In a bustling data center, engineers work tirelessly to manage, deploy, and maintain applications across a myriad of virtual and private environments. Despite their expertise, they are bogged down by a chaotic process: countless hours are spent rewriting deployment scripts from scratch, each tailored to different platforms and languages. Every change requires manual updates and constant juggling between incompatible tools, leading to inefficiencies and errors. This is not just a minor inconvenience but a colossal waste of over 100 million hours annually—which equates to a staggering $1.52 trillion problem in cloud and data center operations. This fragmented approach results in costly downtime and missed opportunities as organizations struggle to maintain coherence and agility in an ever-evolving technological landscape.
Fortunately, Arganteal has stepped in, offering a unified automation and orchestration platform that streamlines these cumbersome processes; to put it mildly, it's a game-changer. By providing a language-agnostic, full-stack solution, Arganteal reduces the need for repetitive, error-prone scripting and manual adjustments, transforming cloud deployment into a seamless, efficient operation.
The Genesis of Arganteal
The story of Arganteal began at Cisco, where co-founders Steve Kelley and Scott Stevens witnessed firsthand the challenges and inefficiencies in cloud deployment. A major deployment project for a European bank went awry, resulting in significant additional costs and operational chaos. This experience ignited a shared vision to create a solution that would automate and standardize cloud operations, eliminating repetitive tasks and saving valuable resources. "We started in 2013 and patented some stuff, but we hit a financial wall," shares Kelley. Despite the initial setback, the duo continued to push forward, and Arganteal was reborn in 2019 with a USAF contract and renewed vigor. Since then, they have been on a path of growth and continual success.
The company's flagship products, ASCOT and ADepT, offer a unified methodology for full-stack automation that is designed to address the complexities and inefficiencies of current cloud and on-premise deployment practices. ASCOT excels in discovering lost operational intellectual property, while ADepT serves as a robust automation and orchestration platform. "Traditional tools like Ansible and Terraform offer some solutions but fall short of providing a comprehensive, language-agnostic approach," explains Kelley. "Our users can employ their preferred scripting languages, for technologies from COBOL to Kubernetes, within a single tool to streamline their operations and enhance their flexibility."
Expertise and Vision of the Founders
Kelley, a distinguished engineer with a background in semiconductors and cloud technology, leads Arganteal as CEO. His previous ventures, including NetSolve, which was acquired by Cisco, and his role at Motorola, have shaped his vision for Arganteal. Stevens, with a wealth of experience in partner management and integration, and CTO Mark Collins, who was previously part of Dell's CTO office, join Kelley to form a strong leadership team committed to cloud automation and orchestration.
How Arganteal Works
Arganteal's solutions are delivered via a SaaS model, offering a user-friendly interface for managing and automating cloud operations. New users can start with a 30-day free trial, upload existing scripts, and leverage ASCOT to find any lost IP. These scripts are then converted into Libraries and used to build Workflows with ADepT's simple-to-use, drag-and-drop tools. The platform's automation capabilities extend from bare metal to application configuration, ensuring comprehensive coverage across all technological layers.
Arganteal's key differentiators include affordability, seamless integration, and support for diverse platforms and languages. Unlike competitors that lock users into specific tools or platforms, Arganteal's solutions are cloud-agnostic, supporting major providers like Google, AWS, Azure, Oracle, or VMware. This flexibility allows businesses to transition between clouds without being constrained by proprietary tools.
Kelley adds, "Our solutions are all about supporting what people want and need, which is the ability to move eventually from one cloud to another or between private infrastructure and clouds. Since we can support any language and we're platform agnostic, we allow that. And then you can also say it's problem agnostic because as I said, it applies from bare metal to configuration. So it covers the full stack."
Arganteal's Market Potential and Strategic Position
Arganteal is positioned to capture a substantial portion of the industry. Kelley explains, "To give you some idea of the market size, Ansible is one of the largest most notable competitors. They are said to hold only 2% market share." The company's ability to integrate and orchestrate existing tools while providing a full-stack, language-agnostic solution places it in a unique and advantageous position.
Since its relaunch in 2019, Arganteal has achieved impressive milestones, including securing Phase 1 and 2 SBIRs with the USAF and generating $14 million in revenue and engagements with Fortune 1000 companies. The company's successful consulting business has generated $12 million in revenue, highlighting their financial stability and the effectiveness of their solutions.
Kelley asserts, "We have accomplished all this with $1 million in equity. We have a profitable PS business, Multiple SaaS/ML software developments, an active media campaign, case studies, Web and a Linkedin presence and five years of break-even operating history. Imagine what we could do if we weren't operating on a shoestring budget?"
As Arganteal continues to innovate and expand, the integration of its consulting and product sides will further enhance its ability to deliver comprehensive solutions. The company's commitment to advancing cloud automation and orchestration is unwavering, and with a strong foundation and strategic vision, Arganteal is well-positioned to lead the future of cloud technology.
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