International Data Corporation (IDC) today published an IDC Innovators report profiling four companies that offer multicloud networking solutions for the enterprise. The four companies are: Alkira, Aviatrix, Nefeli Networks, and Volterra.

The adoption of infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and software as a service (SaaS) has effectively redrawn the boundaries of the enterprise datacenter, with the datacenter and its network becoming distributed. Unfortunately, most enterprises aren't prepared for the complexities associated with multicloud networking.

"The migration of workloads to clouds not only redefines the parameters of the datacenter network, but it also dramatically changes what’s required of the network architecturally and operationally," said Brad Casemore, research vice president, Datacenter and Multicloud Networks. "The focus now is on abstracting and mitigating the complexity of networking optimally to disparate clouds, each with its cloud-specific APIs and networking constructs and services. "

Multicloud networking is designed to meet the need for a declaratively and simply managed, on-demand, elastically scalable, and highly available distributed network that spans hybrid and multicloud environments to support and deliver the applications and workloads that are the lifeblood of the digital enterprise. By addressing the complexities from different architectures, network APIs, and the growing array of network and security services offered, multicloud networking solutions attempt to bring agility and flexibility to the network and the operating models that govern it.

The report, IDC Innovators: Multicloud Networking, 2020 (IDC #US46864120), profiles four companies that are addressing the need for simple, consistent, flexible, reliable, and elastically scalable multicloud networking, helping enterprises and IT operators realize the full promise of cloud-enabled digital transformation.

  • Alkira offers a global, on-demand, unified multicloud network that forms an overlay of cloud exchange points, providing a single connection to multiple clouds.
  • Aviatrix addresses the complexity challenge by creating an abstraction layer that makes a multicloud network operate as a single network, with a consistent security and operational model across clouds.
  • Nefeli Networks provides highly automated network and security functions that can span multiple clouds with policy-based definitions, fast service creation, autoscaling, self-healing, and pervasive visibility.
  • Volterra uses a SaaS-based platform that consolidates networking, security, application delivery and multiple native cloud provider services to integrate policy and centralize observability.

About IDC Innovators

IDC Innovators reports present a set of vendors – under $100 million in revenue at time of selection – chosen by an IDC analyst within a specific market that offer an innovative new technology, a groundbreaking approach to an existing issue, and/or an interesting new business model. It is not an exhaustive evaluation of all companies in a segment or a comparative ranking of the companies. Vendors in the process of being acquired by a larger company may be included in the report provided the acquisition is not finalized at the time of publication of the report. Vendors funded by venture capital firms may also be included in the report even if the venture capital firm has a financial stake in the vendor's company. IDC INNOVATOR and IDC INNOVATORS are trademarks of International Data Group, Inc.

For more information about IDC Innovators research, please contact Karen Moser at kmoser@idc.com.

About IDC

International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading tech media, data and marketing services company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter at @IDC and LinkedIn. Subscribe to the IDC Blog for industry news and insights: http://bit.ly/IDCBlog_Subscribe.