VMware has signed a “definitive agreement” to acquire Avi Networks, a startup that helps companies deliver cloud-based applications.
The software virtualisation company said it plans to introduce the Avi platform to VMware customers and partners to help enterprises adopt software-defined application delivery across data centres and clouds.
Once the deal is closed, the VMware and Avi Networks teams will work together to advance its Virtual Cloud Network vision, build out full stack L2-7 services and deliver the public cloud experience for on-prem environments.
The VMware vision, according to Tom Gillis, SVP and general manager of the network and security business unit, is to deliver the “public cloud experience” to developers regardless of what underlying infrastructure they are running, meaning agility – the ability to quickly deploy new workloads, try new ideas and to “iterate”.
This seems like a key driver behind the deal as VMware said that modern infrastructure needs to provide agility wherever it executes, either on premises, in hybrid cloud deployments, or in native public clouds.
“Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs) are a critical pillar of a software-defined data centre,” he said “Many workloads cannot be deployed without one. For many customers, this means writing their application to bespoke and proprietary APIs that are tied to expensive hardware appliances.
“The Avi Networks team saw this problem and solved it in the right way. They built a software architecture that is truly scale-out, with a centralised controller. This controller manages not just the configuration of the individual load balancers but also manages their state. This architecture mirrors the approach of our groundbreaking software-defined networking solution VMware NSX.”
VMware called Avi Networks a “pioneering” startup, due to its software-defined ADC architecture that is fully distributed, auto scalable, and intrinsically more secure. The Avi Platform enables elastic load balancing, application acceleration and security services combined with centralised management and orchestration for consistent policies and operations.
Unlike traditional ADCs, it does not require custom appliances and can be consumed on-prem, in public clouds, or as a service, enabling new flexibility and faster time to value at lower costs.