In the age of “cloud everywhere,” where businesses increasingly rely on multiple cloud providers, purpose-built multicloud networking is no longer simply a luxury – it's quickly becoming a necessity.

Why? It's mainly about agility and flexibility, which means avoiding vendor lock-in. Multicloud networking allows users to choose the best cloud services for specific needs without being tied to a single provider. This gives them the freedom to move workloads as needed, leverage unique strengths of different clouds, and negotiate better pricing.

Adapting to changing demands with multicloud networking Time lost is profit lost on the bottom line, and switching cloud networks manually can be time-consuming. Multicloud networking allows businesses to quickly scale resources up or down, deploy applications in different regions, and respond to market changes with greater agility.

Purpose-built multicloud networking has been shown to provide better performance and reliability. This approach distributes traffic across multiple clouds and leverages diverse network paths, which can significantly improve application performance, reduce latency, and ensure faster access to data and services.

At the same time, multicloud networking increases resilience by providing redundancy and failover mechanisms. For example, if one cloud provider experiences an outage, the user can seamlessly switch to another, ensuring business continuity. It's like having a standalone power generator outside your home when a storm hits.

When it comes to security, multicloud networking also enables better security due to its layered approach. Users can implement different security measures across various cloud providers, making it harder for attackers to compromise your entire infrastructure. Spreading applications and data across multiple clouds minimizes the impact of a security breach by making attack surfaces smaller and more distributed. If one cloud is compromised, the others remain protected.

A well-designed multicloud network provides a centralized platform for managing and monitoring the entire cloud infrastructure, regardless of the underlying providers. This simplifies network management, improves visibility, and reduces operational overhead.

Five IT product and service providers who are known within the industry to be strong in multicloud networking are Aviatrix, Cisco, VMware, F5 and Juniper Networks. Others with respected products include Alkira, Arrcus, and Cloudflare.

SDxCentral had an opportunity to chat with Aviatrix CTO and SVP of Engineering Anirban Sengupta, a veteran of several of the companies noted above. Aviatrix is purpose-built for multicloud, emphasizing secure networking and operational simplicity. It is strong in Kubernetes integration, egress security, and offers a unified management plane across clouds and on-premises.

Aviatrix is aimed at companies that need robust security, have complex Kubernetes deployments, and want a single tool to manage diverse environments. Below is our Q&A with Sengupta exploring his work with Aviatrix, what differentiates it in the market, and what larger trends he’s seeing in the multicloud space.

Q&A with the CTO and SVP of Engineering at Aviatrix SDxCentral: Can you share a bit about your professional background?

Anirban Sengupta: I previously worked at VMware for nine years, where I built the NSX (hypervisor) product from scratch, including multiple versions of NSX and innovations like VMC on AWS (Amazon Web Services), their cloud offering. Prior to VMware, I worked at Cisco, HP (Hewlett-Packard], Google, and startups, primarily focusing on networking and cloud. My career has been centered on transitioning technologies from servers to virtualization and from virtualization to the cloud, particularly in the enterprise space.

SDxCentral: How did you become involved with Aviatrix?

Sengupta: My experience at Google Cloud Platform (GCP) highlighted the growing importance of multicloud strategies. Businesses with strong multicloud strategies can outperform their competition by leveraging the best of each cloud. Aviatrix stood out to me as a pure-play networking and security company enabling multicloud environments. Their solutions provide the foundational fabric of secure networking that connects clouds seamlessly. The opportunity to contribute to this paradigm shift – what I call the “network is the cloud” – was incredibly compelling as a technology enthusiast.

SDxCentral: What makes Aviatrix unique in the market?

Sengupta: Aviatrix is purpose-built for the cloud from the ground up. While other companies offer fragmented solutions, we provide a unified platform for networking and security across all deployments – cloud, [colocations], [on-premises], and edge. With partnerships like Megaport and Equinix, we cover all functionality needed, from secure networking to advanced features like layer-7 capabilities, all delivered through a single pane of glass. This end-to-end approach distinguishes us from competitors who retrofit older solutions for the cloud.

SDxCentral: How does Aviatrix address enterprise challenges with platformization and the shift to containers?

Sengupta: Enterprises are increasingly modernizing applications by transitioning from VMs [virtual machines] to containers, with Kubernetes as the de facto standard for container orchestration. Aviatrix supports this by offering Kubernetes-aware security and networking, enabling seamless communication between clusters across clouds. Features like overlapping IP address management and container-aware policies simplify security and governance for platform teams. Our solutions are designed to ensure scalability and security as enterprises embrace containerization.

SDxCentral: How do you help organizations address cloud security, especially with egress threats?

Sengupta: We offer a Distributed Cloud Firewall designed specifically for cloud environments. It ensures secure egress by blocking breaches at day-zero, preventing exploits and malware downloads. This is critical because cloud architectures differ significantly from [on-premises] setups. Our solution protects against major attack vectors like command and control or data exfiltration while ensuring governance and compliance for multicloud and [on-premises] deployments.

SDxCentral: What role does Aviatrix play in enabling generative artificial intelligence (genAI) applications?

Sengupta: GenAI workloads require secure, high-throughput connectivity between data sources, models, and applications. Aviatrix delivers on this by providing secure, high-bandwidth networks to support these connections. Additionally, we protect intellectual property, sensitive data, and investments in genAI by securing against breaches and data exfiltration. Lastly, our solutions enable enterprises to scale their containerized genAI clusters with built-in governance and compliance, making it easier to manage these expansive workloads.

SDxCentral: How many developers are at Aviatrix, and how do you prioritize innovation?

Sengupta: We have around 120 developers and are highly focused on delivering value. We avoid trying to “boil the ocean” and instead concentrate on areas where we can make the most impact, such as multi-cluster and multi-VPC scenarios. This disciplined approach ensures we deliver high-quality, targeted solutions for our customers.

SDxCentral: What trends are you observing in enterprise cloud adoption?

Sengupta: Enterprises are heavily investing in three key areas: infrastructure modernization (moving on-premises workloads to the cloud), application modernization (transitioning from VMs to containers), and the adoption of genAI. These transitions require secure, scalable networking solutions that connect cloud, [on-premises], and edge environments. Aviatrix excels in enabling these transformations by providing the critical fabric for secure connectivity and observability.

SDxCentral: How is Aviatrix positioned to handle the growing complexity of distributed systems?

Sengupta: With the rise of distributed data and workloads, our platform provides secure networking across various environments, including cloud, edge, and [colocations]. We ensure high performance and security, especially for sensitive applications in industries like healthcare and finance. By delivering end-to-end solutions, we support enterprises in managing the complexity of modern distributed architectures.

SDxCentral: How do you see Aviatrix's future in the context of enterprise needs?

Sengupta: As enterprises continue to adopt multicloud, containerization, and genAI, the need for secure, scalable networking solutions will grow. Aviatrix is uniquely positioned to lead this transformation with our comprehensive, cloud-native platform. By addressing critical challenges like secure connectivity, governance, and compliance, we aim to remain a trusted partner for enterprises navigating these complex shifts.