Netris raises $15M Series A from a16z to help AI neoclouds go live faster
Netris provides software that runs on network switches, and offers a platform that helps neocloud operators reduce the time it takes to go live.
The AI boom has encouraged everyone and their uncle to launch a data center business. But spinning up a data center isn’t easy.
Even if you solve the problem of securing the GPUs, network switches, and storage, you still have to get everything configured, running, and be able to cater to customers’ various needs. Getting a data center ready to provide cloud-computing services specifically for AI inference and training services can take months of work. And the longer you take to get to market, the higher the cost of having all those precious GPUs sitting idle.
Network automation startup Netris claims it can make that problem disappear for neoclouds. The company provides software that runs on network switches, and it also offers a platform that connects to switches to help neocloud operators reduce the time it takes to go live by automating setup, configuration, and operations. The platform also provides network abstraction, so hardware configurations can be changed as required, and it isolates servers and resources at the hardware layer so neoclouds can serve multiple customers (multi-tenancy).
If that sounds like a solution to an obvious problem, you’re not wrong. Until recently, data centers were largely the domain of large infrastructure operators like Equinix, NTT, Digital Realty, Oracle, Microsoft, AWS, or Google. Those companies pretty much solved network setup, configuration, and multi-tenancy for themselves by hiring ranks of engineers or building the automation themselves. Small neocloud businesses rarely have such resources at their disposal.
“As a GPU cluster operator, you need to make configuration changes to every link, every day. At traditional data centers, they were using something called SDN [software-defined networking] to do this, but SDN is falling short, because it’s a software technology,” Netris’ CEO Alex Saroyan told TechCrunch. “For AI, software is not okay, because the amount of traffic is so high, everything must be hardware accelerated. So you need something like SDN, but completely hardware accelerated. This is what we do, and this is what we’ve been doing for eight years.”
Saroyan said Netris’ platform is vendor-agnostic, compatible with networking equipment and standards used at data centers, both for Nvidia and AMD’s servers.
The startup’s promise has found many believers, one of which is Nvidia. Two years ago, the chipmaking giant was so impressed by a demo of Netris’ technology that it recommended the company to several customers. Today, Netris is live at more than 35 GPU clusters around the world (about a million GPUs total), operated by the likes of Lightning AI, Foxconn, Visionbay, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, TensorWave, Telus, and others.
To build on that momentum, Netris has now raised $15 million in a Series A round from Andreessen Horowitz, TechCrunch has exclusively learned.
Notably, there’s no AI at work here. Saroyan said the company only uses algorithms it had developed previously for running and configuring automation and operations.
“We started way before AI. We understood the challenge early on, and we started developing this algorithm early on. AI is not deterministic, right? Sometimes it likes to do things on its own. It’s good for creative work, but for changing many thousands of switch configurations, you don’t need to be creative. You need to be very persistent and repeatable.”
a16z partner Guido Appenzeller is joining the company’s board. Looking forward, Netris aims to use the funding to hire more engineers and sales staff, add support for more hardware vendors, and implement more functionality in its algorithm.
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Ram is a financial and tech reporter and editor. He covered North American and European M&A, equity, regulatory news and debt markets at Reuters and Acuris Global, and has also written about travel, tourism, entertainment and books.
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Key takeaways
- Netris provides a solution that could democratize access to data center services for smaller companies in Brazil.
- The acceptance of Netris's technology by companies like Nvidia indicates recognition of the startup's potential in the AI market.
- Network automation and hardware abstraction could accelerate the digital transformation of Brazilian companies, allowing for quicker entry into the cloud market.
Editorial analysis
The $15 million funding raised by Netris marks a significant advancement in the technology ecosystem in Brazil, particularly concerning data center infrastructure. With the growing demand for artificial intelligence solutions, the speed of implementing cloud services becomes a critical factor for companies looking to compete in this market. Netris's proposal to automate network configuration and operations could be a game changer, enabling smaller companies, which lack the same resources as giants like AWS or Google, to enter the fray more quickly and efficiently.
Moreover, Netris's approach, which combines hardware automation with network abstraction, may inspire other Brazilian startups to explore innovative solutions to complex infrastructure problems. Brazil, with its potential in technology and innovation, stands to benefit from technologies that accelerate the development of data centers, especially at a time when digital transformation is a priority for many businesses.
It will be important to observe how Netris positions itself against competitors and how its technology will be adopted by local companies. Acceptance of its platform by a heavyweight like Nvidia indicates that the solution has potential, but execution and adaptation to the Brazilian market will be crucial. What follows will be Netris's ability to demonstrate concrete results and to form strategic partnerships that can expand its presence in Brazil and Latin America.
Finally, the evolution of the data center sector in Brazil is closely tied to the evolving needs of cloud computing and artificial intelligence. Netris could be an important player in this scenario, but success will depend on its ability to adapt to the specifics of the local market and how it can integrate into the already established technology ecosystem in the country.
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