The age of network as a service: This startup can take your firm’s entire wide area network to the cloud

In recent years, we’ve gotten used to hearing about cloud computing: Data is stored on the cloud, software services are delivered on the cloud, and cloud computing platforms are all the rage. And now, the next level of disruption is here: entire wide area networks on the cloud.

An enterprise’s wide area network (WAN) connects computers across a large geographical area, covering multiple cities or even countries. The connections can be through telephone lines, leased cables, or satellites.

So far, large companies with branch offices in multiple locations had no option but to invest in expensive hardware architecture to run their WAN, as public broadband internet isn’t reliable for secure business networking. If a company needs to set up a new branch office, the capital expenses to get it plugged into a reliable WAN ranges from approximately US$10,000 to US$20,000. Depending on the speed of the private lines, the running cost can be US$200 to US$400 per Mbps per month, which could easily come to US$5,000 per month or more.

A WAN on the public internet would cost only one-hundredth as much – about US$50 a month. But that’s not an option as business applications are bandwidth hungry, and it’s tough to control the network over the internet with an increasing number of employees working in different locations. How can a company get business-grade connectivity on a tight budget? That’s the question cloud networking services startup VeloCloud set out to solve.

Founded by technologists Sanjay Uppal, Ajit Mayya, and Steve Woo, VeloCloud came up with a disruptive solution that simplifies branch networking for enterprises by transforming ordinary broadband links into fast, resilient, and secure connections. The product, called VeloCloud Edge, bridges the gap between expensive WAN architecture and unreliable public broadband internet. Offered on a subscription model with zero capital expenses, VeloCloud Edge costs US$100 to US$250 a month depending on an enterprise’s requirements. “This can transform how businesses connect,” CEO Sanjay Uppal tells Tech in Asia.

Steve Woo, Sanjay Uppal and Ajit Mayya, the three founders of VeloCloud

The Chennai and California-based startup recently bagged US$21 million in funding from venture capital firms New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Venrock as well as incubator firm The Fabric to disrupt the networking market with cloud-delivered WANs.

The Stanford-IIT-Wisconsin trio

All three co-founders are veterans in networking, infrastructure and security, as well as early cloud technologists. The two Indian co-founders, Uppal and Mayya, go a long way back. They were college buddies, who also worked together at Hewlett-Packard and WebVan.

“I started a ham radio in college,” recalls Uppal. “I was always fascinated by technology and its applications.” He studied electrical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, where he met Mayya.

Uppal went on to get a master’s degree from Stanford University, and then another one from the University of Wisconsin. Before starting up, he ran the publicly-traded OnMobile Global as its president and COO.

Mayya, who did an MS in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin after graduating from IIT, was vice president of engineering for YouWeb, an incubator of mobile technology companies, including iSwifter/Agawi.

Uppal and Mayya were toying with the idea of a cloud-based WAN disruptor, itching to start up, when they met Steve Woo at The Fabric. Woo holds an MBA and MSEE from Stanford University, and a BSEE from Cornell. He led the cloud strategy at Aerohive Networks after it acquired Pareto Networks, a cloud-based networking innovator, where he headed the product division. “Steve was also thinking along the same lines as Mayya and me. The Fabric introduced us and we clicked,” Uppal recalls. The trio hit the road running, and in less than a year, built VeloCloud Edge.

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