New Tech Enables Compute at the Edge of the World

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Since the advent of computers, we’ve been trying to find a way beyond their inherent limitations, past the edge.

When on-prem data centers ran out of space or budget, we pushed to the cloud. When Internet connectivity needed to extend beyond dial-up, we pushed onto fiber and then high-speed satellite connections.

Today, industries and governments looking to extend their compute power can literally truck it in to almost anywhere on earth; at least that’s what Armada is doing. These capabilities were on display Monday afternoon in Sacramento during a brief exhibition.

With equal measures of preparation and logistics, the edge computing company can deliver an operational data center to any environment: deserts, oceans, even the arctic, said CEO Dan Wright.

The fire agency looking to accelerate its real-time drone footage from a rapidly evolving wildfire, or the oil rig that needs to process its IoT data faster than cloud uploads could ever allow are perfect examples of Armada clientele.

Wright said the technology disrupts the old way of collecting mission-critical data in remote or otherwise inaccessible areas, sending it through the cloud for processing and then waiting for it to come back for operational decision-making purposes.

“You can't wait hours or days for that data to come back,” he said during the exhibition of the company’s 20-foot Galleon model.

Perhaps one of the more interesting things about the company’s technology is that its 20-foot Cruiser and 40-foot Triton units are fully self-contained, meaning no external air or water cooling is needed for operation. Its larger megawatt-scale Leviathan does need external water for cooling.

“We have built these things to be just like plug-and-play wherever you need them, and built them to last for decades with very little maintenance,” Wright said.

“These don't use any external water; they use stranded power, so you don't have to use any power from the grid. You can deploy them anywhere,” he added.

The CEO explained that the company sees a lot of customers in industrial sectors as well as state and federal government partners. The ones he could talk about include the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the state of Alaska, and the U.S. Navy.

Wright is also hopeful his company’s technology will also help the U.S. navigate the broader conversations happening about hyperscale data centers which have drawn a lot of criticism over their significant use of water and power.

“It’s like, how do we not lose this AI race against China and all these other countries, help the U.S. win, create jobs, benefit our economy, benefit national security, but address some of the concerns that we have? This is a good way to do it,” he said.

Layered on top of the physical infrastructure is the company’s operational intelligence platform, Atlas, which allows customers to monitor and manage the units and the technologies they support.

The Armada team explained that the units are meant to be upgraded as rack and chip technology changes for optimal performance. Partnerships with industry giants such as Nvidia, Microsoft, Dell, SpaceX and Palantir have been essential to staying on top of the latest technology and capabilities, Wright noted.

As far as lead time, Wright said mobile units can be deployed in as little as six days, and units needed for disaster response or national security applications are prioritized.