Skip to Content
Uncategorized

For $1.26bn, VMWare Buys a Chance to Reinvent the Internet

The cloud computing giant has snapped up Nicira, a startup developing smarter computer networking.
July 23, 2012

Cloud computing pioneer VMware has paid $1.26 billion for Nicira, a startup that we featured in our March list of the 50 most innovative companies in the world (see our feature article “A New Net”), and a pioneer in a new market known as “software defined networking.”

Nicira’s technology is an attempt to rethink the basics of how computers connect to one another in an era when Internet software rules. The company is the brainchild of Stanford PhD research Martìn Casado, who says he became frustrated by the way even the most powerful software has to be connected to networks made up of equipment that can’t be reconfigured easily, and generally act independently. Nicira hides that inflexibility beneath a centrally coordinated, simulated network. The company’s technology is pitched at the operators of giant data centers as a way to more easily manage, scale up, and move around their giant software systems. Early customers include eBay and Fidelity.

The purchase ($1.05 billion in cash and the rest in stock) is a smart buy for VMware. After five years working on its technology in stealth mode, Nicira was already ahead of younger efforts in the same vein, from other startups as well as established giants such as VMware and Cisco. Now hitched to VMware, Casado’s ideas should be able to go further, faster.

Keep Reading

Most Popular

This new data poisoning tool lets artists fight back against generative AI

The tool, called Nightshade, messes up training data in ways that could cause serious damage to image-generating AI models. 

Rogue superintelligence and merging with machines: Inside the mind of OpenAI’s chief scientist

An exclusive conversation with Ilya Sutskever on his fears for the future of AI and why they’ve made him change the focus of his life’s work.

The Biggest Questions: What is death?

New neuroscience is challenging our understanding of the dying process—bringing opportunities for the living.

Driving companywide efficiencies with AI

Advanced AI and ML capabilities revolutionize how administrative and operations tasks are done.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.