Startup Arkin Net, claiming to be building the industry's first multivendor software-defined networking (SDN) analytics platform, announced a $7 million funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners. The round also included former NetScaler CEO B.V. Jagadeesh, Illumio CCO Alan Cohen, and angel investor Semil Shah.

Arkin Net was founded last year targeting SDN operations. Its founders have worked across the networking spectrum (Cisco, VMware, and Microsoft, to name a few), and when SDN first became part of the networking scene, CEO Shiv Agarwal knew it held promise and opportunity.

The company's inaugural product, the Arkin Net Enterprise SDN Analytics Platform — expect the first version early next year — will offer unprecedented visibility across both virtual and physical layers, Agarwal says. He added that Arkin Net is seeking to solve an "enterprise problem with a consumer hammer," producing a consumer approach that will limit training, reduce ramp-up time, and lower opex and total cost of ownership.

The Enterprise SDN Analytics Platform will also feature:

• A user interface based on natural language search — think Google — as opposed to a command-line interface (CLI). This should make it easier to analyze and troubleshoot end-to-end network infrastructure, the startup claims.
• A multivendor scope across physical and virtual infrastructure. Arkin Net's platform would increase end-t0-end visibility, the company says, and with one platform, businesses would have the ability to bridge the gap between virtualization and networking teams because all would be using the same product for networking operations.

Agarwal says Arkin Net will take advantage of technology partner programs. "An example of this is the VMware NSX program," says Agarwal. "This program provides deep access to the NSX platform and only a few VMware partners have access — we are one of those partners, as we are a complementary platform. As we grow, we will continuously be adding SDN vendors to our ecosystem."

Agarwal says the company is looking into another round of funding for next year.