To meet digital transformation initiatives, businesses across the economy are seeking ways to automate network operations. According to a report from Mordor Intelligence, the network automation market should top $25 billion by the end of 2024, expanding to more than $71 billion in 2030.

Research firm Gartner is also bullish on network automation, forecasting that 30% of enterprises will automate more than half of their network activities by 2026, up from only 10% in mid-2023. Gartner also predicts that businesses embracing enterprise-wide automation will deliver much higher service quality, while also cutting costs.

Yet network automation lags behind other automation initiatives. A recent report from Enterprise Management Associates found that only about a quarter (27%) of networking teams believe that they have the tools and resources to successfully manage day-to-day operations of complex network infrastructure. That number is down significantly from roughly 50% just five years prior.

The network automation market is led by the usual suspects – incumbents like Cisco, IBM, and Juniper. But as enterprises struggle with limited IT resources and hybrid, dynamic environments, several startups have emerged to target gaps. The startups below are tackling everything from multi-cloud cost control to automated, AI-powered IT management to the deployment and operation of quantum networks. Collectively, these five startups have raised more than $242 million in funding and have already landed high-profile named customers, such as Cisco, MIT, NASA, and the U.S. Air Force.

Aliro Quantum

• Year founded: 2019
• Funding: $10.3 million
• Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts
• CEO: Jim Ricotta
• What they do: Develop network software for distributed quantum computing
• Competitors include: Cisco, Qoro Quantum, Qunnect, Verizon
• Customers include: Air Force Research Laboratory

Aliro Quantum provides software to simulate, pilot, deploy, and run entanglement-based quantum networks. The startup recently launched a service to help organizations take the leap into quantum computing. AliroNet Quickstart includes quantum network hardware devices along with software that handles orchestration, control, and data plane operations. AliroNet Quickstart creates an entanglement-based quantum network environment for such applications as entanglement-based key distribution, networking of quantum processors, and connectivity for distributed quantum sensors.

Once a network is deployed, Aliro Orchestrator manages the life cycle of quantum networks, managing deployment, providing visibility into all network assets automating network operations, and automating network operations. Orchestrator also handles traffic prioritization, network monitoring, and the integration with third-party tools.

Why is Aliro a hot startup to watch? Quantum networking is very much in the pioneer phase, and Aliro is an early mover. The startup is backed by Accenture Ventures and Cisco Investments, and Aliro has already landed contracts with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to provide software and professional services. This will enable AFRL to simulate, test, and operate entanglement-based quantum network infrastructure, including connecting quantum computers with heterogeneous qubit platforms.

Automox

• Year founded: 2015
• Funding: $152.6 million
• Headquarters: Boulder, Colorado
• CEO: Tim Lucas
• What they do: Provide an AI-powered IT automation platform
• Competitors include: ConnectWise, Google, ManageEngine, and Microsoft
• Customers include: Athena Health, NASA, Yale, and Xerox

As IT environments become more distributed and dynamic, IT teams struggle to manage ever-changing hybrid environments. Automox’s endpoint management software uses AI to automate such labor-intensive tasks as patching, configuration, and software deployment. The cloud-native platform also provides visibility into end points, while automatically plugging vulnerabilities and mitigating risks. Automox also handles inventory management, third-party software patching, and enforcement of device configuration policies.

Automox has raised an impressive $152.6 million in funding. Its most recent round, which closed in 2021, was a $110 million Series C led by Insight Partners. Blackstone, Koch Disruptive Technologies, and TechOperators also joined the round.

The leadership team has extensive SaaS and networking experience. CEO Tim Lucas previously served as a group vice president at SolarWinds. Frank Livaudais, senior vice president of engineering, was formerly vice president of enterprise engineering at Cloudflare, and Charles Coaxum, senior vice president of customer experience, was previously head of cybersecurity CX at Cisco.

With a strong VC backing and a number of high-profile named customers, including NASA and Xerox, the startup is well-positioned to gain a foothold in the growing IT operations automation space.

Cast AI

• Year founded: 2019
• Funding: $35 million
• Headquarters: Miami, Florida
• CEO: Yuri Frayman
• What they do: Provide an automation platform for Kubernetes/cloud cost management and optimization
• Competitors include: Apptio, Cloudcheckr, Kubecost, NetApp
• Customers include: Akamai, Ampeers Energy, NielsenIQ, and OpenX

The Cast AI platform constantly monitors cloud deployments, automatically scanning for ways to optimize and cut costs. The platform also automates the deployment and security of Kubernetes and other containers, automatically ensuring that vulnerabilities are patched, configurations are correct, and security postures meet compliance requirements.

The co-founders of Cast AI – Yuri Frayman, Leon Kuperman and Laurent Gil – previously co-founded Zenedege, which they sold to Oracle in 2018. Now, the team has set its sights on managing a problem that confounded them at their previous startup: controlling skyrocketing cloud costs.

According to numbers from Forrester, enterprise cloud costs are spiraling out of control. Forrester found that 72% of global companies exceeded their set cloud budgets in the last fiscal year, and public cloud spending is forecast to top $1 trillion globally by 2026.

Cast AI’s ability to autonomously optimize workloads, with a focus on cost containment, should attract interest from organizations struggling to tame out of control cloud costs. With numerous named customers and solid VC backing, this startup has already gained a solid foothold in a gold-rush sector that shows no signs of slowing down.

Highway 9 Networks

• Year founded: 2020
• Funding: $25 million
• Headquarters: Santa Clara, California
• CEO: Allwyn Sequeira
• What they do: Provide cloud-based private 5G networks
• Competitors include: Cisco, Ericsson, Juniper, Nokia
• Customers include: MIT

According to Highway 9 Networks, many enterprises would like to augment Wi-Fi with private cellular, but deployment is too specialized, time-consuming, and costly. Moreover, legacy cellular equipment creates a totally siloed and separate cellular network that is not protected by or enforced from existing enterprise IT and security policies.

Highway 9 attempts to ease deployment headaches through cloud-based automation, which handles everything from RF and channel provisioning to SIM/eSIM configurations to clustering. The Highway 9 Mobile Cloud also automatically integrates existing enterprise IT network and security infrastructure – including firewalls, NAC, DNS tools, etc. – with the platform, while also automatically enforcing security policies.

The startup is positioned in a fragmented market sector that is plagued by issues like dead spots, interference, and dropped sessions. Highway 9 has secured $25 million in funding from the Mayfield Fund to build out its private 5G software platform.

Highway 9’s founding team gained leadership experience at VMWare, and the startup has already landed a high-profile named customer in MIT. As enterprise networking and security resources continue to be squeezed, look for platforms like this to lure customers from more labor-intensive options.

NetBox Labs

• Year founded: 2023
• Funding: $20 million
• Headquarters: New York, New York
• CEO: Kris Beevers
• What they do: Provide an open-source platform to operate and automate cloud-based networks
• Competitors include: Device42, Infoblox, Network to Code
• Customers include: Constant Contact, Dakota State University, Dartmouth, and OneOncology

NetBox is open-source network management software that was first released in 2016. The software was originally developed by a network engineer at DigitalOcean to automate network provisioning. NetBox Labs was founded in 2023 to commercialize the open-source platform and to continue to build out network observability and monitoring capabilities.

The startup’s business-class offering, NetBox Enterprise, automates the maintenance and management of cloud infrastructure. NetBox provides visibility across enterprise cloud deployments, automatically manages IP assets, and maintains a database that serves as what NetBox calls a “network source of truth” to help enterprises automate things such as device provisioning and infrastructure monitoring.

According to NetBox Labs, an estimated 10,000 organizations use the open-source software. On-the-record customers for NetBox Labs’ commercialized services include Constant Contact and Dartmouth University. 

Where are they now?

The last time we looked at network automation startups, we focused on five vendors: Containous (now known as Traefik Labs), Forward Networks, Kentik, SaltStack and Wyebot. Below is some of our latest related coverage:

• Forward Networks boosts digital twin platform with generative AI: New AI Assist feature lets IT teams use natural language prompts in Forward Networks’ flagship digital-twin platform to more quickly identify configuration issues and security vulnerabilities across network devices.
• Kentik boosts observability platform with genAI: Network observability provider Kentik today announced it has embedded generative AI across its SaaS platform to enable faster problem identification and resolution using natural language interfaces and guided troubleshooting workflows.
• How digital twins can boost network operations: Today’s network environments are too complex to track by purely manual efforts. With digital twin technology, IT teams can build a virtual model of the production network and use it to validate configurations, simulate changes, and streamline management.
• DIY or commercial network automation? Most network teams choose ‘all of the above’: Security and compliance requirements drive IT pros to commercial automation tools, while the prospect of more customizable functionality lures teams to DIY automation, says research firm Enterprise Management Associates (EMA).
• Network automation to increase threefold by 2026: Roughly 30% of enterprises will automate more than half of their network activities by 2026, according to Gartner. By comparison, less than 10% of enterprises were automating more than half of their network activities in mid-2023. 

Jeff Vance is the founder of Startup50.com, a site that discovers, analyzes, and ranks tech startups. Follow him on Twitter, @JWVance, or connect with him on LinkedIn.