For $1.26bn, VMWare Buys a Chance to Reinvent the Internet
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.
Deep Dive
Uncategorized

It will soon be easy for self-driving cars to hide in plain sight. We shouldn’t let them.
If they ever hit our roads for real, other drivers need to know exactly what they are.

Maximize business value with data-driven strategies
Every organization is now collecting data, but few are truly data driven. Here are five ways data can transform your business.

Cryptocurrency fuels new business opportunities
As adoption of digital assets accelerates, companies are investing in innovative products and services.

Yann LeCun has a bold new vision for the future of AI
One of the godfathers of deep learning pulls together old ideas to sketch out a fresh path for AI, but raises as many questions as he answers.
Stay connected

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.