Nefeli Networks

Nefeli Networks, founded in 2016, emerged from research at UC Berkeley in software-defined networking and network function virtualization. The company was established by Eugenia Corrales and Scott Shenker. Corrales, who served as CEO, brought over 25 years of experience as a tech executive, including roles as a Senior Vice President at ShoreTel and General Manager and Vice President at Cisco's Computing Systems Group. Shenker, the company's chairman, is a distinguished researcher and professor at UC Berkeley, previously the CEO of SDN pioneer Nicira and a co-founder of Databricks, lending significant technical credibility to the venture.

Nefeli Networks developed a cloud networking platform designed to address the operational complexities that enterprises encounter when adopting multi-cloud services. The firm targeted IT and DevOps teams struggling with the management of disparate and segregated cloud environments. Its business model centered on providing a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution that created a unified management layer for multi-cloud infrastructure deployments. This service was designed to automate and simplify the configuration, deployment, and management of networking components across different public clouds.

The company's core product was a multi-cloud networking platform that virtualized network appliances into composable building blocks, enabling the creation of scalable and manageable network services. Key features included a graphical no-code interface, cost visibility and prediction tools, and guided workflows, which allowed customers to achieve DevOps benefits without extensive coding. The platform provided a single pane of glass to discover, visualize, and manage network resources across multiple clouds, automating tasks like route management and the configuration of VPN gateways and security groups. This abstraction layer over native cloud constructs eliminated the need for deploying separate virtualized network functions. Ultimately, Nefeli's technology aimed to reduce operational costs, increase agility, and provide unified security and visibility for enterprises navigating hybrid and multi-cloud architectures. In late 2023, Cloudflare acquired Nefeli Networks, integrating its technology to launch a new service called Magic Cloud Networking.

Keywords: multicloud networking, cloud network automation, network management, cloud infrastructure, SaaS, network orchestration, DevOps, cloud security, unified network management, virtual private cloud, VPC management, network virtualization, software-defined networking, SDN, network function virtualization, NFV, cloud cost management, hybrid cloud connectivity, API-driven networking, infrastructure as code, IaC, network visibility, Cloudflare acquisition