2018 Year in Review: The Year of making it real to deliver Big Data, Database and AI/ML as a Service on Kubernetes

The power of Kubernetes had previously been limited to running the full stack of the Stateless applications across the complete development, deployment and production lifecycle.

In 2018, the problem increasingly became apparent across the industry as some of the world’s largest enterprises sought to find better solutions to deploy and manage Stateful applications and workloads using containers and Kubernetes.  Robin and CIO.com conducted a survey of 200 C-Level, VP level and IT managers who are using Kubernetes in large enterprises. The survey revealed that 68% of IT managers view improvements are needed and multiple challenges exist when running Stateful workloads on Kubernetes, underscoring the opportunity to improve the experience of IT managers.`

Enter Robin and 2018 was the year of making it real for deploying and managing Stateful applications with 1-Click Simplicity. Robin hyperconverged Platform extends Kubernetes to run stateful applications – by tightly integrating highly performant storage, a flexible network stack with persistent IPs and an application management layer to abstract complexity and enable self-service.

Last year was also one of significant growth for Robin across every area of the company. As we move into 2019, it’s worth celebrating this growth by looking back at 2018 in review and its major highlights. Here are most noteworthy.   

• Robin extended Kubernetes to stateful applications, launching its Hyperconverged Kubernetes platform to help enterprises deliver on business demands faster, reduce costs and future proof their organization. Robin Hyper-Converged Kubernetes platform addresses the fundamental Kubernetes challenges for data-heavy applications and extends the microservices oriented Kubernetes to big data, NoSQL, Relational Databases, and AI/ML deployments, On-Premise and in the Cloud.
• Robin Hyper-converged Kubernetes Platform became certified by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) under the Certified Kubernetes Conformance Program, which is designed to give users the confidence that their applications will deploy correctly onto a given Kubernetes implementation. The program includes strong guarantees that providers of Kubernetes will continue to release new versions to ensure that customers can take advantage of the rapid pace of ongoing development.
• Robin Made CRN’s List of the 10 Hottest Container Start-ups of 2018. The list includes 10 container startups that are driving innovation and delivering enterprise-ready solutions for deploying cloud-native applications at massive scale.
• Database Trends and Applications (DBTA) named Robin as one of the 50 leading companies to drive innovation in data. Joining Robin on this list were industry leaders such as Microsoft, SAP, Accenture, Oracle, Cloudera, and DataStax. In 2018, Robin was also named by DBTA as one of the Top 100 Companies That Matter Most in Data. In addition, as recently as last month, as 2018 was coming to a close, Robin was named as one of the Trend-Setting Products in Data and Information Management for 2019.
• Robin secured $20 Million in Series B funding, for a total of more than $50 million in venture funding from leading investors such as  Clear Ventures, DN Capital, USAA, Hasso Plattner Ventures and CloudScale Capital Partners.
• New Additions to Robin’s Executive Bench included Radhesh Menon who joined from Red Hat as Robin’s new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO); Paul Zeiter, former president of Zerto, who joined Robin as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO); Jim Thayer, who came from Tintri to Robin as its new VP of Channel and Business Development; and Don Dama, formerly of Oracle, joining Robin as its VP of Global Strategic Accounts.
• Robin Hyper-Converged Kubernetes Platform became the first and only container solution certified to run Hortonworks Data Platform (HDP®) solution.
• Robin announced general availability of IBM Db2 Warehouse on Robin Hyper-Converged Kubernetes Platform. The containerized IBM Db2 Warehouse solution atop Robin Hyper-Converged Kubernetes Platform simplifies packaging and distribution to facilitate a true load-and-go data warehouse in a hybrid cloud architecture.
• Robin entered into a partnership with Microsoft to pave the way for 1-click migration of on-premise enterprise applications including all the application data and its state to get an identical live running application on Microsoft Azure.
• Robin announced USAA’s deployment of Robin Hyper-Converged Kubernetes Platform to power the company’s Big Data infrastructure.  USAA is a San Antonio, Texas-based Fortune 500 diversified financial services group of companies including a Texas Department of Insurance-regulated reciprocal inter-insurance exchange and subsidiaries offering banking, investing, and insurance to people and families who serve, or served, in the United States military. At the end of 2017, there were 12.4 million members.  
• Parallel Wireless, the leader in connecting things and people at home, work, play, and in emergencies, selected Robin Hyper-Converged Kubernetes Platform to power its  Big Data Analytics solution to help global Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) store, analyze, exchange, and manage data from networks, people, processes, and things in fully scalable virtualized environments.
• BNP Paribas, the world’s 8th largest bank by total assets, which currently operates with a presence in 77 countries, selected Robin Hyperconverged Kubernetes Platform to modernize its infrastructure.