Aviatrix’s 10th Anniversary: A Decade of Innovation, Leadership, and Growth

October 2, 2024 in Corporate, the network is the cloud By Jennifer Torode

Aviatrix is celebrating our 10th anniversary this month – a milestone that the entire team is proud of. Since day one, we have been empowering organizations to navigate the complex landscape of cloud networking. And while the cloud landscape might have evolved in the last ten years, our mission never did: helping customers simplify and scale cloud networking.

Sherry Wei, founder and first CTO, spent more than a decade at Centillion Networks, Cisco, and other tech companies before launching Aviatrix in 2014. Noticing the fundamental differences between traditional networking and cloud networking, Sherry anticipated the scaling and agility challenges that companies would face when they moved to the cloud and created a technical solution to solve them. The company’s name, “Aviatrix,” which means female aviator, honors our female founder and her vision.

Through innovation and leadership, Aviatrix has helped companies understand that moving to the cloud means redesigning and reimagining traditional networking tools and strategies, such as creating a new security perimeter in a distributed environment or securely connecting multiple data centers to the cloud.

Changing the Industry Through Tech Leadership

Since 2014, Aviatrix has helped the industry embrace the opportunities and manage the risks of this new cloud world. We’ve helped companies redefine connectivity, rethink security, review resiliency, and re-strategize cost management with a variety of unique features.

Here are a few highlights of Aviatrix’s tech history:

• 2015 – Aviatrix filed its first patent for a “system and method for interconnecting local systems and cloud systems to provide seamless communications.”
• 2016-2018 – For almost two years, Aviatrix’s Gateways were the only Transit Gateway in the industry and a major component of early hybrid cloud connectivity.
• 2015 – Aviatrix demonstrated stateful firewall features at Microsoft’s Ignite event, expanding to a multicloud solution that empower companies to realize the benefits of using more than one cloud.
• 2020 – Aviatrix launched CoPilot, a platform that offers enterprise-class operational visibility and troubleshooting with advanced telemetry and tools for monitoring threats, anomalies, gateways, and user access across multiple clouds.
• 2023 –Aviatrix released our Distributed Cloud Firewall solution, which embeds security throughout a distributed cloud network. This feature redefines security management for the cloud by eliminating the need to redirect traffic to centralized firewalls or other network security services.
• 2024 – Aviatrix’s Network Insights API solution gave customers better visibility through direct access to advanced telemetry data from our platform.

Closing the Industry Skills Gap

Aviatrix has also become an educational resource to those in the industry:

• In 2019, the company launched its Aviatrix Certified Engineer (ACE) Program to equip networking professionals with the training to master cloud networking and advance their careers. Since its launch, ACE has certified more than 21,000 IT professionals.
• In 2023, the company launched the Altitude podcast, which features stories and insights from cloud networking experts such as Matt Simpson, EVP of Business Development and Global Channel at Megaport and Cameron Lim, Director of Partner Development at Microsoft.
• CEO Doug Merritt shares best practices for overwhelmed CIOs, CTOs, and other industry leaders in conversations like this one with cloud influencer David Linthicum on “Revolutionizing Cloud Networking.”

Empowering Customers with Simplified Solutions

Aviatrix has helped many organizations create a holistic, secure, performant, and cost-effective cloud networking solution in a fragmented and confusing landscape.

• Heineken, an international brewer, achieved game-changing agility, scalability, and connectivity through the Aviatrix platform.
• Yara, a global crop nutrition company, used the Aviatrix solution to gain consistent visibility and security within and across multiple public clouds to mitigate threats and troubleshoot faster.
• Aegon, an international finance group, used the Aviatrix Cloud Networking Platform to build a consistent, scalable, and simplified multicloud model through Infrastructure as Code and repeatable network designs.
• IHG, a global hospitality company, used Aviatrix’s platform to simplify their multicloud solution: connect numerous hotel properties to the cloud with secure, end-to-end encryption, access advanced visibility and troubleshooting, and streamline new property onboarding.

Promoting Cloud Networking Heroes

Continuing our mission to help companies navigate the networking landscape, Aviatrix works to elevate the “unsung heroes” of the industry who labor to keep networks alive. Some recent profiles include:

• Toby Foss, a Senior Director of Information Security – Toby started out as a phone operator in Turkey and has spent his entire career adapting to new technologies and anticipating industry changes. He anticipates the next wave of change as a shift to a cloud-agnostic delivery system where customers can instantly run any service from any provider whenever/wherever they need it.
• Adam Stipkovits, Multicloud Network Architect – Adam’s continuous curiosity has led him to master intricate network design principles. He notices how automation, overlays, and attractive UI designs can mask complexity and tempt people to forget the importance of good design and detailed system knowledge.
• Maxime Deraet, Global Senior Cloud Network Architect – After 23 years of on-premises and cloud experience in a variety of industries, Maxime knows the value of good architecture. He and his time suggest new solutions for a well-architected framework based on the Aviatrix “CRAMPS” design pillars – Cost, Recoverability, Availability, Management, Performance, and Security.

The Future

Over the next 10 years (and beyond), Aviatrix will continue to work toward our mission to make cloud networking as simple and dynamic as possible. We look forward to harnessing advancements like GenAI to help make networks more adaptive and agile, even self-configuring and self-healing; redefining security to shield data from increasingly innovative cyberattacks; and equipping networking professionals with the knowledge and skills to succeed.

Thanks to all our team members for their hard work, and to all our customers, partners, investors, and Aviatrix champions for their unwavering support. Here’s to another decade of networking innovation and growth!