Gluware Kicks Off 2022 as the Network Automation Leader, Appoints Industry Luminaries to Executive AI, Product, and Security Roles

Gluware, Inc., the leader in intelligent network automation for the enterprise, announced the appointment of Ernest Lefner as Chief Product Officer, a newly-created C-suite position at Gluware. Lefner’s appointment comes on the heels of a banner year for Gluware, where it was recently recognized as the only leader and outperformer in the GigaOm Radar for NetDevOps. 2022 is starting on a high note for the company as it sets the stage for continued innovation, particularly in AI and security, as the leading intelligent network automation provider for modern enterprises.

With modernization and digital transformation, the mismanagement of enterprise networks and the growing number of devices, domains, and clouds they are composed of can be a significant source of business risk. According to Gartner, network downtime costs enterprises $300,000 per hour on average and up to $560,000 per hour in worst-case scenarios. Facebook’s outage in October 2021 reportedly cost the company as much as $100 million. Other major service providers, such as Google Cloud, have suffered similar operational disruptions due to glitches in network configurations that have resulted in the downstream interruption of customer operations as well. Gluware delivers the industry’s most intelligent network automation suite to de-risk enterprise networks’ inherent complexity and chaos as cloud adoption and digital transformation continue to accelerate and create these increasingly widespread issues.

“Most automation solutions on the market overpromise and under deliver. This leaves organizations susceptible to business disruption and security risks and forces their reliance on brittle DIY scripting, workflow UIs with hidden DIY, and legacy tools like NCCM,” said Jeff Gray, CEO and co-founder, Gluware. “Gluware’s Intelligent Network Automation suite was created as a counterpoint to this status quo – to alleviate the costs, risks, and inefficiencies present in heterogeneous networks today. We’ve been innovators from the get-go, as recognized most recently by GigaOm. Now with Ernest, Stanislav, and Tim on our team, we’re primed to continue leading the industry as intelligent network automation becomes increasingly essential to enterprise IT operations.”

Ernest Lefner brings a wealth of industry experience to his role as Chief Product Officer that helps build on the momentum Gluware accumulated throughout 2021. He co-founded ONUG in 2012 to help the user community take control of and accelerate network transformation while holding high-profile executive positions overseeing network transformation programs at Bank of America and EY. At Gluware, Lefner will lead the company’s product strategy and be responsible for directing the rollout of the company’s latest innovations that include forthcoming capabilities for network robotic process automation (RPA), AIOps, and enhanced network security.

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“I’ve been in the trenches training teams and building networks for nearly two decades. I’ve learned that a paradigm shift in the way networks are managed, updated, and maintained is necessary to accommodate the performance, scale, and security needs of modern enterprises,” said Ernest Lefner, Chief Product Officer, Gluware. “Automation is essential, but the market is flooded with tools that only deliver broken promises, false claims of low-code automation, single-purpose playbooks, and never-ending scripting needs that strain already tapped IT resources. I’ve benefited from watching users succeed with Gluware where many other solutions have failed. Joining the team to have a hand in developing the next generation of intelligent network automation capabilities is an incredibly exciting prospect.”

Gluware also announced the appointments of Stanislav Miskovic, Ph.D., as VP of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Tim Silverline as VP of Security. Stanislav joins Gluware from Splunk, where he served as a principal data scientist and was instrumental in securing the company’s leadership role in the big data industry. Before that, he helped build Symantec’s Unified Security Framework and made countless contributions to the industry sitting at the intersection of big data analytics and network systems. Stanislav will be responsible for architecting Gluware’s AI and AIOps initiatives to help customers integrate machine learning into their network automation strategies.

“The performance and operation of enterprise networks are bound by the limited capacity of IT teams and all-too-often impacted by human error. The only way to match the velocity and scale of high-performance business is automation,” said Stanislav Miskovic, VP of AI, Gluware. “Gluware already delivers the most intelligent network automation capabilities in the industry, and our path forward will put AI at the center of our intelligence to deliver true AIOps and self-operating networks.”

Tim Silverline joins Gluware from Sycomp, where he oversaw security operations for the global IT solutions provider as their CISO. At Gluware, he will ensure secure network automation continues to be at the core of Gluware’s mission with multiple game-changing security innovations in development and work with its customers to tackle emerging risks and threats that impact network operations as domains converge.

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“The network is the heart of the modern enterprise. Its health is critical to the operations of the businesses that rely on it,” said Tim Silverline, VP of Security, Gluware. “The protection of the network is paramount to achieving the agility, performance, and scalability that the Global 2000 enterprises that make up Gluware’s customer base depend on.”

Gluware’s latest executive appointments were made following one of the best years to date for the company where it announced several new partnerships and major product updates that included new applications for vulnerability reporting, config drift and audit, and syslog messaging; the Gluware Lab IDE and out-of-the-box low code automation capabilities; Data Explorer for unparalleled visibility into network data; and intelligent network automation for Cisco SD-WAN, Cisco Meraki, and public cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS).

The company started 2021 by announcing that it had won the prestigious TechTarget Network Innovation Award for enabling enterprises to enhance agility and manage complex, multi-vendor, multi-domain brownfield networks. Gluware was also recognized by several other key industry awards, including Light Reading’s Leading Lights award, The Cloud Awards, Intellyx’s Digital Innovator Award, The Stevie American Business Awards, and the Globee IT World Awards.

Gluware empowers IT teams with the insights and tools necessary to execute safe and compliant network automation and operate unencumbered by the limits of lesser tools and solutions. The latest enhancements to Gluware’s Intelligent Network Automation suite, alongside its growing list of industry recognition, helped propel the company to its leadership position and is on track to continue its 400% ARR growth rate. This momentum culminated in its recent $43 million growth funding investment led by Bain Capital, validating its growth strategy, product innovation, and ability to simplify how multi-domain enterprise networks are discovered, analyzed, updated, and maintained.

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