# Avi Freedman

> Avi Freedman is Kentik’s co-founder and CEO, a network engineer and entrepreneur who started Philadelphia’s first ISP, Netaxs, in 1992. He later ran engineering at AboveNet, held network leadership roles at Akamai and served as ServerCentral’s CTO. His technical tutorials, personal blog and Network AF podcast document the practical work of building and understanding networks. Kentik became part of Infoblox in August 2026.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Kentik
- **Organizations:** Kentik, Netaxs, AboveNet, Akamai Technologies, ServerCentral
- **From:** Philadelphia, United States
- **Education:** Temple University
- **Known for:** Founded Philadelphia’s first ISP in 1992., Led network engineering at AboveNet and held senior network roles at Akamai., Co-founded Kentik in 2014 and led it through its August 2026 acquisition by Infoblox.

## Career timeline

- **1978** — Began learning programming at age eight; an uncle gave him a BASIC book, and Steve Robinson became a Unix mentor.
- **1992** — Started Netaxs, Philadelphia’s first ISP.
- **1998–1999** — Ran engineering at AboveNet.
- **1999–2009** — Held roles at Akamai including VP Network, Chief Network Architect and Chief Network Scientist.
- **2009–2014** — CTO at ServerCentral.
- **2014** — Co-founded CloudHelix, subsequently renamed Kentik, with Ian Applegate, Ian Pye and Justin Biegel.
- **2015** — Announced Kentik Detect’s public launch and a $12.1 million Series A on June 30.
- **2021–2022** — Hosted Network AF conversations with network engineers and infrastructure founders.
- **2026** — Kentik’s acquisition by Infoblox closed on August 6.

## Achievements

- Founded Philadelphia’s first ISP in 1992.
- Led network engineering at AboveNet and held senior network roles at Akamai.
- Co-founded Kentik in 2014 and led it through its August 2026 acquisition by Infoblox.
- Published internet routing tutorials and technical articles beginning in the mid-1990s.
- Hosted Network AF, including conversations with Jay Adelson, Doug Madory, Grant Kirkwood and Ilissa Miller.

## Latest updates

- **2026-08** — Infoblox completed its acquisition of Kentik on August 6.
- **2026-08** — Appeared on Tech Talks Daily on August 10 to discuss networks and AI infrastructure.
- **2026-07** — Published Kentik Is Joining Infoblox on July 8.
- **2026-02** — Published Agentic NetOps: How to beat the cloud monsters at their own game on February 6.

## Links

- Website: http://avi.net/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/avifreedman
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/avifreedman
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/avifreedman

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/avi-freedman
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-25