” said Vivek Mehra, General Partner at August Capital. “Real-time network visibility is essential for any organization to achieve resilience. Until now, there has been a glaring gap in the network management space for meeting that need. Kentik offers a compelling answer, and our investment in the company reflects our confidence in Kentik’s technology and future growth.”
Built by network scientists, large-scale data engineers, operations technologists, security experts and key executives from companies like Akamai, CloudFlare, YouTube and Netflix, Kentik provides better detection, clearer understanding, and real-time response to all network conditions. Kentik Detect is the only solution with the capacity to easily store raw data for 90 days or longer – a capability other networking tools aren’t architected to do – allowing detailed forensic analysis with no loss of resolution.
Kentik Detect can be deployed in under an hour by organizations with even the largest-scale infrastructures, and equips service providers, Web enterprises and network operations teams with the rapid insights they need to keep their networks up and running smoothly. With unparalleled raw data retention and fast query responses combined with proactive real-time alerting, Kentik Detect puts operators in control to understand how their networks are behaving, reveal root causes of issues, and plan for growth based on reality rather than guesswork.
Box, the enterprise software platform for content collaboration, is using Kentik Detect to change the way it manages its networks. The company found that other management solutions approach network visibility backwards, requiring operators to know in advance what problems to look for before they occur. With Kentik, Box has complete network visibility, including new details regarding the geographic distribution of its traffic down to the city level, and can proactively manage capacity and remediate situations before they develop into real network and customer problems.
“Actionable visibility is a major pain point for network operators,” said Dave Temkin, Director of Global Networks at Netflix and Kentik investor. “Until now, only Web-scale organizations have had the resources to make real progress. Kentik created a viable answer that is accessible to anyone who runs a network.”
“As we’ve worked on scaling the modern Internet, content delivery, and application infrastructures over the last 25 years, my peers and I have directly experienced the pain of having sub-standard tools for network visibility and analytics. As the volume and complexity of networks has grown, the data handling and analytics required have become so complex that traditional network management tools have been unable to scale and innovate,” said Avi Freedman, Co-founder and CEO of Kentik. “We intend to make Kentik the single, unified source of intelligence for all infrastructure data. By bringing the SaaS model and unparalleled analytics to network and infrastructure management, we are redefining what it means to have true operations visibility, and providing the insights needed to drive real-time, data-driven operations.”
In addition to August Capital’s lead investment, seed investors, led by First Round Capital and Data Collective (DCVC), more than doubled their commitments to Kentik as part of the Series A raise.
“As early investors in some of the fastest-growing companies in the world, like Uber, Square, HotelTonight, and Warby Parker, we know that better network intelligence literally changes the bottom line,” said Howard Morgan, General Partner of First Round Capital.
“Data is the lifeblood of the industry-transforming companies that our team backs today and has backed for the last 20 years,” said Matt Ocko, co-Managing Partner of DCVC. “We heard from many of them that Kentik’s next generation network insight platform is essential for them to continue to thrive.”
“As an investor in early-stage companies such as Kentik, we’re always looking for that rare breed of leadership and technology,” said Maynard Webb, Founder of Webb Investment Network and Chairman of Yahoo!. “Kentik’s quick traction in fast-growing Web and network companies demonstrates they are solving essential visibility and detection needs.”
Founded as CloudHelix in January 2014, Kentik announced $3.1 million in seed funding in September 2014 from investors including First Round Capital, DCVC, the Webb Investment Network, Tahoma Ventures, Central Electric, Engineering Capital, and a roster of angel investors including infrastructure industry founders, executives, and luminaries from Google, Facebook, Rackspace, SoftLayer, Akamai, Salesforce, and Netflix. With the $12.1 million Series A round, Kentik has now secured over $15 million in financing as it continues to gain top-performing ISPs and Web companies as its earliest adopters.
The Kentik solution accepts flow data from network devices such as routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers or appliances at any scale, from a single flow source to thousands. Kentik Detect is available now as public SaaS or on-premise private SaaS. Pricing is subscription-based and the service is offered worldwide. For more information on Kentik, please visit kentik.com.
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ABOUT KENTIK
Kentik is a cloud-based network visibility and analytics solution that provides a panoramic view of any network. Kentik processes tens of billions of data records per day, equipping service providers, Web enterprises and network operations teams with actionable, usable insights that enable making quick, cost-effective decisions. The company was founded by network and big data technologists and executives from companies like Akamai, CloudFlare, YouTube, and Netflix, who have decades of experience in operations, architecture, and distributed systems. Kentik is backed by August Capital Management, First Round Capital, DCVC, Webb Investment Network, Tahoma Ventures, and Engineering Capital, plus a roster of angel investors including infrastructure industry founders, executives, and luminaries from Google, Facebook, Rackspace, SoftLayer, Akamai, Salesforce, and Netflix. Kentik is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Visit: www.kentik.com