When I explain Proxylity to people, I often get the feedback that it is an "interesting niche." I love this response because it is absolutely true. Serverless UDP is a niche that isn't being served by any of the major cloud providers. It's a space with demanding requirements for price, performance, security, and reliability. And yes, compared to the vast ecosystems of TCP and HTTP, it is undeniably niche.
But that's precisely the point.
The Power of Focused Innovation
The history of technology is full of companies that began by solving specific problems extremely well before expanding to broader solutions. Amazon started with books. Facebook began as a college social network. Even AWS initially offered just S3 and EC2. Focusing on a well-defined problem space allows for depth of innovation that wouldn't be possible with a broader approach.
UDP Gateway isn't trying to be everything to everyone. It's built to solve a specific set of problems for a specific set of users who have been historically underserved by cloud providers.
The best innovations don't try to boil the ocean. They solve one important problem exceptionally well.
Why We're Focused on UDP
There are four key reasons we've chosen this focus:
First, deep domain expertise. I've spent years working on network services, watching teams struggle with slow development cycles and antiquated software. I've seen firsthand how difficult it is to drive innovation when updates, patches, and limited server software get in the way of building what customers want. This isn't abstract -- it's a problem I've lived.
Second, genuine market pull. Without real demand, building a sustainable business is nearly impossible. Yes, the comparative scope may be narrower than HTTP, but the need is intense. When engineers responsible for DNS, RADIUS, NTP, syslog, and other UDP services discover what we're building, their reaction is often: "I've been waiting for something like this for years."
Third, perfect timing. Few people are explicitly working on UDP platforms, and even fewer are approaching it from a serverless perspective. This gives Proxylity a unique opportunity to lead in this space and set standards for how serverless UDP services should be built and operated. Technologies like HTTP/3 and QUIC are already demonstrating that UDP isn't just a niche but a foundational technology for the future of networking. Simultaneously, advancements in AI development tools are making customizable platforms more compelling than ever.
Fourth, this is just the beginning. Proxylity isn't only about UDP. Building UDP Gateway is a step toward revolutionizing network service development more broadly. The knowledge and patterns we're establishing will carry forward to all message-oriented network protocols when the time comes.
The Strategic Advantage of Being Niche
Being niche has distinct advantages:
We can provide specialized, targeted solutions that larger providers can't justify building. While AWS, GCP, and Azure focus on general-purpose tools with broad appeal, we can optimize exclusively for UDP and the particular workloads it serves.
We can move faster. Our entire product roadmap is oriented around making UDP protocols serverless, not spread across dozens of competing priorities. This focus translates to innovation velocity that larger competitors can't match in this specific area.
We can build deeper relationships with our users. Because we're focused on specific use cases, we understand the challenges and requirements in a way that general cloud providers simply cannot. Our support isn't generic -- it's informed by real experience with the same protocols our customers are using.
From Niche to Network Innovation
While our starting point is UDP, our vision extends beyond it. The frameworks and patterns we're establishing apply to message-oriented protocols more broadly. The lessons from making UDP serverless will inform how we approach other protocols in the future.
If there's one thing that cloud computing has taught us, it's that abstracting away infrastructure complexity allows developers to focus on business logic rather than undifferentiated heavy lifting. That principle doesn't stop at HTTP -- it applies to every protocol.
This niche is ultimately about removing obstacles to innovation. It's about helping people experiment with new ideas and build the future of network services without being constrained by the limitations of traditional server-based architectures.
Embracing Our Niche
So yes, UDP is a niche compared to HTTP and TCP. We're not only comfortable with that fact -- we embrace it. It's precisely because UDP has been treated as a second-class citizen in cloud computing that there's such a compelling opportunity to innovate here.
When people say Proxylity serves an "interesting niche," I hear confirmation that we're working on something meaningful -- a genuine gap in the market where we can deliver exceptional value. And that's exactly where a technology company should be.
We're starting with DNS, RADIUS, syslog, NTP, and other UDP services because they have been neglected in the serverless revolution. But the principles and patterns we're establishing will extend far beyond these initial use cases.
Sometimes, the most powerful way to change an industry isn't to attack it head-on but to start at its edges and work your way in. That's exactly what we're doing at Proxylity.