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30 Most Innovative Companies To Watch 2020

Innovating to simplify SDx and Cloud adoption for our customers: Netnology

Innovating to simplify SDx and Cloud adoption for our customers: Netnology

The past decade has proven that making paradigm shifts from hardware to software and from on-premise to cloud environments are possible. Now the goal is to make these transformations practical for everyone. That’s the impetus behind the innovation that’s happening at Netnology.

The firm was created by technology evangelists who have been working on introducing cutting-edge technologies into large-scale service provider and enterprise networks for over two decades. The opportunity to use the knowledge and skill from those experiences to build a portfolio of services and software designed specifically to help accelerate the adoption of SDx and Cloud solutions led to the founding of Netnology in 2017. The company is now a growing team of smart, passionate, and experienced network and software engineers and architects.

In discussion with Adeel Ahmed (Managing Principal) and Salman Asadullah (Managing Principal)

Q. Tell us a little bit about Netnology and its history.

Netnology started by delivering professional services to customers who were interested in SDx and Cloud migrations. At the same time, we were building our own labs and platforms to help make integration and automation easier, to provide hosted environments and to increase the ability to proactively manage software defined networks. Bringing together a team with 100+ collective years of networking experience, 35 engineering certifications, and over 50 patents filed means that we’ve been able to innovate rapidly.

We are now a proven Software and Solution Integrator specializing in Software Defined (SDx) and Cloud solutions. Our functional expertise domains include Data Center, Enterprise Networking, Cloud, Infrastructure Security and Analytics.

We not only work with leading technology vendors to bring the latest solutions into our labs, but we also serve customers in North America and the Middle East.Our partners and customers are vital members of the Netnology team. Netnology is headquartered in San Jose, California, with regional offices in Dallas, Texas and Herndon, Virginia. Our  state-of-the-art laboratory, the Netnology SDx Innovation Labs (nSIL) is in Dallas.

Q. How do you feel after being recognized as thought leaders among leading-edge technology vendors and the industry at large?

It is definitely a humbling experience to be recognized as thought leaders for our services and the innovation we have delivered around our software platforms. We are passionate about our work and believe in providing exceptional service to our customers. We are honored by the great support we receive from our customers and partners. They have helped shape the future direction of our company, encouraging focus on software-centric networking solutions and subscription-based services.

Q. Could you tell us more about your methodology for mitigating risk?

We believe in taking calculated risks as it relates to on-going innovations around our service offers and software platforms. Our goal is to develop solutions and capabilities that provide value to our customers and address their business needs.

We built our company’s reputation for delivering high-quality services to customers and partners through attention to detail. Quality and consistency are ingrained in our company culture. We have developed our own methodology to provide strategic direction to our customers that’s proven to help mitigate risks associated with adoption of new cutting-edge technologies. And, we focus on our core areas of strength and move out strategically from there.

Q. What is your philosophy around innovation?

Our goal is to help customers solve their technical and business challenges in the most efficient and cost-effective manner. We try to think through problems at a much deeper level (what we refer to as “deep thinking” at Netnology) and come up with new and innovative ways to solve them, while providing value to our customers and partners.

We realize that solving problems using traditional methods may not provide any unique value in the market. That is why we push our teams to think through problems differently and challenge them to come up with better and more innovative ways to solve those problems.

Q. Explicate about the advanced capabilities that can be found within Netnology Services Platform (nSP)?

From our professional services and engineering roots, we continue to expand our services offerings and capabilities. The latest addition to our software platforms is Netnology Services Platform (nSP), which will accelerate the adoption of cross-domain SDx solutions across multiple environments.

The platform is available for general consumption and makes the transition from hardware-centric solutions dramatically simpler and more cost effective. Activities like creating SDx demos or proofs of value that once took days or weeks can be accomplished in only minutes leveraging key features within nSP.

nSP has been adopted by the Cisco MINT program and is also being used by several Value-Added Resellers (VARs) and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) for their internal enablement and deployment activities. Initial offerings provided on the nSP include hosted deployments such as hosted proof of value for SD-WAN (Software Defined WAN), production deployments, or virtual intuitive training portals to train workforces.

Q. What platforms are lined up for future releases?

At Netnology, we understand that customers have a heterogeneous platform landscape from different vendors across their network infrastructure, applications, and services. This creates operational challenges in managing complex network environments and does not provide easy end-to-end manageability. To address this challenge, we are planning to introduce the Netnology Telemetry Platform (nTP). nTP was developed using open-source technologies to provide end-to-end Telemetry across infrastructure, applications, and services. This provides better operational insights for customers across their SDx and legacy landscape through key Service Level Indicators (SLIs).

nTP helps simplify operations and reduce cost through orchestrated software integration, analytics and correlation leading to informed decisions. Our approach is to leverage APIs to collect, aggregate, store, analyze, visualize and correlate data in a meaningful way using open-source technologies.

Key features of nTP include: 

  • Single Pane of Glass visibility and management through a software integration approach to provide end-to-end telemetry.
  • End-to-end Cisco SDx Controllers (DNAC, vManage, APIC) stitch-through by leveraging APIs.
  • Homogenized current (SDx, Cloud, Endpoints) and legacy heterogeneous landscape with structured plug and play scalable architecture.
  • Customized dashboards for aggregated views across multi-domain environments.

Q. How was your experience partnering with technology vendors in the industry to leverage best of breed solutions for solving your customers’ business challenges?

We have developed very close working relationships with some of the leading technology vendors in the industry. This has let our team partner with some of the smartest people in the industry and solve complex business problems for our customers - well captured in a recent endorsement.

“Netnology, as one of Cisco’s MINT (Mentored Install Network Training) partners, is at the forefront of mentoring channel partners to develop new capabilities and services around Cisco’s advanced solutions, like SDWAN and SDA,” said Jason Gallo, Sr. Director, Worldwide Sales, Global Partner Organization at Cisco. “Led by well-known industry leaders, the Netnology Services Platform (nSP) is the latest example of innovation to drive success for partners and customers. nSP helps partners close deals today while mentoring them on repeatable motions they can incorporate into their sales and service practices.”

Netnology has evolved as a Cisco SDx expert shop by mentoring Channel Partners and Customers to develop and deliver new capabilities and services around Cisco’s advanced SDx solutions, like ACI, SDWAN and SDA. We have recently reached 100+ successful Cisco SDX engagements mark and became a Cisco Solution Partner, an invitation-only program. Being a Cisco Solution Partner, Netnology is honored to have its SKUs on Cisco Global Price List (GPL) for Cisco SDx Solutions.

These partnerships have allowed us to stay ahead of the technology curve, and to bring solutions to our customers that will work for years to come.

Adeel Ahmed, Managing Principal

Adeel Ahmed is a Professional Services Executive with extensive experience at Fortune 100 telecommunications and networking companies including AT&T, Alcatel-Lucent and Cisco. He has built and led large teams across marketing, sales and technology consulting to drive revenue growth. He specializes in Professional Services, P&L Management, Strategy Development, Partner Enablement and Talent Management.

Adeel holds a Masters in Electrical Engineering, and an Executive MBA from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.

Salman Asadullah, Managing Principal

Salman Asadullah is a former Cisco Distinguished Engineer and Managing Principal of Americas Partners Organization who also serves as co-chair and advisor to many notable industry organizations including IPv6 Forum Fellow and Broadband Forum Ambassador. A designated Cisco VIP and CiscoLive Hall of Fame, Salman is a recognized industry expert, who has been working on large-scale SP and Enterprise networks and cutting-edge technologies for over two decades.

Salman is a Cisco Certified Internet Expert (CCIE) and holds a M.S. Electrical Engineering and a PhD(c).

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