Hoping to address some of the security problems inherent in what it calls the “modern data center,” a startup called Alcide is emerging from stealth mode with a new network-based security platform designed to safeguard hybrid and multicloud environments.

The company today also announced a $5.2 million seed funding round led by Intel Capital and ELRON Electronic Industries Ltd. Design.

Alcide’s pitch is that the rapid evolution of modern data centers calls for similarly brisk advances in data center security. Its idea is to unite all of the main stakeholders in the data center, namely the so-called DevOps and SecOps teams that are responsible for application development, operations and security.

The company is touting what it calls an “adaptive cloud-native security platform” for hybrid environments, software containers, serverless, virtual machines and bare-metal servers across multiple architectures.

The platform works by monitoring infrastructure and providing DevOps and SecOps teams with real-time visibility into their data center operations. Alcide also allows these teams to create and apply security policies across their information technology environments, helping them to quickly identify any non-permitted activity. Should any malicious activity show up, teams can quickly restrict this unapproved access to eliminate threats before they can do any damage.

“Alcide offers great depth and breadth of visibility and protection for cloud operations,” said Rick Echevarria, vice president of Intel Corp.’s Platforms Security Division. “We believe in its potential and the need for such a solution in the market.”

Alcide is hopeful that there will be a large market for its new security platform. The company points to a forecast from the analyst firm International Data Corp., which predicts that 85 percent of enterprises will have adopted a multicloud strategy by the end of this year. What with most companies’ data being stored on multiple types of cloud servers, including public and private systems, traditional security tools are no longer adequate, Alcide said. What’s needed is a more adaptable security system that can safeguard all of these diverse data environments.

“Enterprises have reached a breaking point that calls for a new kind of solution,” said Alcide co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Gadi Naor. “One that works with any platform, built specifically for the complex hybrid data center, to keep their most sensitive data safe.”

Alcide said it will demonstrate its platform at the KubeCon event this week in Austin, Texas.

Image: Alcide