Netifi, developer of a next-generation platform for reactive microservices and cloud-native applications, announced today that the company has secured $2 million in seed funding with Dell Technologies Capital as the lead investor. 

Microservices and cloud-native applications that take advantage of infrastructure provided by cloud computing providers promise to transform application development. In its "FutureScape: Worldwide IT Industry 2018 Predictions," International Data Corporation (IDC) reported, "By 2021, enterprise apps will shift toward hyper-agile architectures, with 80 percent of application development on cloud platforms using microservices and cloud functions."

"We are looking to accelerate that trend by filling the technology gap faced by enterprises looking to use microservices and those building cloud-native applications," said Robert Roeser, founder and CEO, Netifi. "We started Netifi to address the frustrations we encountered ourselves. Distributed systems are inherently unpredictable in their performance and applying the same techniques and technologies that were used before simply won't work."

The founders of Netifi have more than 30 years of combined experience building, scaling, and operating large distributed systems at companies such as Netflix, Nike and JPMorgan. They are applying that experience to resolve many of the problems with existing approaches.

For example, there has been lots of innovation in cloud infrastructure, but applications are lagging behind using technologies like Representational State Transfer (REST) that are more appropriate for on-premises development. This has led to development and operational challenges when developing and deploying microservices and cloud-native applications.

With its specially-designed, next-generation platform, Netifi takes an entirely new approach with communication designed specifically for cloud-native applications, along with unique capabilities for JavaScript. The platform provides the infrastructure that makes it much simpler to productively develop and deploy microservices and cloud-native applications.

"We are actively investing in transformative, next-generation infrastructure software and look forward to working with Netifi to help address the business imperative that enterprises face to more quickly deliver applications," said Creighton Hicks, partner, Dell Technologies Capital.

The Netifi platform builds on RSocket open source software being developed by a core team that includes Netifi as an active participant along with Netflix, Facebook and Pivotal Software. The more efficient RSocket application protocol uses much less overhead to replace HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol) for developing and deploying microservices and cloud-native applications.

Netifi intends to introduce a community version of its platform that is based on RSocket, which will be available as a free download. In the coming months, the company will make available a version providing additional features for enterprises to develop and deploy microservices and cloud-native applications. Netifi's platform will be able to be deployed on cloud, on-premises, or hybrid configurations.