Company:DriveNets

From HandWiki
DriveNets
TypePrivate company
IndustryTelecommunications
Founded2015; 11 years ago (2015)[1]
Founders
  • Ido Susan
  • Hillel Kobrinsky
[2]
Headquarters
Ra'anana
,
Israel[3]
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Ido Susan (CEO)
Hillel Kobrinsky (CSO)[4]
ProductsNetwork operating system, Software-defined networking
Number of employees
500[5]
Websitewww.drivenets.com

DriveNets is a networking company that designs and sells infrastructure[6] to telecommunications providers, networks, and organizations building AI systems, including hyperscaler organizations and NeoClouds (GPU-as-a-Service providers).<[7] Products include a networking operating system running on a White box, and an Ethernet-based AI Fabric used for backend, compute, and storage networks.

History

DriveNets was founded in 2015 by Ido Susan and Hillel Kobrinsky. Susan is the co-founder of Intucell, which he sold to Cisco for $475 million in 2013.[8] Kobrinsky co-founded Interwise, which was acquired by AT&T for $121 million.[9] DriveNets was in a stealth mode[10] and was self-funded until 2019.[11] In 2019, DriveNets raised $110 million in series A round from Bessemer Venture Partners and Pitango Growth,[2] along with John W. Thompson and Stephen J. Luczo.[12] In 2021, DriveNets raised $208 million in series B funding led by D1 Capital Partners with follow-on investments from Bessemer and Pitango and investment by Harel Insurance.[13] In August 2022, DriveNets announced it completed Series C funding of $262 million led by D2 Investments, along with former investors Bessemer, D1 Capital, Pitango, Atreides Management, and Harel Insurance.[14] In 2025, AT&T acquired a 15% stake (approximately $750 million) in shares from DriveNets' employees and investors. The company's estimated value in 2025 was $5 billion. [15]

The company has approximately 100 customers, including AT&T [16] Comcast, [17] and KDDI.[18] Among its partners are Fujitsu, Broadcom Inc.,[19] Itochu Techno-Solutions, Wipro, EPCglobal, [20] and Accton. [21] The company has 500 employees with offices in Israel [5] with offices in Israel, the USA, Japan, and Romania. [22] In November 2023, DriveNets joined the Ultra Ethernet Consortium, an industry initiative aimed at developing optimal Ethernet for high-performance networking.[23][24]

Products

DriveNets has two product lines - Network Cloud and Network Cloud-AI. Both are based on a Disaggregated, modular network architecture deployed on commodity white box hardware. The company’s Network Cloud product line is a cloud-native software-based solution that applies the architectural model of cloud shared infrastructure to communication service providers' networking, for a range of network use cases – from the core to peering to aggregation and to the edge,[25] provisioned as microservices and containers. [26] The company’s Ethernet-based GPU-to-GPU networking fabric product line is planned for hyperscalers and enterprises as a scalable replacement for InfiniBand in GPU cluster interconnections. [27]

Technology

DriveNets furnishes a network operating system (NOS) designed for cloud-native infrastructures [28] for building networks. [29] The Network Cloud architecture provides a software-based routing framework that allows networks to scale linearly and predictably. [30] The company has built software that runs on white boxes.[31] This network virtualization to a shared infrastructure [32] The company’s approach disaggregates the network, decoupling the control plane software from hardware. based on Open Compute Project DDC and Telecom Infra Project DDBR frameworks. [33] In 2023, it introduced an AI infrastructure networking platform, Network Cloud-AI, [34] based on Fabric Scheduled Ethernet (FSE). Fabric Scheduled Ethernet provides direct GPU connectivity in an architecture that uses standard Ethernet connections toward the client side but implements a hardware-based, cell-based scheduled fabric system to ensure predictable, lossless performance. [35] In November 2023, DriveNets joined the Ultra Ethernet Consortium to build an Ethernet Fabric for high-performance networking. [36][37]

See also

  • List of unicorn startup companies
  • Science and technology in Israel
  • Silicon Wadi

References

  1. ↑ Matt Hamblen (February 15, 2019). DriveNets Pockets $110M to Pave Software Disaggregation Path. SDxCentral.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Alex Konrad (February 14, 2019). This Founder Sold A Startup To Cisco For $475 Million. Now He's Raised $110 Million To Take It On. Forbes.
  3. ↑ Rickey Ben-David (August 17, 2022). Israeli startup DriveNets secures $262m for cloud networking software. The Times of Israel.
  4. ↑ Yasmin Yablonko (February 15, 2019). Israeli telco network co DriveNets raises $110m. Globes.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Assaf Gilead (May 28, 2025) The company from Ra'anana aiming at Nvidia's market. Globes.
  6. ↑ 16.07.25 AT&T buys $650M stake in DriveNets, delivering major payout to founders, employees and early backers. Calcalist.
  7. ↑ Linda Hardesty (August 17, 2022). DriveNets secures $262M in Series C funding. Fierce Telecom.
  8. ↑ Alyson Shontell (January 23, 2013). Cisco Buys 4-Year-Old Israeli Startup Intucell For Half A Billion Dollars. Business Insider.
  9. ↑ Shmulik Shelah (October 1, 2007). AT&T buys Israeli web-conferencing co Interwise. Globes.
  10. ↑ Ingrid Lunden (February 14, 2019). DriveNets emerges from stealth with $110M for its cloud-based alternative to network routers. TechCrunch.
  11. ↑ (February 15, 2019). Israeli Software Firm DriveNets Raises $110 Million in First Round of Financing. Reuters/ Haaretz.
  12. ↑ (July 8, 2019). DriveNets expands financing round to $117m. Globes.
  13. ↑ Meir Orbach (January 27, 2021). DriveNets raises $208 million in series B round, attains unicorn status. Calcalist.
  14. ↑ Ingrid Lunden (August 17, 2022). DriveNets connects with $262M as demand booms for its cloud-based alternative to network routers. TechCrunch.
  15. ↑ Assaf Gilead (8 Oct, 2025) AT&T buys 15% stake in DriveNets. Globes.
  16. ↑ Omri Zerachovitz (September 29, 2020). AT&T deploys DriveNets core routing solution. Globes.
  17. ↑ Dan Meyer (May 23, 2025). DriveNets wants to upend network cost structures. SDxCentral.
  18. ↑ Ruti Levy (August 17, 2022). Valued more than 2 billion dollars, Susan and Kobrinsky DriveNets', raised 262 million dollars in a series C funding round. TheMarker.
  19. ↑ (August 17, 2022). Israel's DriveNets raises $262 million in new funding round. Reuters.
  20. ↑ (August 17, 2022). Israeli networking software co DriveNets raises $262m. Globes.
  21. ↑ Matt Kapko (February 14, 2022). DriveNets CEO Claims 65% Win Rate Against Cisco, Juniper, Nokia. SDxCentral.
  22. ↑ Idan Ben Tovim (August 17, 2022). No crisis here: This Israeli startup has raised more than a quarter billion dollars. Geektime.
  23. ↑ Buckley, Sean (2023-11-27). "DriveNets becomes a member of the Ultra Ethernet Consortium". https://www.lightwaveonline.com/home/article/14301881/drivenets-becomes-a-member-of-the-ultra-ethernet-consortium. 
  24. ↑ Shilov, Anton. "Ultra Ethernet Consortium Formed, Plans to Adapt Ethernet for AI and HPC Needs". https://www.anandtech.com/show/18965/ultra-ethernet-consortium-to-adapt-ethernet-for-ai-and-hpc-needs. 
  25. ↑ Hyperscalers want to replace Infiniband with Ethernet – Here’s why. Fierce Network
  26. ↑ Choosing InfiniBand or Ethernet? Ethernet-based AI Networking to grow at over 100% CAGR.
  27. ↑ Cisco’s Acacia adopts DriveNets' Network Cloud
  28. ↑ DriveNets revamps Ethernet to connect AI megaclusters in the cloud.
  29. ↑ DriveNets claims its Network-Cloud AI accelerates Ethernet, connects up to 32K GPUs. SDXCentral
  30. ↑ DriveNets Brings its Network Cloud to AI Data Centers. Network Computing
  31. ↑ Why Network Value is Heating Up in an Increasingly Digital World.
  32. ↑ AT&T champions DriveNets cloud networking software creates a single, software-based entity.
  33. ↑ What AI Means For Networking Infrastructure In 2024. Forbes.
  34. ↑ Open Computer Project.
  35. ↑ DriveNets Brings its Network Cloud to AI Data Centers
  36. ↑ Buckley, Sean (2023-11-27). "DriveNets becomes a member of the Ultra Ethernet Consortium". https://www.lightwaveonline.com/home/article/14301881/drivenets-becomes-a-member-of-the-ultra-ethernet-consortium. 
  37. ↑ Shilov, Anton. "Ultra Ethernet Consortium Formed, Plans to Adapt Ethernet for AI and HPC Needs". https://www.anandtech.com/show/18965/ultra-ethernet-consortium-to-adapt-ethernet-for-ai-and-hpc-needs. 



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