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SnapRoute<\/a>, a startup that builds open source software that enables network engineers to customize commodity networking switches and routers to meet their exact requirements, announced a $25 million A round today, led by Norwest Venture partners.<\/p>\n Lightspeed, ATT and Microsoft Ventures also participated in the round and Norwest\u2019s Rama Sekhar will join the SnapRoute board of directors.<\/p>\n Company founder and CEO Jason Forrester came from Apple, and it was there that he learned that when your data centers reach hyper scale, the underlying networking hardware doesn\u2019t always behave the way you think it will.<\/p>\n He also found that many times the traditional vendors were giving you a switch with every single configuration option under the sun, when maybe your problem only required a couple of options. Those additional options not only increased the cost, they increased the complexity.<\/p>\n That\u2019s when he came up with the idea for FlexSwitch, an open source network operating system that gives network operators more control and flexibility than traditional networking hardware vendors like Juniper and Cisco. \u201cThe problem with the traditional network guys is that it\u2019s one size fits all. [Our solution] is designed to give [our customers] the ability to customize for a particular use case with only the code you need,\u201d company founder and CEO Jason Forrester explained.<\/p>\n By separating the hardware from the software, it enables network operators, especially ones charged with building data centers at scale, to buy the cheapest commodity hardware that meets their needs, and design it for their unique requirements, something that was only previously within reach for hyper scale companies like Facebook<\/a> and Amazon.<\/p>\n Forrester says that today he\u2019s seeing non-tech companies building their own switches too, and for him, that\u2019s changing the market. \u201cWhen these down market folks are comfortable enough to design their own switch, and they can execute on that, then network space is changing,\u201d he said. SnapRoute wants to be the operating system for that hardware.<\/p>\n As for monetization, SnapRoute open sources the parts of the stack that give the network folks the flexibility they need, but it holds back some key features to make money. \u201cThe protocols themselves are open source. The standards are open source, but there is a closed source piece \u2014 the hardware abstraction layer to support network at scale. That piece is closed source. That\u2019s what we charge a subscription for,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Today, SnapRoute has around 35 employees, but with the $25 million funding, that should increase as they begin to build the company. Although he couldn\u2019t share any customer names just yet, he says that Fortune 50 companies are interested in this product. \u201cWe won some of the biggest logos out of the gate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n