Edge cloud service provider Qwilt is claiming a strategic inflection point for enterprises looking to optimise digital experiences, enable real-time analytics and reduce cloud dependency.
Backed by Accel Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Cisco Ventures, Disruptive, Innovation Endeavors, Marker, Redpoint Ventures and Digital Alpha, Qwilt’s stated mission is to make local edge compute and delivery more accessible than ever, unlocking more reliable, higher-quality experiences at greater scale. It provides edge cloud services to leading content publishers, and cable, telco and mobile service companies such as Airtel, BT, Comcast, Telecom Argentina, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, TIM Brazil, Verizon and Vodafone.
The company has expanded its globally distributed edge infrastructure to over 2,000 edge nodes across nearly 40 countries. Moreover, the company says the expansion positions it as a key player in the evolution of digital infrastructure, offering enterprises a more distributed, high-performance alternative to legacy content delivery networks (CDNs) and centralised cloud platforms. Qwilt now boasts leadership in Edge Cloud, delivering what it claims is “unmatched” proximity, speed and scale for edge compute and delivery.
Specifically, it has 2,196 edge nodes live across 38 countries and six continents deployed deep within service provider networks for true last-mile proximity, offering over 150 Tbps of edge capacity, powering what the company describes as the “world’s largest true edge cloud”.
It now also has direct integration with Tier 1 providers – including Airtel, BT, Comcast, Telefónica, Verizon and Vodafone – to deliver leadership in edge ecosystem enablement.
In addition, it offers a unified, single, programmatic standards-based application programming interface (API) that is claimed to enable developers and IT teams to access and deploy services across the infrastructure with ease.
Qwilt also believes its rapid global deployment redefines what it means to operate “at the edge”. Comparing itself to traditional platforms that often stop at metro datacentres or internet exchange points, Qwilt professes that it goes “significantly” deeper – embedding compute and caching directly within last-mile networks, giving service providers and content publishers a radically more efficient, scalable and performant alternative to legacy delivery and centralised cloud models.
The company’s core Open Edge architecture is said to offer hyper-local distribution at the neighbourhood level that it says is on average 10 times closer to users than legacy CDNs or cloud platforms. Low-latency compute and delivery facilities are said to lead to heightened proximity that unlocks sub-5ms performance for real-time services and applications.
By reducing network congestion, Qwilt says shifting content and compute to the edge cuts backhaul costs and traffic. Furthermore, the Open Edge ecosystem is attributed with revolutionising service velocity at the local edge, easing global last-mile access.
“Through our Open Edge framework, we’ve unlocked access to the last mile of the network, igniting a global edge ecosystem capable of ultra-low latency compute and application delivery,” said Qwilt CEO Alon Maor. “Exceeding 2,000 edge nodes proves both the growing demand for hyper-local edge compute and the power of our platform to scale globally.
“Most importantly, this massive global infrastructure is now accessible through a single, programmatic API, making it easier than ever to build and deliver next-generation applications at the true edge,” he said. “There are two key reasons why our Open Edge Cloud is growing eight times faster than traditional platforms.
“First, our deep partnership model puts edge nodes and origin servers directly into service provider access networks,” said Maor. “Second … standards-based API [represents] a game-changer for service providers and developers building the next wave of real-time applications.”
