Today we are excited to announce that Energize portfolio company Awake Security has agreed to join Arista Networks (NYS: ANET), an industry leader in cognitive cloud networking for mission-critical data center and campus environments, to bring best in class security to networks across the globe. We congratulate CEO Rahul Kashyap and the entire Awake team on this milestone.
From our early conversations with Rahul and the Awake team, it has been clear to us that Awake’s technology delivers a critical piece in the modern cybersecurity puzzle: more complex network architectures require advanced network analysis tools to better manage and protect enterprises. Security teams are in greater need of Network Detection and Response (NDR) tools like Awake in addition to traditional Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions.
“We see an exciting future for Awake within the Arista family,” said Rahul Kashyap. “Awake pioneered NDR platforms for real-time AI-driven situational awareness to secure digital assets and then respond to mitigate those risks. This acquisition allows us to further that mission.”
“We warmly welcome Awake Security to the Arista team,” stated Anshul Sadana, COO for Arista Networks. “With the proliferation of users, devices and Internet of Things (IOT), Awake’s best of breed threat detection platform is synergistic with Arista’s market leading cognitive cloud networks, delivering proactive security for our customers.”
Especially in the energy and industrial sectors, the enterprise attack surface continues to change. Today’s rush to cloud-based services has accelerated digital transformation plans and challenged CISOs to operate hybrid environments (mix of on-premise and cloud-based infrastructure) with limited visibility. Resource-constrained security teams can be overwhelmed by the increase in endpoints, devices, and connections and need better tools to separate the signal from the noise. We believe these trends will play out over several years as IT and OT continue to converge.
Beyond the importance of the technology in this market, we know the people are what make the biggest difference. Awake’s product is beloved by customers for its intuitiveness, robustness and simplicity. Awake’s team of brilliant engineers has built the industry’s leading network detection and response platform by innovating on the edge of data analytics and focusing on the cybersecurity practitioner’s challenges. As Rahul is proud to remind us, Awake’s best in class technology is a result of a best in class team executing on a common vision; and we know this is just the beginning.
We join the rest of the Awake board in congratulating Rahul, Gary, Keith, Dash, and all of the Awake team. We agree with Arista that Awake’s technology is more relevant than ever, and we are thrilled to see the two companies align to bring best in class network detection and response capabilities to customers everywhere.
— The Energize Ventures team
