Former executive chairman and CEO of Cisco John Chambers is back.
After seven years since leaving the technology conglomerate, Chambers will be challenging his former employer with a startup that’s coming out of stealth mode on Wednesday.
Nile is the new company founded by ex-Cisco development chief Pankaj Patel and Chambers. Both executives have worked together for nearly 25 years developing some of the most significant innovations in the network and communications industries.
“We are very different,” Chambers said in an interview with CNBC. “We truly align to the number of users on a network. In a building, if there are 250 or 300 users on a given day, we only charge them for the number of people who are using it.”
Patel says Nile’s services-only offering will save clients 30% to 50% at each location where it’s deployed.
According to Chambers and Patel so far, no company has developed the wireless technology needed to meet today’s working space changing needs, where multiple devices, hybrid work and security threats are changing the landscape.
Nile raised $125 million in four years. Investors include March Capital, 8VC and Iconiq Capital and Chambers’ JC2 Ventures.
