Interviewer: Can you introduce yourself and give us a brief overview of what Trustgrid does?
My name is Joe Gleinser and I’m a co-founder and CEO at Trustgrid.
Trustgrid enables application providers to connect to, and deploy applications in customer environments with a public cloud-like experience. We combine software-defined networking, edge computing, and a remote support ZTNA into a single platform.
You made a big announcement last week: the release of your new product, Trustgrid Express. What inspired the creation of Trustgrid Express?
Our customers found that some of their deployments didn’t need the enterprise features and cost of Trustgrid Connect. They wanted a lighter-weight version that could be deployed as a container or Linux agent.
Can you describe what the product is and the core problems it solves?
Trustgrid Express is a network-as-a-service solution that combines an agent deployed as a container or software on a Linux box to connect to our public cloud data plane. It enables rapid access to data or systems in customer environments from public and private cloud applications.
What are the key features of Trustgrid Express and how it is different from Trustgrid Connect.
The key differences between Express and Connect are:
- Public Cloud Dataplane: Trustgrid manages multi-tenant data plane gateways for Express users that do not require customers to deploy their own gateways. Using a private data plane is required for Trustgrid Connect and is an option for Express too.
- Appliance vs Agent: Trustgrid Connect deploys as a fully managed appliance – cloud, VM, or hardware. This enables unparalleled uptime, security, and ease of management. Express is deployed as a container or Linux agent on systems outside of Trustgrid’s management. It is less expensive and is perfect when you need a simple networking solution.
Who is the ideal user of Trustgrid Express and how does this address their challenges?
Trustgrid Express is ideal for application providers who connect to customer environments at scale but don’t need advanced networking features such as high availability, site failover, BGP integration, AWS integration, etc. If you need those features you’re a perfect fit for Trustgrid Connect.
For someone who is already using and familiar with IPSec VPNs, why would they switch and what makes Trustgrid Express different?
IPSec VPN users with more than about 30 tunnels to their customer environments suffer. They have to rely on the IT teams of their customer environments for basic config and troubleshooting. They have numerous third-party tools to manage and support the connections.
Trustgrid Express overcomes these problems with a single-pane-of-glass management experience, advanced troubleshooting tools, and an integrated monitoring solution. This allows for the deployment, monitoring, and support of hundreds or even thousands of cloud-to-customer network connections from a single portal.
Security is on everyone’s mind these days, what measures have been taken to ensure data security and user privacy?
All user or application data is encrypted during transit, and employs extremely strong ciphers when communicating with the Trustgrid control plane and data plane gateways. Once sent, Trustgrid Express supports a flexible and intuitive access policy system that ensures only known and trusted communication can occur on a Trustgrid virtual network. Trustgrid Express also supports a private data plane option if the customer wishes to control or own all hops that their data might take.
Can you walk us through the getting started experience for someone using Trustgrid Express for the first time?
One of the features that we are most proud of, is how easy it is to get started without any commitment or credit card. From our website, you can download and deploy two Linux agents in different environments and send traffic in 5-10 minutes.
How is Trustgrid Express priced?
Trustgrid Express is free to get started and everyone can try it without having to talk to a sales person or be bombarded with emails. We include a trial of up to 10 connections and after that, it becomes a monthly or annual subscription starting at about $10 per site per month
What’s next on Trustgrid Express’s roadmap? Can we expect any new features or updates soon?
We will soon be releasing a ZTNA offering for Trustgrid Express where employees or DevOps teams can access remote data sources or assets using either HTML5 web-based interfaces or Layer 3 using a standard Wireguard client. Other upcoming features for Trustgrid Express include advanced tooling to assist users in identifying performance or security incidents, as well as an advanced automation framework to enable users to orchestrate coordinated support or remediation activities across their entire deployment.
This has been a great chat. Any closing thoughts?
Our developers spent a lot of time trying to make it as easy as possible for users to get started. If you’re a Linux user, I think you will be impressed with how easy it is to get your first network connection built. I would encourage everyone to go to our website, Get Started Now button, and give it a try.
To try Trustgrid Express for free, visit https://info.trustgrid.io/trustgridexpress