Overcoming the Last Mile

The past few years have seen unprecedented growth in the adoption of mobile devices: tablet sales will surpass desktops this year alone (IDC), and it’s estimated that there will be 10 billion mobile connected devices by 2016 (Cisco). On top of it all, all these devices will connect to the Internet over congested mobile and WiFi networks, which will continue to be strained as applications get richer and more sophisticated. This massive influx of mobile device use coupled with larger, more complex applications is leading to sluggish performance for all but the most simple of applications.

Today’s Web and mobile users expect near instant delivery of applications. However, the explosion in size and complexity of these applications, and the sharp growth in the number of people accessing these applications over wireless networks give rise to very high levels of congestion on the “last mile” of the Internet. While the gap between user expectations and status quo widens because of these two trends, traditional solutions have proven to be ineffective—and utterly unprepared to respond—since they were never designed to solve the last mile problem. As a result, applications run slowly and users are disenfranchised with the promise of the Mobile Web.

This is where Instart Logic comes in!

A year and a half ago, I was introduced to Manav Mital, Raghu Venkat and Hariharan Kolam, the founders of Instart Logic. They were working on a revolutionary solution that would “enable Web applications on mobile devices and tablets to perform with great speed over standard wireless networks”. Their plans involved solving the last mile mobile delivery problem and this had very special appeal. At that time, having recently been responsible for the NetScaler business at Citrix, I fully understood what solving delivery issues could mean to users. The value proposition was compelling, the market potential huge and the team was just crazy enough to challenge the status quo. I was immediately interested and I joined the board.

Since that very first day, it has been a privilege to partner with the founders of Instart Logic.  They have built their idea into a business, and they are solving a need that is becoming more acute with each new mobile device that goes into service. I’ve come to love the team they’ve put together and the thoughtfulness that has gone into building the company. We are thrilled to be part of the Instart Logic story and look forward to seeing the next chapters unfold.