CIO Bulletin

Alkira Delivers a Multi-Cloud Network in Minutes

Alkira was founded in 2018 by Amir and Atif Khan, the visionary computer networking team that created the multi-billion-dollar SD-WAN market with the founding of Viptela. After Viptela was acquired by Cisco in 2017, it was time to look for another significant customer problem to solve.

Storage and compute had evolved to be cloud-friendly and cloud-like, but the network had not, and so the idea of the network cloud was born. Alkira has reinvented networking for the cloud era by delivering the network cloud, the first global unified network infrastructure with on-demand hybrid and multi-cloud connectivity, integrated network and security services, end-to-end visibility, controls and governance, all delivered as-a-service.

“Alkira” is from the Australian Aboriginal for “blue sky,” and according to some sources, “a happy place in the sun.” The co-founders named company Alkira with an awareness of a fresh start, coupled with real “blue sky” levels of innovation and vision.

The company's vision is nothing short of the complete reinvention of networking. A vision of a multi-cloud capable network that behaves like the cloud and is consumed as-a-service like the cloud. A network that can take you to and across clouds in minutes instead of months. A network where services, like firewalls, live and scale in the cloud. A network you draw instead of build. A network with end-to-end visibility and governance. A network delivered as a service.

"Alkira reinvents networking for the cloud era with global unified network infrastructure delivered as-a-service."

"Alkira provides the first multi-region, unified global Multi-Cloud Networking as-a-Service and a full market place of services. They simplify an enterprise company’s journey to the cloud and offer service providers a compelling business proposition to tap into the cloud," said Ray Mota, CEO and Principal Analyst, ACG Research.

Alkira reinvents networking for the cloud era with global unified network infrastructure delivered as-a-service. Alkira cloud network as-a-service solution offers enterprises a dramatically simplified experience for deploying global high-speed hybrid and multi-cloud networks connecting users, sites, and clouds with integrated network and security services, end-to-end day-2 operational visibility, advanced controls, and governance. There is no need to procure hardware, deploy complicated do-it-yourself software solutions, or learn cloud networking architectures. Just draw your network on an intuitive digital design canvas, provision it in one click, and start using it in minutes. Alkira Network Cloud is trusted by the global Fortune-100 enterprises, leading system integrators, and managed service providers.

"Alkira has created an on demand multi-cloud network as-as-service enabling customers to easily self-provision a network and security edge directly adjacent to Cloud and SaaS resources within minutes. This can be done for the first time by someone with little to no cloud expertise, and can be consumed in a pay-as-you-go model which customers are demanding today. There are so many customer use cases and the timing couldn’t be better," said Michael Periera, VP of Technology, Bridgepointe.

"The company's vision is nothing short of the complete reinvention of networking."

On Demand Multi-Cloud Network

Cloud adoption continues to accelerate. Organizations are increasingly transitioning business critical applications from on-premise data centers to the public cloud and SaaS environments.

In response to this rapid adoption of the cloud, compute and storage have evolved beyond virtualization and automation to as-a-service offerings. Cloud architects and engineers are now focused on choosing the service attributes they want to consume, such as compute instances and storage volumes, rather than worry about implementation details. Complexity has been eliminated and cloud computing has become a business enabler for compute and storage.

In contrast, the network has not made a similar transition, nor does it operate in true concert with the cloud. Building a network for the cloud comes with the following key challenges:

Slow response time to business and application owners’ needs resulting from insufficient cloud networking expertise and cloud networking complexity sprawl
Visibility and Governance blind spots resulting from disparate cloud architectures and the lack of single point of control
High total cost of ownership (TCO) resulting from upfront do-it-yourself costs and complex network operations

The network is under ever-increasing pressure to provide an agile, highly performing and cost-effective solution to cloud business needs.

The Alkira Cloud Services Exchange^® (Alkira CSX) serves as a foundation for Alkira Cloud Network as-a Service. It consists of a highly available and resilient cloud backbone of globally interconnected Alkira Cloud Exchange Points (Alkira CXPs), virtual multi-cloud points of presence with a full routing stack and network services capabilities, and an Alkira CSX Portal.

Users, sites, data centers, regional SD-WAN fabrics, colocations, public clouds, network and security services, and SaaS/Internet exit points connect to the global network through the geographically closest Alkira Cloud Exchange Point™.

Integrated stateful security services coupled with end-to-end segmentation capabilities offered by the Alkira CSX, allow enterprises to consistently secure on-premise, hybrid and multi-cloud environments. The Alkira Cloud Services Exchange Portal offers a modern graphical interface for all design, provisioning, and day-2 operational needs.

Alkira Cloud Services Exchange offers high-speed, low-latency cloud backbone connecting all public cloud instances. Public cloud instances can be a mix of AWS VPCs, Microsoft Azure VNets and GCP VPCs. Public cloud instances can also reside in a single public cloud across one or multiple geographic regions.

Alkira CSX automatically discovers AWS VPCs, Microsoft Azure VNets and GCP VPCs based on the cloud credentials provided by the administrator. Once discovered, an administrator can simply select the desired cloud instances to be connected to the Alkira Cloud Services Exchange. After the network has been provisioned, Alkira Cloud Services Exchange automatically distributes the required network reachability, so all public cloud instances can immediately communicate to each other.

EMEA Expansion

Late in March 2022, Alkira opened its European headquarters in Amsterdam, the Netherlands to spearhead an international expansion drive in EMEA. Alkira is continuing to recruit teams in UK, Germany, France, Benelux, Nordics and Spain, while aggressively signing up new channel partners.

The campaign is being led by senior vice president international Paul Couturier, who has a track record of bringing innovative startups to Europe and leading their international development programs. Couturier was previously responsible for international revenue growth at TippingPoint, Efficient Networks, Cyan, LightCyber and Palo Alto Networks.

Couturier said: "Relationships with resellers are pivotal. Alkira is selling cloud networking as a service. We’re helping customers build an enterprise network in the cloud that unifies their clouds, sites, and users. That raises a lot of questions for customers, who expect a consultative relationship. We look forward to growing Alkira’s channel partners." Couturier expects strong interest from managed service providers and security service providers (MSPs and MSSPs) "who see cloud services as a key competitive differentiator in an increasingly demanding environment."

About the Leader

Amir Khan, President, CEO and Founder

Amir Khan is a computer networking visionary who founded and led Viptela’s market-leading, cloud-first, Software-Defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN) business before its acquisition by Cisco. As prescient as he was in identifying the $8B opportunity for SD-WAN, Amir recognized that the network hampered the cloud journey and founded Alkira in 2018 with CTO Atif Khan to reinvent networking for the cloud era. Amir’s vision is to deliver the Cloud Network as-a-Service (CNaaS). Alkira has delivered the industry’s first Network Cloud, a global unified cloud network infrastructure delivered as-a-service with 1) connectivity for hybrid and multi-cloud networks 2) integrated network and security services, and 3) end-to-end operational visibility and governance. Alkira CSX, is an on-demand, as-a-service, point and click, unified CNaaS that enables cloud architects to design, build, and deploy a global multi-cloud network in minutes. Alkira enables enterprises to implement 50% less firewall capacity, and reduce TCO by up to 40%. Before Viptela, Amir held leadership roles at Cisco, Juniper, and Nortel. He holds 4 patents. Amir earned an MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Mississippi.