Over the last decade, cloud-based technologies emerged as a ubiquitous linchpin of digital transformation, and for good reason. The elastic compute experience of the cloud offers immediate flexibility, velocity, and a better developer experience compared to using a fleet of standalone servers.

But a crucial question has always lingered for us: what about those who are running on-premises? At Eclipse, we’ve seen that many companies need to run their own physical infrastructure because of regulatory, security, or latency requirements — and many more are looking for alternatives to the high rents of the public cloud.

Unfortunately, these companies are left with no choice but to patch together stratified infrastructure from aging hardware to build their own private cloud, none of which are made available to others.  

Four years ago, Oxide Computer emerged as the answer we had long been waiting for. Co-Founders Steve Tuck and  Bryan Cantrill presented a daring vision: to reimagine on-premises IT infrastructure for the modern era. They wanted to disrupt everything and start fresh: a new computer company that was meticulously optimized for not just scalability of the cloud, but also efficiency, security, operability, and velocity — all while substantially reducing the total cost of ownership. Their audacious goal was to, ultimately, democratize cloud computing for the broader economy, with the computer market poised to exceed $180 billion in the next two years.

Oxide Computer: A New Foundation For Modern Computing

Today, I am excited to share that the Oxide Computer team has shipped the world's first commercial cloud computer, bringing the turn-key Cloud experience to on-premises infrastructure. Eclipse is proud to have led to Series A to help Bryan and Steve start Oxide Computer in 2019. 

The Oxide team have meticulously reconsidered and redesigned every layer, node, and resource of the entire technology stack from the ground up. This innovation has proven its effectiveness across multiple Fortune 1000 companies and government organizations, eliciting jaw-dropping astonishment due to its novel capabilities, such as cableless servers that can be set up within days or even hours instead of weeks. The team's custom-built switches have provided unprecedented visibility and optimization of compute workloads. This successful combination of rack-scale hardware innovations and deeply integrated cloud software is a remarkable engineering achievement that cannot be attributed to a single breakthrough alone, but rather the dogged pursuit of excellence in every aspect of the product's development. The Oxide team built a computing solution they had always dreamt of and, in doing so, have epitomized that tried and true adage that drives great product development: built by users, for users.  

Suffice it to say, the users are taking note. Oxide’s unique open approach — leveraging both open firmware and software — is cultivating a community of fans and driving the infrastructure field forward. Providing customers with transparency and accountability reduces the opaque nature of previous on-premise black box approaches. 

The thoughtful and painstaking attention given to each design decision has compounded to produce a product that achieves their founding vision of defining an entirely new category in IT — the new “cloud computer,” bringing the ease and power of the Cloud to private data centers. We believe this milestone marks the start of a paradigm shift in the world of enterprise IT — a step change for every IT administrator, engineer, and architect in running machines onsite. 

An Unwavering, Unified Mission

For our team at Eclipse, meeting Bryan and Steve felt kismet. Their vision embodies our core thesis — everything Eclipse has stood for since our founding in 2015: we need full stack, fully integrated software and hardware solutions to digitally transform physical industries. We also believe that extraordinary companies emerge from deep discontent with the status quo. Bryan, Steve, and our team are fueled by a shared frustration and determination to pioneer the innovative solutions the modern economy needs, solutions that have previously been considered too daunting to attempt.

Since their inception in 2019, they’ve curated an impressive team of over 60 multidisciplinary experts. The team’s energy is palpable; not only are they at the pinnacle of their respective fields, but they also share an unwavering purpose — the belief that modern technology should not be confined to a select group of engineers. Each member is dedicated to what might be their life's defining work: bringing the advantages of hyperscalers to those currently unable to access them.

My mentor, Eclipse Partner Pierre Lamond, was reminded of his early days in Silicon Valley over 60 years ago, during the inception of the first computer companies. This era was marked by a multidisciplinary approach, encompassing not just advanced embedded and application software, but also networking, electrical engineering, integrated circuits, manufacturing, supply chain management, and various other disciplines. To this day, Pierre remains an active, hands-on member of Oxide's board, offering regular guidance based on his invaluable experiences in developing and growing numerous successful computer companies. With the team's unwavering purpose, deep respect for the journey, and remarkable execution, we are confident that Oxide Computer is poised to become a generational computer company.

The Post Cloud Era

Oxide will change the way enterprise IT builds on-prem infrastructure. It enhances developer efficacy and experience, fulfills observability requirements for operations teams, and addresses security and compliance needs for organizations. In contrast to the status quo of on-prem setups, critical questions about application performance and power consumption are now more accessible, enabling informed decisions that were once obscured by stack complexity. Today’s commercial release marks just the beginning of what’s possible with Oxide.

Congratulations to Steve, Bryan and the whole team! You did it.

If you’re interested in checking out the product, contact seth [at] eclipse [dot] vc.

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