New Solution Helps DevOps Teams Keep Kubernetes Clusters Stable and Secure
An early stage startup, Chkk, has emerged from stealth mode to address the growing need for maintaining the stability and security of Kubernetes clusters. As Kubernetes continues to be deployed for critical workloads, it becomes crucial for DevOps teams to ensure the seamless operation of their clusters. Chkk’s newly launched platform aims to identify vulnerabilities that could potentially disrupt a cluster and provides proactive warnings to administrators.
Key Takeaway
Chkk, an early stage startup, has launched a platform that helps DevOps teams maintain the availability and security of their Kubernetes clusters. By monitoring and preemptively identifying potential vulnerabilities, Chkk enables administrators to take proactive measures, reducing the risk of downtime and incidents.
The company also announced a successful seed funding round, raising $5.2 million led by Sequoia Capital. With this investment, Chkk plans to further develop its platform and expand its reach in the market.
Built by Kubernetes Experts
The team behind Chkk comprises three founders: CEO Awais Nemat, CTO Fawad Khaliq, and CPO Ali Khayam, all of whom have extensive experience with Kubernetes. Prior to founding Chkk, they worked together at AWS, where they played a vital role in maintaining the stability of Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service, the company’s own Kubernetes offering.
Utilizing their expertise, the founders set out to assist organizations in managing their Kubernetes clusters with the same level of efficiency and reliability.
Enhancing Availability and Preventing Incidents
Chkk’s primary product caters to enterprises running mission-critical applications on Kubernetes infrastructure. By closely monitoring clusters, Chkk can instantly alert administrators of potential issues that could lead to cluster downtime. This allows teams to take proactive measures to resolve the problems and prevent any crisis situations.
CTO Khaliq shared that their approach was inspired by their time at AWS, where they witnessed recurring issues among customers. However, no system was in place to detect and prevent these issues. Chkk’s solution takes a simple yet effective approach by learning from incidents occurring worldwide, converting them into availability risk signatures, and sharing these signatures with customers for scanning within their respective environments.
This proactive detection and remediation approach empowers Chkk customers to address availability risks before they escalate into outages.
Gradual Expansion and Embracing Diversity
Having launched last year, Chkk has been working closely with early customers to refine its product before its official release. The company has seen substantial interest, with multiple customers already running the platform in their production environments, managing a considerable number of clusters per customer.
While Chkk currently has 15 employees, the team plans to carefully expand its workforce as it evaluates the market response to its product. CEO Nemat emphasized the company’s commitment to building a diverse team, recognizing the value it brings not only to them but also to their customers. Drawing from a variety of perspectives enables Chkk to better understand and empathize with a broad range of customers, resulting in the creation of superior products.
