What DriveNets does

DriveNets is a cloud-native networking company founded in 2015 in Ra'anana, Israel, that provides disaggregated networking solutions for telecommunications service providers and AI infrastructure builders. Its core platform, DriveNets Network Cloud, separates the network operating system (DNOS) from the underlying white-box hardware supplied by multiple ODMs (UfiSpace, Edgecore, Accton), enabling operators to run carrier-grade routing on commodity silicon. The architecture is built on the Distributed Disaggregated Chassis (DDC) concept, combining chassis-level performance with Clos-style scalability, and is augmented by the DriveNets Network Orchestrator (DNOR) for automation and lifecycle management. Major telecom customers include AT&T (whose 840 Petabytes/day of core backbone traffic, of which 80%+ runs on DriveNets architecture), KDDI, Comcast, Orange, Vodafone, Turkcell, MTN, Telefonica, DIGI, and Cox.

For AI workloads, DriveNets sells the DriveNets AI Fabric, a full-stack Ethernet-based networking solution comprising the 2500S, 2600SL, 2601S, 5300R, and 9300F switches (based on Broadcom Tomahawk 5, Tomahawk 6, Jericho3, and Ramon3 ASICs), the DNOS software, the AI Cluster Orchestrator, and DriveNets Infrastructure Services (DIS). The company's Fabric Scheduled Ethernet (FSE) technology uses cell-based load balancing and deep-buffer interconnects to deliver lossless AI traffic handling, reportedly outperforming Nvidia's InfiniBand by 6% and Spectrum-X by 15% in live NCCL benchmarks. The platform supports scale-up, scale-out, scale-across, and front-end/storage networks, and has been deployed in AI clusters for WhiteFiber and ByteDance.

The business model combines Network Cloud software licensing (DNOS on white-box hardware), branded AI networking hardware sales, and professional services. Distribution is primarily direct enterprise field sales to large telecom operators and AI hyperscalers, complemented by channel partnerships with Dell (AI Factory), AMD (joint Instinct MI355X reference architecture), and Broadcom (Tomahawk ASICs), as well as OCP and TIP community channels. DriveNets reached cash-flow positive status in 2025 with over $1B in secured business backlog, and in June 2026 closed a $410M Series D led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Atreides Management at an $8.5B post-money valuation, bringing total capital raised to over $1B. AT&T holds a 15% strategic stake acquired in October 2025 for approximately $750-800M.

Name

DriveNets

Legal name

DriveNets Ltd.

Website

https://drivenets.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

DriveNets provides cloud-native, disaggregated Ethernet-based networking for telecom operators and AI hyperscalers, combining its DNOS software and Broadcom-ASIC-powered AI Fabric switches to deliver InfiniBand-class performance on open, multi-vendor hardware.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Network Infrastructure Software

NAICS

Computer Systems Design and Related Services (5415), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)

SIC

Computer Communications Equipment (3576), Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)

akta.pro primary industry

AI Networking for Clusters (InfiniBand/Ethernet/RDMA) (HDAAAAAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Cloud-Scale / Hyperscale Ethernet Switching (HDAFAAAF), Service Provider Core Routing (P/Backbone/MPLS) (HDAFABAD), SDN Controllers & Network Orchestration (HDABAFAC), Routing Acceleration & Silicon/Line Cards (NPUs/ASIC-based forwarding modules) (HDAFABAJ)

Keywords

• Cloud-native networking
• Disaggregated networking software
• AI fabric networking
• Service provider routing
• Ethernet AI infrastructure

Headquarters

HQ city

Ra'anana

HQ country

Israel

HQ region

Middle East

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Network Cloud Software Licensing: DriveNets sells its Network Operating System (DNOS) and orchestration software to run on white-box hardware, enabling disaggregated networking for service providers
2. AI Networking Hardware: Sale of proprietary network switches including 9300F, 5300R, 5301R, 2600SL, 2601S, and 2500S platforms built on merchant silicon from Broadcom
3. DriveNets Infrastructure Services (DIS): Professional services including architecture design, deployment, integration, performance optimization, 24/7 maintenance and support, and software optimization

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

DriveNets provides cloud-native, disaggregated networking solutions that decouple the network operating system (DNOS) from underlying hardware, enabling telecom service providers and AI infrastructure builders to build scalable networks on white-box hardware. The company also delivers Ethernet-based AI fabrics engineered to deliver InfiniBand-class performance for distributed AI training and inference workloads.

Product overview

DriveNets offers a dual-track product portfolio spanning Service Provider Routing and AI Networking. For Service Providers, the core offering is DriveNets Network Cloud—a fully disaggregated solution combining the DNOS network operating system, white-box hardware, and DNOR orchestration tools on a Distributed Disaggregated Chassis (DDC) architecture that provides chassis-like performance with Clos scalability. For AI Networking, DriveNets AI Fabric is a full-stack Ethernet-based solution comprising hardware switches (2500S, 2600SL, 2601S, 5300R, 9300F), software (DNOS, AI Cluster Orchestrator), and professional services (DIS). The AI Fabric supports scale-up, scale-out, and scale-across networking through Fabric Scheduled Ethernet (FSE) and Endpoint Scheduled Ethernet (ESE) technologies. Both product lines share the common DNOS operating system and can leverage the same orchestration tools. The company also provides validated reference architectures in partnership with AMD for optimized AMD-based AI cluster deployments.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• DriveNets AI Fabric: Full-stack Ethernet-based networking solution for AI clusters' back-end fabric, front-end and storage connectivity with hardware, software, and services supporting any AI infrastructure networking use case and GPU type.
• Network Cloud
• DDC (Distributed Disaggregated Chassis)

Products and services

• DriveNets Network Cloud

Quantifiable outcome

• 6% better performance than Nvidia InfiniBand, 15% better than Spectrum-X in live NCCL benchmarks
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

AI capability2 records

Feature9 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• AT&TcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 9 October 2025AT&T purchased a 15% stake in DriveNets for approximately $750-800 million. Over 80% of AT&T's core backbone traffic (840 Petabytes daily) runs on DriveNets' open disaggregated architecture. This is a significant strategic partnership providing a first exit for initial investors.
• KDDIcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 May 2025KDDI and DriveNets signed a strategic partnership to accelerate open network architecture adoption. DriveNets Network Cloud is being deployed in KDDI's commercial backbone network, expanding from existing peering router deployment since June 2023. KDDI targets 46% power reduction and 40% rack space savings.
• BroadcomcoreTechnology or IntegrationDriveNets and Broadcom collaborate on AI-grade Ethernet networking solutions. DriveNets uses Broadcom's Tomahawk 5 and Tomahawk 6 ASICs in its 2500S, 2600SL, and 2601S platforms. Joint marketing and technology development for AI networking infrastructure.
• Dell TechnologiescoreTechnology or IntegrationDriveNets' Fabric Scheduled Ethernet (FSE) is available as an option on the Dell AI Factory platform. DriveNets provides its full software stack including DNOS and AI Cluster Orchestrator to Dell customers through Dell's Extended Technologies Complete (ETC) program.
• Open Compute Project (OCP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDriveNets is an active OCP member contributing to standardization of disaggregated networking solutions. The company leverages OCP's DDC designs and has proposed network sustainability models accepted by OCP.
• Telecom Infra Project (TIP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDriveNets is a TIP member contributing to open and scalable network architectures. DriveNets Network Cloud received TIP Disaggregated Distributed Backbone Router (DDBR) requirements compliance certification.
• WhiteFibercoreTechnology or IntegrationWhiteFiber deployed DriveNets' Ethernet-based AI fabric in its GPUaaS data center. DriveNets enabled WhiteFiber to converge GPU and storage workloads onto one fabric. Joint deployment achieved 111.2 Tbps bandwidth across 83km with sub-millisecond latency as part of Project Redwood.
• ComcastcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerComcast uses DriveNets Network Cloud nationwide for network virtualization and AI technologies. Chief Network Officer Elad Nafshi stated DriveNets enables accelerated product innovation.
• OrangecoreTechnology or IntegrationOrange conducted successful disaggregated core experimentation with DriveNets as part of network modernization. EVP Jean Louis Le Roux highlighted disaggregation as the path to cost efficiency and scalability.

Scale indicators18 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Direct peers

• Arista Networks: Leading provider of high-performance Ethernet switches for hyperscale data centers and AI clusters. Arista competes most directly with DriveNets in cloud-scale Ethernet switching for AI backends and is the primary Ethernet alternative to Nvidia InfiniBand/Spectrum-X.
• Nvidia (InfiniBand / Spectrum-X): Nvidia's networking division (InfiniBand and Spectrum-X Ethernet) is DriveNets' primary competitor in AI backend fabrics. Tight GPU-networking co-design and dominant AI mindshare make Nvidia the benchmark DriveNets' FSE explicitly targets and aims to displace.
• Extreme Networks: Enterprise and cloud-scale Ethernet switching vendor competing in campus, data center, and AI networking. Overlaps with DriveNets in Ethernet fabric solutions for AI backends and is part of the broader Ethernet-vs-InfiniBand competitive set.
• Marvell Technology: Networking silicon provider whose Teralynx switches and silicon photonics compete with the Broadcom silicon foundation underlying DriveNets' switches. Comparable as a technology/architecture peer in disaggregated networking, though Marvell is upstream silicon while DriveNets is the integrated solution.

Broad incumbents

• Cisco Systems: Incumbent service provider and enterprise networking vendor whose chassis-based routers (ASR 9000, NCS 5500) DriveNets is actively displacing at AT&T, Comcast, and other tier-1s. Cisco's broad portfolio and large installed base make it the dominant incumbent DriveNets attacks on cost and openness.
• Juniper Networks (HPE): Traditional service provider routing and switching vendor now owned by HPE. Competes with DriveNets in service provider core/edge routing and is being displaced in disaggregated deployments at operators like KDDI and Telefonica.
• Nokia: Service provider routing incumbent (formerly Alcatel-Lucent, 7750 SR) competing with DriveNets for tier-1 telecom core router deals. Nokia's broader portfolio in mobile and optical makes it a broad incumbent rather than a direct AI fabric peer.

Emerging players

• Asterfusion Data Technologies: Smaller vendor offering disaggregated networking solutions based on open networking principles and merchant silicon. Comparable as an emerging player in the same disaggregated/white-box networking category that DriveNets pioneered for service providers.
• Pluribus Networks: Disaggregated networking vendor offering cloud-native NOS solutions for distributed enterprise and edge deployments. Shares the disaggregated networking thesis with DriveNets but is focused on smaller-scale and edge use cases rather than tier-1 service provider cores.

Others

• Edgecore Networks: White-box ODM hardware partner of DriveNets supplying the underlying switches that run DNOS. An ecosystem/partner relationship rather than direct competitor, but comparable in the disaggregated networking ecosystem as an ODM enabling the same open architecture model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/drivenets
• YouTubeyoutube.com/c/DriveNets
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/drivenets
• Facebookfacebook.com/drivenets

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds6 records

Investors12 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about DriveNets