## Thoughts on nexthop.ai ?

Got reached out by someone on LinkedIn about [Nexthop.ai](http://nexthop.ai/) — they just came out of stealth with $100M+ in funding, claiming to build AI-optimized networking stacks (custom hardware + optics + NOS) for hyper scalers. Nexthop seems to be taking a more “co-develop with hyper scalers” approach instead of building general-purpose data-center switches. Real disruption potential here, or just another “AI infrastructure” buzz play? Not sure how they are different/better than Arista or Cisco or Juniper.

**TC:** 350k
**YoE:** 10  
[#engineer](/content/search/engineer/index.html) [#interview](/content/search/interview/index.html) [#it](/content/search/it/index.html)

[@Arista Networks](/content/company/Arista-Networks/index.html) [@Google](/content/company/Google/index.html) [@Microsoft](/content/company/Microsoft/index.html)

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**Comments**
- **[Arista Networks](/content/company/Arista-Networks/index.html)**: mass exodus from arista to nexthop...
- **[Microsoft](/content/company/Microsoft/index.html)**: How is the pay in Nexthop Ai ?
- **[Arista Networks](/content/company/Arista-Networks/index.html)**: Startup pay but options have a lot of upside
- **[Arista Networks](/content/company/Arista-Networks/index.html)**: There’s no custom NOS. It is based on SONiC
- **[Arista Networks](/content/company/Arista-Networks/index.html)**: Some of the largest networks in the world are built with SONiC

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Insights from others:
- The total market is huge and growing more each year. It only takes a small slice of the pie for Nexthop to make tons of money.
- What's the difference between Arista with Cisco and Juniper? The difference is in the execution: 
  - quality of the product (hardware and software)
  - customer support
  - building the right product and having enough quantity to satisfy demand

Nexthop appears to be gathering attention but needs to establish itself among established players in networking hardware.