VFunction, a startup developer of regenerative technology for transforming Java-based monolithic applications into native cloud microservices, steamed Tuesday and unveiled $ 12 million seed funding round.
VFunction was set up to address the lack of an easy way to turn legacy applications into cloud native applications in a repetitive way, said Moti Rafalin, co-founder and CEO of Califo-based Palo Alto.
“Cloud acceptance is a major barrier,” Rafalin told CRN. “The big question is how do we change the 81 per cent of workload that is not cloud native. There are 21 billion virtual Java tools and 12 million Java developers. And you can’t move to the cloud without rewriting and rewriting those applications. “
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The more applications are updated for the cloud, the more valuable they are, Rafalin said.
“You can build and move apps to the cloud to reduce the need for a company’s own data center, but that doesn’t get the full value,” he said. “Or you can use vessels, which bring benefits. But to do the heavy lifting to reap the benefits of the cloud, you need to reactivate applications for microservices. And that is very sad. ”
VFunction comes close to that action with a native cloud update platform, Rafalin said.
He will start by talking to customers to make sure their intended solution is a technology solution, not a marketing solution, he said. This is followed by a combination of dynamic and static data analysis with data services and automation to deliver a scalable “factory” process for updating applications, replacing complex manual processes that take weeks as usual. trice.
The vFunction platform has three levels, Rafalin said.
Step one is to use representatives to learn workload streams and perform static and dynamic analysis of those streams. Phase two looks at the analysis of the workflow and where automation can be added. Step three is building services, including automatically scanning the original code to develop unique microservices, he said.
“It allows the use of microservices in Kubernetes, OpenShift and public or private clouds,” he said.
The platform works by scanning an application hundreds of times per second to check the best access point for each of the application’s services, Rafalin said.
“This will create a range of services up to the UI [user interface)]”He said. “They look for the exclusion of services, and provide a complete dynamic analysis with static analysis to look at workflow to capture what was lost with the dynamic analysis. The platform displays the data to developers and shows the boundaries of the services. It allows information to flow to create new services. ”
Rafalin said the vFunction platform does not write new code.
“We use the existing code to improve services,” he said. “And, if needed, we also create APIs. This is a safe approach. We are not modifying the monolithic application code but taking advantage of the existing code. ”
VFunction developed its technology with what is known as Rafalin as a “factory update” model.
“Customers have hundreds of applications that need updating,” he said. “With our dashboard, we can show just how much the levels of learning, assessment, analysis and extraction are.”
A new $ 12.2 million vFunction seed funding round is important to the company, Rafalin said.
“This comes from investors who have worked with us in the past,” he said. “And we already have two patents.”
VFunction already counts several of the largest banks in the world as customers in full production, Rafalin said.
VFunction’s go-to-market plan includes both direct and indirect channels, with the latter including systems integrators such as Wipro, HCL and Tata, as well as partners technologies include Red Hat, VMware and Oracle. The company will also work with smaller solution providers with customers looking to move their applications to the cloud, he said.