Introduction to BackBox with Josh Stephens

Since this is BackBox’s first appearance at Networking Field Day, we’ll start with an introduction to BackBox. We’ll discuss the company’s history, our vision for the future, and our approach to network and security device automation.

Josh Stephens, the CTO at BackBox, along with Senior Product Manager Perry Greenwood, began by introducing BackBox. BackBox is positioned as a user-friendly network automation platform that doesn’t require specialized programming skills, making it accessible to a wide range of network professionals. This approach is significant considering a survey indicated that many network engineers understand the necessity of automation but feel underconfident in executing it. BackBox addresses this gap by simplifying automation tasks, thereby reclaiming time for network operations teams.

Founded in Israel in 2009, BackBox transitioned from an MSP to developing its own network automation products. With a particular emphasis on managing firewalls initially, their product portfolio has evolved to include comprehensive network automation solutions like backups, upgrades, and configuration management across over 180 vendors. Following their Series A funding, BackBox relocated their go-to-market headquarters to Dallas, Texas, while keeping R&D in Israel. The company serves around 600 customers and manages over 100,000 networks globally, with a strong presence among service providers and MSPs.

To exemplify their capabilities, Stephens highlighted a case study involving a large nonprofit health system in Houston that struggled with security and performance issues due to outdated UC environments. BackBox’s customization allowed seamless management, upgrades, and backups for their network, underscoring the platform’s effectiveness. Additionally, financial services provider TravelX, operational in 70 countries, used BackBox to manage network configurations and mitigate drift issues, showcasing BackBox’s impact on complex, multi-vendor environments. The presentation ended with a discussion highlighting the broader industry challenge of merging network expertise with coding skills and how BackBox’s user-centric design addresses this gap effectively.