Emerging Vendors 2012: Networking Vendors

Vendors Making A Name In Networking

Spanning across multiple disciplines and technology facets, CRN's annual Emerging Vendors list looks at the tech startups making a splash in the channel and throughout the tech industry. Included in this year's list is a variety of networking vendors, making their mark on everything from VoIP to SIP to software-defined networking. While unique offerings and reliable services put these vendors on the map, it's a commitment to the channel and understanding of the value of partnerships that put these vendors on this list. Here we present to you the hottest tech startups in the networking space on the Emerging Vendors list for 2012.

3CX

London, England

CEO: Nick Galea

Provides an open standard unified communications platform for Windows that works with standard SIP phones and replaces a proprietary PBX. The 3CX Phone System was developed specifically for Windows and is based on the SIP standard, making it easier to manage and allowing users to use any SIP phone.

AccelOps

Santa Clara, Calif.

CEO: Elie Antoun

Founded in 2007, AccelOps offers integrated data center and cloud service monitoring software. The company's services and platform are delivered as scalable virtual appliance software or Software-as-a-Service. The AccelOps platform cross-correlates and manages diverse operational data on-premise, off-premise and in cloud environments.

Aerohive Networks

Sunnyvale, Calif.

CEO: David Flynn

Aerohive provides cloud-enabled Wi-Fi and routing solutions for companies, branch offices and teleworkers. Key are its cooperative control Wi-Fi architecture, public or private cloud-enabled network management, and routing and VPN solutions.

AppNeta

Boston

CEO: Jim Melvin

AppNeta's PathView Cloud service is changing the network performance management game by providing end-to-end performance visibility to help IT administrators better understand the way a network supports critical applications. AppNeta's cloud-based network performance management solution provides application performance, traffic analysis and remote packet capture integrated with SLA and performance validation.

Aryaka

Milpitas, Calif.

CEO: Ajit Gupta

SaaS-based WAN optimization startup Aryaka is banking on what it calls its WAN optimization-as-a-service platform, which has been tailored for speeded-up cloud computing environments. With $15 million in funding it snagged last year, Aryaka can take that cloud WAN optimization to new heights.

Big Switch Networks

Palo Alto, Calif.

CEO: Guido Appenzeller

Big Switch Networks supports the OpenFlow intelligent networking traffic management standard with its Big Switch Networks Controller software platform for virtualizing enterprise data center networks. The Controller is in beta-testing.

Blue Jeans Network

Mountain View, Calif.

CEO: Krish Ramakrishnan

Blue Jeans, which emerged from stealth mode in 2011, offers an online "meeting room" using its own cloud where users can schedule, host and manage their own videoconferencing, from telepresence to Skype.

Extension

Fort Wayne, Ind.

CEO: Todd Plesko

Extension is making its name known in the health-care IT space by selling clinical workflow solutions that improve communication between clinical staff and patients by sending alerts to nurses' and physicians' VoIP phones, smartphones and tablets via the Extension mobile app. The 100 percent HIPAA-compliant app does not store data on the device, is encrypted in transit and uses a firewall to safeguard Protected Health Information.

eZuce

Andover, Mass.

CEO: Martin Steinmann

eZuce emerged from stealth mode in 2010 with openUC, an open-source software package, deployed on-premise or as a managed service and designed to help businesses migrate from traditional PBX infrastructure. OpenUC targets companies with thousands of users in a distributed environment and provides communications services out of a centralized data center to the entire enterprise with high availability.

LineRate Systems

Louisville, Colo.

CEO: Steve Georgis

LineRate is a four-year-old company that emerged from stealth mode during the Open Networking Summit this past April. The company's software delivers services on top of virtualized networks and works on platforms running commodity x86-based servers, with the idea being to deploy network services much more easily without having to set up physical networking hardware. LineRate Proxy, the company's first product, is a suite of full-proxy Layer 4-7 network services providing traffic management, security and performance visibility.

Meraki

San Francisco

CEO: Sanjit Biswas

Meraki began as a wireless LAN specialist but branched out into the network security appliance space in 2010 and entered the Ethernet switching market earlier this year. Furthermore, the company is providing wireless networks controlled in the cloud, enabling customers to use the same hosted management software, setup and controls for all of its products. Leaning on its cloud management appeal, Meraki has taken in about $80 million in venture funding and is frequently mentioned as a potential IPO candidate.

Nextivity

San Diego

CEO: Werner Sievers

Founded in 2006, Nextivity produces indoor coverage technology that optimizes the experience of wireless subscribers and increases Radio Frequency network capacity for mobile operators. The company's Cel-Fi system is designed to eliminate wireless dead zones inside a building with carrier-grade coverage. Nextivity is building out its portfolio of patent-pending technology and leveraging advanced signal processing and intelligent antenna design to create a new market for self-configuring, environmentally aware indoor coverage systems.

Nicira

Palo Alto, Calif.

CEO: Steve Mullaney

Nicira emerged from stealth mode in February 2012, but it had already proven itself as a marketing firecracker, having built word-of-mouth buzz over its network virtualization platform -- and the high-profile hires it made from the likes of Cisco, Juniper and VMware -- for many months prior. When the announcement came, it was Nicira's Network Virtualization Platform (NVP), a software system for creating distributed virtual network infrastructure custom-fit for cloud-ready data centers. Nicira's big year has continued this summer as VMWare plunked down $1.2 billion to acquire the SDN startup in July.

Pica8

San Jose, Calif.

CEO: James Liao

Pica8 was spun out of server vendor Quanta in January 2012, and what's gotten it a piece of the spotlight is a virtualized switch that the company says can handle the workloads of comparable Cisco switches for about an eighth of the price. Pica8 builds physical switches using merchant silicon as opposed to ASICs, and it plans to enable open software that sits on top of those switches.

Saguna Networks

Nesher, Israel

CEO: Lior Fite

Saguna Networks was built on the premise that mobility is the next frontier and the delivery of high-quality, rich content over mobile networks will be a major necessity going forward. With that in mind, the Israeli company claims that its mobile Content Delivery Network (mCDN) coupled with its Saguna CODS offering, which converts the mobile Radio Access network into a computing and storage cloud, can increase the performance of the mobile network by reducing traffic loads by up to 80 percent during peak hours and increasing radio resource utilization by 20 percent to 30 percent.

Vidtel

Sunnyvale, Calif.

CEO: Scott Wharton

Vidtel's tagline is any-to-any videoconferencing for any size business -- via the cloud, of course. Founded in 2007, the company is a cloud-based service provider of hosted videoconferencing services that offers interoperability among diverse, video systems.

More 2012 Emerging Vendor Coverage

CRN's 2012 Emerging Vendors:
Emerging Vendors 2012: Security Vendors
Emerging Vendors 2012: Storage Vendors
The 25 Coolest Emerging Vendors For 2012
2012 Emerging Vendors: The List