Awake Security is a company.
Key people at Awake Security.
Awake Security was founded by Michael Callahan (Cofounder, CEO).
Key people at Awake Security.
Awake Security is a network detection and response (NDR) company that built an AI-driven platform to discover, profile, and detect advanced threats across enterprise networks and was acquired by Arista Networks in 2020 (now marketed as Arista NDR). [2][9]
High-Level overview
Awake Security built an AI-native NDR product that uses machine learning to autonomously discover devices, users, and applications on networks and to surface high-fidelity attacker behaviors rather than raw alerts[3][7]. Awake’s product served enterprise security teams, SOCs, and incident responders across campus, data center, cloud, IoT/OT, and hybrid environments by providing triage, forensic context, and guided investigations[3][7]. The platform aimed to reduce operational overhead and improve detection accuracy versus legacy approaches by combining multi-dimensional ensemble ML with analyst-focused workflows[3][7]. Awake was acquired by Arista Networks to integrate its NDR capability into Arista’s security and cognitive cloud networking portfolio, extending Awake’s reach inside Arista’s customer base[6][9].
Origin story
Awake Security was founded to address gaps in network visibility and detection left by traditional endpoint and signature-based tools; its founders and leadership built the product around AI-driven behavioral modeling to detect adversarial intent across entities and time[8][9]. The company gained traction with enterprise customers and investors for its ability to reduce false positives and provide actionable “answers, not alerts,” leading to industry recognition and the formation of an advisory board as it scaled[8][7]. A pivotal moment was Awake’s acquisition by Arista Networks in 2020, which folded Awake’s NDR technology into Arista’s security offerings to deliver an integrated network + security solution[6][9].
Core differentiators
Role in the broader tech landscape
Awake rode several converging trends: the growth of encrypted, distributed, and IoT-rich networks that reduce endpoint-only visibility; increasing demand for ML-driven threat detection to combat sophisticated attackers; and vendor consolidation where networking vendors embed security capabilities into the fabric of the network[3][6][9]. The timing mattered because enterprises were expanding cloud/IoT footprints and SOC teams were strained by alert fatigue, creating demand for high-fidelity NDR and analyst-centric tooling[3][7]. By demonstrating that network telemetry plus AI can produce actionable detections, Awake influenced expectations for how NDR products should reduce operational overhead and integrate with EDR/SIEM tooling in modern security stacks[3][7].
Quick take & future outlook
Having been acquired by Arista, Awake’s technology is positioned to scale as an integrated Arista NDR capability within network and cloud deployments, leveraging Arista’s customer base and distribution channels to accelerate adoption[6][9]. Future shaping trends include increased adoption of network-layer detection as a complement to endpoint/cloud telemetry, growing emphasis on AI explainability and analyst workflow automation, and continued consolidation between networking and security vendors—areas where Awake’s approach maps closely to market demand[3][6][9]. Expect Arista to continue embedding and evolving Awake’s NDR features to deliver tighter network-secured architectures and to push toward unified network + security operations for larger enterprises[6][9].
Awake Security was founded by Michael Callahan (Cofounder, CEO).