Joyent
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer Software |
| Genre | Cloud infrastructure |
| Founded | 2004 |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
| Products | Triton Compute, Node.js, SmartOS |
Number of employees | 125 (June 2017) |
| Parent | Independent (2004–2016) Samsung (2016–present) |
| Divisions | Cloud Software, Cloud Hosting |
| Website | www |
Joyent Inc. is a software and services provider based in San Francisco, specializing in cloud infrastructure delivered as a service (IaaS). Since its acquisition by Samsung Electronics in June 2016, Joyent has been a participant in the competitive cloud infrastructure market.
Services
Joyent's Triton platform offers cloud hosting solutions that rival Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), delivering both IaaS and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) tailored for large-scale enterprises. Its cloud hosting services cater to industries such as social network gaming, with clients including THQ, Social Game Universe, and Traffic Marketplace.
Among its early adopters were prominent technology companies like Twitter, alongside other customers such as LinkedIn, Gilt Groupe, and Kabam. In June 2013, Joyent introduced Manta, an object storage solution that broadened its cloud storage capabilities. The company also formed strategic alliances, including a 2013 partnership with Riverbed Technology to provide affordable content delivery network services and a 2014 collaboration with Canonical to supply virtual Ubuntu instances.
These efforts reflect Joyent’s strategic approach to expanding its product portfolio and strengthening its position in the cloud infrastructure sector through partnerships.
Software
Joyent actively supports significant open source initiatives, including Node.js, pkgsrc, Illumos, and its proprietary Illumos-based operating system, SmartOS. SmartOS incorporates the KVM hypervisor, utilizes DTrace for system monitoring, and employs the ZFS file system to optimize server-storage integration. The company released SmartOS as open source in August 2011, underscoring its dedication to open-source development.
The company’s evolving software platform, known as Triton DataCenter (previously "Triton Enterprise" or "SmartDataCenter"), has been licensed to key hardware partners such as Dell. This licensing strategy has enabled Joyent to extend its cloud infrastructure technology into enterprise-grade hardware solutions.
History
The term Joyent was created by founder David Paul Young in late 2004, with initial funding provided by investor Peter Thiel. By mid-2005, additional capital was raised with Young serving as an executive officer.
One of the company’s first products was Joyent Connector, a large-scale online collaboration application built on Ruby on Rails. Demonstrated in 2005, launched in 2006, made open source in 2007, it was eventually discontinued in 2011.
In November 2005, Joyent merged with hosting provider TextDrive. Following the merger, Young assumed the role of CEO of the combined company, while TextDrive’s CEO Dean Allen became president and director of Joyent Europe. Jason Hoffman, formerly TextDrive’s CTO, spearheaded the transition toward cloud computing software and services targeting service providers. Allen departed the company in 2007.
Young left his position in May 2012; Hoffman acted as interim CEO until Henry Wasik took over in November 2012. Hoffman resigned as CTO in September 2013 to join Ericsson. Bryan Cantrill was appointed CTO in April 2014, with Mark Cavage promoted to vice president of engineering.
Joyent’s growth strategy involved acquisitions and divestitures aimed at enhancing its cloud capabilities. In 2009, it acquired Reasonably Smart, a startup focusing on JavaScript and Git-based cloud products. That same year, it divested Strongspace and Bingodisk to ExpanDrive. In 2010, Joyent purchased LayerBoom, a Vancouver-based firm specializing in virtual machine management software for Windows and Linux environments.
On June 16, 2016, Samsung finalized its acquisition of Joyent to boost its global cloud infrastructure presence. On June 6, 2019, Joyent announced plans to retire its Triton public cloud service by November that year. Later, on April 11, 2022, MNX Solutions acquired the Triton DataCenter technology portfolio from Joyent.
This timeline illustrates Joyent’s evolution through leadership transitions, strategic acquisitions, and integration into a major international technology corporation focused on advancing cloud computing innovation.
Financing
In 2004, TextDrive initiated its hosting enterprise by leveraging crowd funding, offering customers the opportunity to invest in return for lifetime complimentary hosting services. This strategy was employed again by both TextDrive and subsequently Joyent to circumvent venture capital involvement. Nevertheless, TextDrive encountered difficulties stemming from leadership deficiencies and service reliability problems, which resulted in a decline in its customer base. Joyent entered the venture capital arena for the first time in November 2009, securing funds from Intel and Dell. Initial institutional backers comprised El Dorado Ventures, Epic Ventures, Intel Capital (Series A and B), Greycroft Partners (Series A and B), along with Liberty Global (Series B). In January 2012, Joyent obtained $85 million in investment from Weather Investment II, Accelero Capital, and Telefónica Digital. Later, in October 2014, the company raised an extra $15 million during its Series D round from existing shareholders.