Senser, an AIOps platform based in Tel Aviv, has recently launched its AI-enhanced observability platform. The platform aims to help developers and ops teams in identifying the root causes of outages and service degradations more easily by utilizing machine learning. Senser has emerged from stealth with a $9.5 million seed round of funding, led by Eclipse and with participation from Amdocs and other private investors.
Overview of Senser
At its core, Senser utilizes eBPF technology to monitor a company’s infrastructure. This technology runs inside the Linux kernel, allowing it to track networking and application traffic without additional overhead. With the observability market becoming more saturated with similar solutions, Senser is looking to leverage AI to differentiate itself from competitors.
eBPF Technology for Infrastructure Monitoring
Senser relies on the increasingly popular eBPF technology to monitor a company’s infrastructure. This technology has the advantage of running inside the Linux kernel, enabling it to easily track networking and application traffic without significant overhead. Many observability companies are placing their bets on eBPF due to its efficiency and effectiveness.
Saturated Observability Market
The observability market is becoming increasingly saturated, with numerous companies offering similar solutions. Senser recognizes this challenge and aims to stand out by combining AI with eBPF technology. By leveraging AI, Senser can provide developers and ops teams with a competitive edge in identifying and resolving issues.
Using AI for a Competitive Edge
Senser understands the importance of contextualizing data to effectively address issues. While collecting vast amounts of data is one thing, making sense of it is another challenge altogether. Senser aims to save time for DevOps teams and site reliability teams by assisting them in identifying unknowns within the data. Rather than relying solely on predefined dashboards, Senser moves beyond traditional monitoring tools and offers a comprehensive map of the company’s overall infrastructure, including virtual machines, Kubernetes clusters, and microservices. This allows users to drill down as needed and focus on production environments.
Senser’s Focus on Contextualizing Data
Senser’s CEO and co-founder, Amir Krayden, highlights the importance of contextualizing data. Instead of overwhelming users with a barrage of raw data, Senser aims to provide meaningful insights and actionable information. Senser’s objective is to aid DevOps teams and site reliability teams in finding valuable insights amidst the vast amount of data they collect.
Moving Beyond Dashboards
Traditional monitoring tools often rely on dashboards to display data. However, Senser believes this approach falls short, as failures can occur when users struggle to define perfect dashboards. Senser aims to move beyond dashboards by providing users with a comprehensive map of their infrastructure. This holistic view enables users to understand the overall picture of their infrastructure, including various elements such as virtual machines, Kubernetes clusters, and microservices.
Map of Overall Infrastructure
Senser’s platform offers users an encompassing map of their company’s infrastructure. This includes both cloud-based virtual machines and on-premises systems. By providing a visual representation and detailed insights, Senser allows users to drill down and investigate specific areas of their infrastructure to identify potential issues or bottlenecks.
Focus on Production Environments
While Senser provides insights into a company’s infrastructure as a whole, its platform places special emphasis on production environments. These environments are critical for businesses as they directly impact customer experiences and business operations. By focusing on production environments, Senser ensures that users can address issues promptly to minimize any disruptions.
Founders’ Background and DriveNets Experience
Senser’s founders, Amir Krayden, Yuval Lev, and Or Sadeh, bring a wealth of experience to the company. All three founders served together in the Israel Defense Forces and later worked at DriveNets, a well-funded networking company. At DriveNets, they played integral roles in building telco hardware routers using cloud-native technologies. This experience highlighted the need for better debugging tools in complex systems.
Dedication to Solving Pain Points
Having experienced the challenges firsthand while at DriveNets, the founders were determined to address the pain points faced by ops teams. Senser’s platform aims to simplify the lives of ops teams by reducing alert fatigue. Instead of receiving alerts for every anomaly in the system, Senser focuses on alerting users about system events. By providing context and explainability, Senser enables users to understand why they should care about an alert and what went wrong.
Easing the Lives of Ops Teams
A significant aspect of Senser’s platform is easing the lives of ops teams. This is achieved by reducing the number of unnecessary alerts and streamlining the debugging process. By adopting Senser’s platform, ops teams can spend less time sifting through an inundation of alerts and focus more on addressing critical issues promptly.
Reducing Alert Fatigue
Alert fatigue is a common challenge faced by ops teams. With countless alerts bombarding them, it can be overwhelming to separate crucial issues from less critical ones. Senser tackles this issue by filtering alerts and providing clear explanations for each alert. By reducing alert fatigue, Senser allows ops teams to work more efficiently and effectively.
Explainability as a Key Feature
Explainability is a vital feature in Senser’s platform. Not only does the platform highlight alerts and system events, but it also offers users the ability to trace the reasoning and conclusions made by Senser. This transparency and explainability enable users to gain a deeper understanding of the issues they encounter.
Tracing Conclusions and Identifying System Events
Senser’s platform supports users in tracing how conclusions are drawn. By providing insight into the reasoning behind an alert or system event, users can see the step-by-step process that led to those conclusions. This helps users to identify issues more accurately and effectively troubleshoot problems.
Importance of Industrial 4.0 Apps
Senser recognizes the significance of Industrial 4.0 apps, such as warehouse automation and robotics. These apps play a critical role in powering physical industries and need to run reliably on both clients and edge locations. Senser, through its use of eBPF and machine learning, ensures that these apps perform at their highest levels while solving common problems associated with configuration, maintenance, and insights.
Eclipse’s Support and Endorsement
Senser has gained support from Eclipse, a well-respected venture capital firm. Lior Susan, the founding partner of Eclipse, acknowledges the importance of Senser’s approach in supporting apps crucial to industrial sectors. Senser’s integration of eBPF and machine learning is seen as a unique and effective way to address the challenges faced in these industries.
Growth of Senser and Expansion Plans
Senser is experiencing rapid growth and expansion. The company currently has 17 employees and is actively hiring for various marketing roles in the United States. Senser recognizes the importance of marketing in today’s market, as it plays a crucial role in not only showcasing the product but also conveying the company’s story. By building a strong marketing team, Senser aims to attract more attention and expand its reach.
Marketing as an Important Aspect
Senser views marketing as a vital component of its overall strategy. With the market becoming increasingly competitive, having a strong marketing presence gives companies an edge. Senser recognizes the value of effectively conveying its product’s benefits and features to potential customers.
Hiring for Marketing Roles in the US
To support its marketing efforts, Senser is actively hiring for various marketing roles in the United States. By establishing a presence in the US market, Senser aims to target a broader audience and attract customers who will benefit from its AI-enhanced observability platform.
In conclusion, Senser’s AI-enhanced observability platform and its utilization of eBPF technology offer developers and ops teams a competitive edge in identifying and resolving issues within their infrastructure. Senser’s focus on contextualizing data, moving beyond dashboards, and reducing alert fatigue showcases its commitment to simplifying the lives of ops teams. With explainability as a key feature, Senser allows users to trace conclusions and understand the reasoning behind alerts and system events. Supported by Eclipse and with plans for expansion, Senser is poised for growth and aims to establish a strong presence in the market.
