Qumranet
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Enterprise software, Virtualization software |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Founder | Benny Schnaider, Rami Tamir, Moshe Bar, Giora Yaron |
| Fate | Acquired by Red Hat, Inc. |
| Headquarters | Ra'anana , Israel |
Key people | Benny Schnaider (CEO), Rami Tamir (President), Moshe Bar (CTO), Giora Yaron (Chairman) |
| Products | Solid ICE desktop virtualization solution, KVM hypervisor |
| Owner | Red Hat, Inc. |
| Website | www |
Qumranet, Inc. was a company focused on enterprise software, specializing in a desktop virtualization solution that utilized hosted desktops within Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) environments on servers, linked through their exclusive SPICE communication protocol. Additionally, Qumranet was responsible for developing, maintaining, and globally supporting the KVM open source hypervisor.
History
Established in 2005, Qumranet was led by CEO Benny Schnaider, with Rami Tamir serving as president, Moshe Bar as CTO, and Giora Yaron as chairman. The company secured $20 million in funding across two rounds from its founders along with investors including Norwest Venture Partners, Cisco Systems, and Sequoia Capital.
The company’s premier offering, "Solid ICE," centralized the hosting of Windows and Linux desktops on servers located within data centers. Headquartered in Ra'anana, Qumranet concentrated on virtualization technologies tailored for IT data center environments.
Initially a modest startup, Qumranet quickly rose to prominence following the incorporation of KVM into the Linux kernel and growing interest in its Solid ICE desktop virtualization solution.
Avi Kivity took charge as lead developer of the KVM project from mid-2006; this technology was integrated into the Linux kernel starting with version 2.6.20 released in February 2007.
In 2008, the Gartner Group recognized Qumranet as a "Cool Vendor" due to its innovative technological contributions.
Red Hat, Inc. acquired Qumranet on September 4, 2008, for $107 million, thereby strengthening its virtualization offerings.
Key executives
- Benny Schnaider – co-founder, CEO, and director
- Rami Tamir – co-founder, president, and director
- Moshe Bar Ph.D. – co-founder and CTO
- Giora Yaron Ph.D. – co-founder and chairman
- Shmil Levy – board member representing Sequoia Capital
- Vab Goel – board member representing Norwest Venture Partners