Epsagon
Epsagon was an Israeli observability startup that developed an automated distributed tracing and monitoring platform for cloud-native and serverless applications, enabling developers to visualize, troubleshoot, and optimize microservices architectures in real time.
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Epsagon built an automated distributed tracing platform that provided end-to-end visibility into cloud-native, serverless, and microservices-based applications. The platform automatically instrumented applications to trace requests across services, functions, and APIs—generating visual service maps, identifying performance bottlenecks, and detecting errors without requiring manual code instrumentation or configuration.
Commercially, Epsagon competed in the observability and distributed tracing market alongside Lightstep (acquired by ServiceNow), Jaeger (open source), and established APM vendors like Datadog and New Relic. Founded in 2018 in Tel Aviv by Nitzan Shapira (CEO) and Ran Ribenzaft (CTO), both former IDF intelligence unit veterans, the company raised approximately $12M from investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, StageOne Ventures, and US Venture Partners. In 2022, Cisco acquired Epsagon to enhance its observability portfolio alongside AppDynamics and ThousandEyes.
From a defense and national security perspective, distributed tracing and automated observability for cloud-native applications is directly relevant as military systems migrate to microservices and cloud architectures. The ability to trace requests across distributed defense applications, identify performance issues, and detect anomalous behavior supports defense cloud modernization and DevSecOps initiatives.
Dual-Use Assessment
Distributed tracing for cloud-native applications supports defense cloud modernization as military systems migrate to microservices architectures. Automated observability enables defense DevSecOps and operational monitoring of distributed military applications.
Key Technologies
- Automated distributed tracing for microservices
- Serverless function monitoring and performance analysis
- Visual service map generation for application topology
- Auto-instrumentation without manual code changes
- Cross-service request tracing and latency analysis
- Error detection and root cause identification in distributed systems
Use Cases & Applications
- Cloud-native application distributed tracing
- Serverless function monitoring and optimization
- Microservices performance troubleshooting
- Application topology visualization and dependency mapping
- Defense cloud-native application monitoring (dual-use)
- Military DevSecOps observability and troubleshooting (dual-use)
Strategic Value to U.S.-Israel Alliance
Defense cloud modernization requires observability for distributed military applications. Automated tracing and monitoring supports the migration of defense systems to cloud-native architectures mandated by military digital transformation initiatives.
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