The Scoop
SolarWinds is eyeing double-digit revenue growth in the Gulf as the Texas-based IT software company rebuilds following a cyberattack in 2020. More than 80% of government entities in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar already use its software, and the now privately held company aims to accelerate the rollout of new tools for the artificial intelligence age, SolarWinds’ chief technology officer told Semafor.
SolarWinds’ revenue flatlined after the 2020 hack, and as of 2024, revenue is still below a 2020 peak. AI has created a compelling path forward, Krishna Sai said.
Meanwhile, the Gulf has been one of the company’s fastest-growing regions since it opened an office in Dubai in 2022, he said.
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The Gulf is pouring tens of billions of dollars into developing technology, moving government services online, and rapidly expanding e-commerce. This year the IMF said the region has narrowed its gap with developed economies in the digitalization race. Saudi Arabia and the UAE in particular are leaning into the AI wave.
SolarWinds is accelerating its development of agentic artificial intelligence software after it was acquired by California private equity firm Turn/River in a deal valued at $4.4 billion. Products will be introduced faster as a result of the deal, according to Sai: “This is the most excited I’ve been about software development in a long time.”
“We used to joke that you lift the cover on AI and it’s just a bunch of if-then statements,” Sai said, referring to the over-use of the term to describe basic algorithmic functions. But agentic AI is “a mind shift,” representing a different way of developing software and building systems that employ reasoning and memory to solve problems without a human in the mix.
The company sells software subscriptions to 300,000 customers, including to government agencies and nearly all the Fortune 500, to help them avoid IT disruptions. SolarWinds’ tools can observe and monitor all applications and networks a customer is using — a number that can climb into the hundreds — flag problems, and fix issues.
Increasingly, issues will be fixed automatically with agentic AI, Sai said, as SolarWinds aims to evolve from offering diagnosis to providing an automated solution.
Notable
- Microsoft helped kick off the AI boom. It needs humans more than ever, its CEO tells Semafor.
- NPR dug into how a routine software update created a ‘worst nightmare’ cyberattack.