DeepField builds products that help build, manage and optimize some of the largest cloud and network infrastructures in the world with a growing team of Internet and cloud experts run by former Arbor Networks leaders.

DeepField offers what it calls Cloud Genome technology to automatically and continuously identify and track the structure of cloud-based services. DeepField also has a data platform that aggregates, models and analyzes telemetry from a network, then decodes it with the latest Cloud Genome Map. All that promises greater visibility so companies can make more informed decisions.

A Fundamental Shift

Craig Labovitz, co-founder and CEO of DeepField and former chief scientist at Arbor Networks, said the Internet is in the midst of a fundamental shift from connectivity to content. He points to content delivery networks, or CDNs, as a prime example.

"In the past, carriers saw their role as delivering arbitrary bits between their customers and many millions of Web sites. Today, most customers care about a shrinking number of video, cloud and content sources," Labovitz said. "Our most recent data finds that more than 70 percent of all Internet traffic -- on average -- comes from just 150 CDN, hosting, cloud and content companies."

At the same time, Labovitz continued, the number of content sources is shrinking and the volume of "hyper-giant" traffic is growing astronomically, especially HD video. As he sees it, the Internet simply cannot cost-effectively meet these burgeoning traffic demands without additional growth in CDN infrastructure and embedding additional server capacity and content directly into the last-mile network.

"This hyper-giant content evolution has changed the way Internet and content providers build their networks and monetize their infrastructure. This is a good thing for the market and consumers," Labovitz said. "While we will continue to see disintermediation in the market as 'hyper-giant' companies like Netflix pursue direct relationships with subscriber networks, I also expect the CDNs to play a significant and growing role in the Internet-cloud evolution."

On the Cloud Edge

Zeus Kerravala, principal analyst at ZK Research, said the cloud is becoming a mainstream technology. It goes beyond CDNs -- and so does DeepField. Companies are moving more applications into production and cloud environments.

"When you start using the cloud for actual production elements and not just labs or tinkering around, you do need to have the analytic tools and management tools to make sure the cloud provider you are using offers the best user experience and best performance," Kerravala told us.

Kerravala has long noted the trend of IT services trailing the launch of new technologies by two or three years. Server and network management are two examples. Cloud management providers are now starting to spring up and DeepField appears to be getting out in front.

"Arbor was really struggling to make a legitimate market in the security space, but they do tend to look at every packet. I think it's a great opportunity for DeepField," Kerravala said. "There are traditional service management providers like NetApp trying to do more cloud management. Gigamon is another one. But it looks like DeepField is taking a cloud-first approach."