Isovalent
More info
- Creator
- Thomas Graf, Dan Wendlandt
- Released
- 2017
- Owner
- Cisco (since 2024)
- Type
- Software company
The company that turned eBPF into a commercial networking layer for Kubernetes, then sold itself to the networking giant it was competing with.
Thomas Graf, a former Linux kernel networking developer, founded Isovalent in 2017 with Dan Wendlandt. At its core was Cilium, a networking and security layer for Kubernetes that puts the logic straight into the kernel with eBPF instead of in long iptables chains. Isovalent was also one of the heaviest contributors to eBPF itself.
Around Cilium it built the Hubble observability tool and the Tetragon security tool, while revenue came from an enterprise edition with support. Cilium graduated in the CNCF in 2023 and became the default networking for several major clouds' managed Kubernetes. Cisco closed its acquisition of the company in April 2024.