Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince believes that giving businesses the option to choose elements they like from multiple cloud providers such as AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud can lead to better overall performance. Prince co-founded Cloudflare in 2009, which has since expanded from being a content delivery network (CDN) service provider to an all-round IT service management company. Today, it boasts nearly a third of the Fortune 500 as customers, with 18 of the 20 largest companies on Earth relying on its network. Prince says that Cloudflare started with the idea of a network that connects things, thus making it easy to remain an independent and neutral party while offering clients a means of “using a little bit of all these different services.”
Cloudflare initially aimed to help small businesses and developers, but Prince admits that the platform quickly attracted larger organizations with significant security issues. They ranged from human rights organizations to organizations in the civil society sector. With this demand, Cloudflare scaled up all aspects of its business from cloud cybersecurity to DDoS mitigation, through both extensive product development and acquisitions. Prince identifies AWS as a competitor, predicting that the two companies will end up competing even more in the future.
Cloudflare uses AI and machine learning to identify security threats and stop attacks. The platform also offers a smart alternative to CAPTCHA, called Cloudflare Turnstile, providing the same level of security without the frustrating user experience for consumers. One of the key concerns for businesses using cloud storage is the strain of bandwidth pricing which can restrict innovation. Bandwidth-egress fees limit how businesses use cloud computing or move data to and from different cloud vendors. Prince believes that businesses deserve choice and fair pricing, and that they should not need to be locked into one expensive software service or network provider.
