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.