The software-defined revolution is kicking into high gear, transforming the way enterprises build their networks and enabling new operations models that promise unprecedented control over data flows and infrastructure. All in all, it’s a “fantastic” time to be a startup in this space, according to Stateless Networks founding CEO Kelly Wanser.

Speaking on theCUBE at Open Networking Summit 2014, the executive details that her firm is removing traditional bottlenecks to scalability with a management automation platform that simplifies the administration of virtual networks where the so-called data plane is decoupled from the physical hardware on which it runs. These kinds of software-defined environments are becoming increasingly commonplace as enterprises move beyond unwieldy appliances with modular architectures that are both extensible and resilient.

“The vision is a simpler network underneath and it’s automated, and it’s operating very smoothly and if something happens it works like an assembly line and everything’s good. And on top of that you have a lot of brains, a lot of the richness, a lot of the flexibility that comes from letting people run applications,” and provision infrastructure resources as needed, Wanser tells theCUBE host John Furrier. Stateless is helping data center operators deliver on this vision by tapping into machine data for real-time network visibility.

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The startup’s offering has attracted major partners such as Arista, which ships the software with its Ethernet switched to facilitate the creation of what Wasner calls data-driven networks. “In other areas of technology, you have this concept of data-driven systems: data-driven content, data-driven apps. And the network is the one area that’s not data driven at all.”

“In order to do that in an automated way you need to pull together information about not only the network but also what’s attached to it, what’s up the stack,” she explains. This cohesiveness makes it possible to set up software-defined “guardrails” that can eliminate most problems caused by human error while also enabling more advanced use cases such as automatic congestion avoidance. Delivering these capabilities in a large enterprise setting requires a “radically” different mindset that Wanser says doesn’t come naturally for traditional vendors such as Cisco and Juniper Networks. That’s why cloud providers, financial services companies and other early adopters are turning to firms such as Stateless for software-defined networking solutions, with some even creating “internal startups” of their own.

This new approach to networking is “really important for people who care about cloud, and people who care about IT and business systems, because the network has been the bottleneck” to data center innovation, according to Wasner. “Now you have a network revolution that’s coming and you have an industry that’s been pent up, so the open movement is where things end up and the network becomes as dynamic and as fluid and as collaborative as other areas in the cloud.”

Stateless is positioning itself at the forefront of revolution. The firm is in growth mode, aggressively hiring engineers who are “passionate” about software-led infrastructure as part of an effort to become a dominant player in tomorrow’s connected world.

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