Tag Archives: SaaS

Podcast – Haseeb Budhani on App Development for Edge and Cloud Best Fit

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Joining us this week is Haseeb Budhani, Co-Founder and CEO, Rafay Systems.

About Rafay Systems

Rafay Systems enables next generation performance improvements for SaaS applications delivered over the Internet. Rafay’s Programmable Edge™ platform equips developers with a disruptive set of tools to automatically deploy performance and geography sensitive applications, or micro-services, closer to endpoints. With presence at the infrastructure edge, Rafay’s platform enables organizations to deliver a new set of experiences to their end customers. For more information, visit https://www.rafay.co and join the conversation on Twitter @RafaySystemsInc.

Highlights

  • Building an application deployment platform as close to the Edge as possible
  • Supporting containers, microservices (move latency sensitive parts of app to Edge) and availability of infrastructure
  • Definition of Edge to Rafay Systems
  • Issues of massive amount of data at the Edge to be handled – Use Cases
  • Will Edge suffer from device specific infrastructure needs?
  • Application bottlenecks and impact of cloud locations and end user
  • Placement control of services is still an open issue based on user requirements
  • IT infrastructure and ownership and performance issues (IT vs Operation Teams)
  • Cloud and Edge are not competitive; they work together to offer applications best fit

Topic                                                                                    Time (Minutes.Seconds)

Introduction (and US Weather Update)                               0.0 – 1.52
What is Rafay Systems trying to solve?                               1.52 – 2.50
How does this fit in the world of containers?                      2.50 – 4.40
What does Edge mean to you?                                             4.40 – 7.37
Issues of data at the Edge                                                      7.37 – 12.52
Device specific vendors at Edge?                                         12.52 – 19.07
Recognize where application bottlenecks are                   19.07 – 24.30
Placement of apps using Rafay Systems platform            24.30 – 28.25
Comcast as your data center                                                 28.25 – 28.53
IT infrastructure and ownership                                            28.53 – 33.45
Closing thought from Haseeb                                               33.45 – 35.48
Wrap Up                                                                                    35.48 – END

 

Podcast Guest: Haseeb Budhani, Co-Founder and CEO, Rafay Systems

Haseeb Budhani is the CEO of Rafay Systems, which he co-founded in late 2016. Prior to Rafay, Haseeb spent a year at Akamai Technologies as the company’s Vice President of Enterprise Strategy. Akamai acquired Haseeb’s previous company, Soha Systems, in October 2016. Haseeb co-founded Soha in the second half of 2013 and served as the company’s CEO. Prior to Soha, Haseeb served as the Chief Product Officer for Infineta Systems, where he was responsible for overseeing all aspects of the company’s product marketing, marketing communications and partner management activities. Prior to Infineta, Haseeb served as Vice President for NET’s Broadband Technology Group, spearheading the group’s product marketing, program management and business development functions. Previously, Haseeb held senior product management, marketing and engineering roles at Personal IT, Citrix Systems, Orbital Data, IP Infusion and Oblix. Haseeb holds an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Southern California.

 

Cloud Culture Clash Creates Opportunities

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In my opinion, one of the biggest challenges facing companies like Dell, my employer, is how to help package and deliver this thing called cloud into the market.  I recently had the opportunity to watch and listen to customers try to digest the concept of PaaS.

While not surprising, the technology professionals in the room split into across four major cultural camps: enterprise vs. start-up and dev vs. ops.  Because I have a passing infatuation with pastel cloud shaped quadrant graphs, I was able to analyze the camps for some interesting insights.

The camps are:

  1. Imperialists:  These enterprise type developers are responsible for adapting their existing business to meet the market.  They prefer process oriented tools like Microsoft .Net and Java that have proven scale and supportability.
  2. MacGyvers: These startup type developers are under the gun to create marketable solutions before their cash runs out.  They prefer tools that adapt quick, minimize development time and community extensions.
  3. Crown Jewels: These enterprise type IT workers have to keep the email and critical systems humming.  When they screw up everyone notices.  They prefer systems where they can maintain control, visibility, or (better) both.
  4. Legos: These start-up type operations jugglers are required to be nimble and responsive with shoestring budgets.   They prefer systems that they can change and adapt quickly.  They welcome automation as long as they can maintain control, visibility, or (better) both.

This graph is deceiving because it underplays the psychological break caused by willingness to take risks.  This break creates a cloud culture chasm. 

On one side, the reliable Imperialists want will mount a Royal Navy flotilla to protect the Crown Jewels in a massive show of strength.  They are concerned about the security and reliability of cloud technologies.

On the other side, the MacGyvers are working against a ticking time bomb to build a stealth helicopter from Legos they recovered from Happy Meals™.  They are concerned about getting out of their current jam to compile another day.

Normally Imperialists simply ignore the MacGyvers or run down the slow ones like yesterday’s flotsam.  The cloud is changing that dynamic because it’s proving to be a dramatic force multiplier in several ways:

  1. Lower cost of entry – the latest cloud options (e.g. GAE) do not charge anything unless you generate traffic.  The only barrier to entry is an idea and time.
  2. Rapid scale – companies can fund growth incrementally based on success while also being able to grow dramatically with minimal advanced planning.
  3. Faster pace of innovation – new platforms, architectures and community development has accelerated development.  Shared infrastructure means less work on back office and more time on revenue focused innovation.
  4. Easier access to customers – social media and piggy backing on huge SaaS companies like Facebook, Google or SalesForce bring customers to new companies’ front doors.  This means less work on marketing and sales and more time on revenue focused innovation.

The bottom line is that the cloud is allowing the MacGyvers to be faster, stronger, and more innovative than ever before.  And we can expect them to be spending even less time polishing the brass in the back office because current SaaS companies are working hard to help make them faster and more innovative.

For example, Facebook is highly incented for 3rd party applications to be innovative and popular not only because they get a part of the take, but because it increases the market strength of their own SaaS application.

So the opportunity for Imperialists is to find a way for employee and empower the MacGyvers.  This is not just a matter of buying a box of Legos: the strategy requires tolerating enabling embracing a culture of revenue focused innovation that eliminates process drag.  My vision does not suggest a full replacement because the Imperialists are process specialists.  The goal is to incubate and encapsulate cloud technologies and cultures.

So our challenge is more than picking up cloud technologies, it’s understanding the cloud communities and cultures that we are enabling.