Barefoot Networks

Barefoot Networks
Company typeDivision
IndustryNetworking software, cloud networking
FoundedMay 2013
FoundersNick McKeown, Pat Bosshart
Defunct2019
FateAcquired by Intel in 2019
Headquarters
Santa Clara, California
,
USA
ProductsProgrammable networking chips, systems and software
ParentIntel
Websitebarefootnetworks.com

Barefoot Networks is a computer networking company headquartered in Santa Clara, California.[1] The company designs and produces programmable network switch silicon, systems and software. The company was acquired by Intel in 2019.[2]

Background

Barefoot Networks was founded in 2013. The company is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sequoia Capital. The company's co-founders are Nick McKeown, Martin Izzard, Pat Bosshart, and Stefanos Sidiropoulos. Dan Lenoski joined in 2014 and was also given co-founder status. The company came out of stealth mode on June 14, 2016.[3][4] The company also announced a third round led by Goldman Sachs, AT&T, Dell, and Google.[5] Later in 2016, the company announced additional funding from Alibaba Group and Tencent.[6] In 2017, Craig H. Barratt took over from Martin Izzard as CEO until May 2020.[7][8]

In June 2019, Intel announced it was acquiring Barefoot for an undisclosed price.[2][9]

In January 2023, Intel stated that it has halted production on its networking chips.[10]

Products

Barefoot Tofino

Barefoot Tofino is a P4-programmable switch chip that can run up to speeds of 12.8 Tbit/s.[11]

Programmability

P4 is a programming language designed to allow programming of packet forwarding dataplanes.

Barefoot Deep Insight

Barefoot Deep Insight is a network monitoring system that provides full visibility into every packet in a network. Running on commodity servers, Barefoot Deep Insight interprets, analyzes and pinpoints a myriad of conditions that can impede packet flow, and does so in real time and at line-rate.

References

  1. ^ Lawson, Stephen. "Barefoot Networks may have built the world's fastest networking switch chip". Computerworld. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
  2. ^ a b Larry Dignan (2019-06-11). "Intel acquires Barefoot Networks, plans to bolster networking, interconnect silicon". ZDNet. Retrieved 2020-02-16.
  3. ^ Don Clarke (June 14, 2016). "Stanford Professor's Startup Plans Novel Networking Chips".
  4. ^ Cade Metz (June 14, 2016). "Barefoot Networks New Chips Will Transform the Tech Industry".
  5. ^ Timothy Prickett Morgan (June 14, 2016). "The walls come down on the last bastion of proprietary".
  6. ^ "Barefoot Networks' Ecosystem Attracts New Investors". Nov 22, 2016.
  7. ^ Levy, Ari (2017-02-07). "The former leader of Alphabet's fiber business has landed at a Google-backed startup". CNBC. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
  8. ^ Martin, Dylan. "Ex-Barefoot Networks CEO Leaves Intel Less Than Year After Acquisition | CRN". www.crn.com. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
  9. ^ Weinberger, Matt. "Intel is buying Barefoot Networks, a challenger to Cisco that had raised over $150 million from giants like Google and Alibaba". Business Insider. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
  10. ^ Cherney, Max (26 January 2023). "Intel is halting development of the networking chip it got from Barefoot Networks". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
  11. ^ "Intel® Tofino™ 2". Intel. Retrieved 2023-11-29.