- Grokstream's founders built the AIOps vendor on machine learning after finding rules-based expert systems could not scale
- Cirion cut 90% to 92% of alarm noise across 105,000 km of Latin American fiber, a result CEO Casey Kindiger called typical of Grokstream customers
- Grokstream grew 100% year over year without venture or private equity funding, competing against Nokia, Ericsson, Cisco, IBM and ServiceNow
Grokstream was founded on the principle that the operational complexity that drags service providers' momentum is solvable, but not with straight automation.
"You can't rule your way out of operational complexity," Grokstream CEO Casey Kindiger told Fierce, referring to expert systems that attempt to manage complexity through developers building complex systems of rules. "I tried that," he said. Seven years before co-founding Grokstream in 2015, Kindiger founded Resolve Systems, but found that its expert systems approach did not scale. Grokstream uses machine learning and generative AI. "We can tame the operational complexity that hinders CSP innovation and adoption of new technology," he said.
Grokstream taps into telemetry across all elements of operator networks, and uses ML and AI to slash alarm noise, allowing engineers to act on root causes instead of thousands of alerts. One of Grokstream's customers is Cirion, the Miami-based digital infrastructure operator that runs one of Latin America's largest fiber and subsea cable networks. That operator deployed Grokstream's Grok AIOps across 105,000 km of fiber in seven Latin American countries in six months, cutting 90-92% of alarm noise. Kindiger said Cirion's results are typical of Grokstream's customers.
Grokstream's primary customer base is Tier 2 wireline CSPs in the US, though it has international presence as well. In addition to Cirion, Publicly disclosed customers include Zayo, Singtel and NTT Data.
Grokstream's platform can help CSPs face their two major challenges. The first is that they need to rapidly evolve infrastructure, Kindiger said. "If they don't, they die. They lose customers or significant revenue opportunity," he said. Operators need to plan now for 6G, by delivering 5G standalone in a way that improves service offerings. Grokstream streamlines operational processes to enable innovation.
The second challenge Kindiger cites has been the same for 25 years: Cost pressure.
Who does Grokstream compete with?
In chasing agentic transformation, Grokstream is competing against a crowded field, including the biggest providers in the telecom industry: Nokia, Ericsson, Cisco, Blue Planet, HPE/Juniper, IBM and ServiceNow. These competitors offer assurance, AIOps and automation offerings, as well as scale and credibility, natural installed base and broad platforms leading to reduced number of vendors for operators to deal with. (As the saying goes: "One throat to choke.") The company's publicly disclosed customer list is small compared with the global installed bases of Nokia, Ericsson and Cisco, raising the challenge every independent software vendor faces: convincing operators to trust a smaller provider with mission-critical operations systems.
Grokstream wins by vendor agnosticism, focusing on telemetry and potentially faster deployment. Kindiger's message to potential customers: "Give us 30 days. Give us access to the live data. At the end of 30 days, we're going to blow your socks off."
Grokstream is self-funded, with some additional friends-and-family investment, growing 100% year-over-year without outside venture or private equity capital, Kindiger said.
Grokstream is moving with the industry as operators turn to agentic AI to streamline operations. TM Forum reports operators are only now crossing into Level 4 autonomy on live networks. Lumen is deploying agentic AI through Blue Planet, and Verizon says AI now autonomously resolves 85% of network problems before customers see them.