Infiot Intros Cloud Services Fabric for the Edge

Startup Infiot has launched Cloud Services Fabric (CSF), a cloud networking service designed to provide remote users, sites, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices with secure and optimized connectivity to any cloud. The service delivers several key features for cloud networking, including zero trust network access (ZTNA), multi-cloud connectivity, and edge compute.

The year 2020 has brought a heightened focus on security, multi-cloud, and remote connectivity, as covered in Futuriom's Secure Edge and SASE report and Future of Multi-cloud Networking report. These trends should serve Infiot well, as it targets both areas and fills in some of the gaps in the software-defined wide-area networking (SD-WAN) market. The SD-WAN market has been very successful but many of the products in that market don't have the features to serve edge markets, specifically devices and IoT, which require smaller footprints and cheaper hardware. As covered before in Futuriom, Infiot’s Intelligent Access solution comprises a small, square device that supports wired and wireless connections and LTE and 5G cellular networks.

Infiot is delivering these connectivity services in a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. With the Cloud Service Fabric (CSF), Infiot will offer:

• Secure and optimized “Cloud On-Ramps” to the most popular SaaS and cloud applications.
• Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) provided as-a-service for all remote users, devices, and sites.
• Automated connectivity to multi-cloud, SaaS, and infrastructure-as-a-service.
• 4G/5G support, advanced routing, and edge compute functions.

Secure Connectivity for IoT and Industry

With its security and connectivity features, small footprint, and cloud-based architecture, Infiot has ticked a number of boxes for fast-growing markets in security and remote access.

Infiot should do well simply by carrying some of the software-defined concepts of SD-WAN into the IoT world. SD-WAN has become a popular, fast-growing market because it moved enterprise networking to the cloud and combined features such as automation, application policy management, security, and WAN network connectivity. But SD-WAN has its limitations and was initially focused on the enterprise branch.

A key differentiator is that Infiot can run on Arm hardware as well as x86 hardware, making it smaller and cheaper than devices in the SD-WAN market. This makes for nimble devices that can run in IoT environments, such as in enclosed machinery or at an ATM banking location. Infiot is also built on microservices architecture, meaning its services run from the cloud. Infiot already has several customers, including Christus Health in the medical field and unnamed customers in the industrial and retail industries.

Targeting ZTNA and Edge Compute

ZTNA is another emerging security category targeted by Infiot's CSF. The concept of “Zero Trust” means delivering a security architecture that treats all requests for connectivity as suspect. ZTNA products typically deliver higher levels of authentication and security, including identity-based authentication on several IDs other than IP address, as well as built-in two-way encryption. Infiot’s combination of a light footprint and ZTNA is timed well for the sweet spot of so called edge services, which are expected to climb with the delivery of 5G wireless networks.

Infiot also received a public endorsement from Equinix, which will be partnering with the company by co-hosting its CSF in Equinix data centers.

“Through this collaboration, Equinix and Infiot help enterprises to significantly improve performance, and reduce cost and complexity of accessing and interconnecting remote workers, sites and devices to hybrid and multi cloud applications,” said a statement from Equinix. “Infiot CSF co-located at Equinix data centers provides optimal connections across our interconnectivity solutions to network services and SaaS applications.”

Infiot was founded in 2018 by a team of co-Founders that has roots in the SD-WAN market at VeloCloud Networks, which was bought in 2017 by VMware. It's based in San Jose, California, with a satellite office in Chennai, India. It emerged from stealth in October with $15 million in Series A funding form Lightspeed Ventures, Neotribe, Harpoon, and Westwave Capital.