New initiative utilizes Vapor Edge Computing to deliver co-location and data center as a platform services at the base of cell towers, accelerating the delivery of emerging edge applications including IoT, autonomous driving, decentralized machine learning, AR/VR and 5G wireless
Austin, TX – June 21, 2017 – Vapor IO, the next generation platform for edge clouds, today announced Project Volutus, which enables cloud providers, wireless carriers and web-scale companies to deliver cloud-based edge computing applications via a network of micro data centers deployed at the base of cell tower sites. The company also announced today that Crown Castle, the nation’s largest provider of shared wireless infrastructure, has made a minority investment in Vapor IO to accelerate the project’s development and deployment.
Project Volutus is a co-location and “data center as a platform” service, powered by Vapor Edge Computing. Project Volutus offers fully-managed micro data centers at the base of cell towers, literally at the true edge of the wireless network. It combines Vapor IO’s patent pending hardware and software technology with the nation’s extensive network of cell towers and dense metro fiber to build and operate self-driving, distributed edge data centers in major metropolitan locations.
“Zettabytes of machine to machine communication and new application types will require a shift in how the industry thinks about data centricity and the delivery of edge services,” said Cole Crawford, CEO and founder of Vapor IO. “Project Volutus is the most cost-effective way to deliver cloud applications that benefit from last mile wireless proximity and sub 10-millisecond round trip latency. By locating Vapor IO’s technology at tower locations and connecting to dense metro fiber, we will provide the fastest, most economical way for cloud providers, telecom carriers and web-scale companies to deliver next generation edge services in every major US city.”
In addition to supporting traditional cloud applications, Project Volutus allows carriers to incorporate virtual Radio Access Networks, including those based on Intel Corporation’s FlexRAN reference design, for speed and scale when upgrading their networks. By cross-connecting the radio network directly to edge services and the internet, Project Volutus eliminates multiple network hops and facilitates a new breed of low-latency edge applications.
Project Volutus: The Dawn of Vapor Edge Computing
Using a retail co-location model, Project Volutus offers carrier and cloud-neutral micro data centers at the edge of the wireless network, giving cloud providers, web-scale companies and mobile network operators the power, rack space, network capacity and remote hands they need to scale high performance services and applications quickly to thousands of locations.
“Edge computing will be a key enabler of the applications everyone is talking about, including autonomous driving, IoT, augmented and virtual reality, and 5G,” said Phil Kelley, senior vice president of corporate development and strategy for Crown Castle. “We believe our unique asset mix of approximately 40,000 tower locations and large metro fiber footprint is ideally positioned for a successful Volutus deployment.”
Project Volutus utilizes Vapor IO’s Vapor Chamber, the world’s first energy-efficient rack and enclosure system designed for edge environments. The Vapor Chamber is manufactured in partnership with Flex, the Sketch-to-Scale™ solutions provider that designs and builds Intelligent Products for a Connected World™. Native support for Intel Corporation’s FlexRAN reference design provides versatility plus scale, making it possible to upgrade carrier networks cost-effectively while bridging cloud and mobile data with unprecedented ease.
Project Volutus also utilizes Vapor IO software (which is based upon OpenDCRE, the open source telemetry system for remote monitoring and operations), as well as Vapor IO’s commercial packages (Vapor CORE and Vapor Compass) delivered as a managed service. This allows Project Volutus operations teams, as well as Project Volutus customers, to manage thousands of ‘lights out’ Vapor Edge Computing locations from remote operations centers.
Project Volutus allows for any cloud native stack to exist at the very edge of the network, making it easy to deploy applications at scale across thousands of micro data centers, weaving massive amounts of compute and cloud directly into the urban fabric.
Data Center as a Platform
Project Volutus combines edge co-location with remote operations, intelligent cross-connects to wireless networks, and direct fiber routes to regional data centers and peering interconnects. It provides unique point-to-point, multi-point and mesh tower-to-tower connections, bypassing the multi-hop high-latency backhaul of the legacy wireless networks and delivering low millisecond round trips.
With Project Volutus, operators can automate their infrastructure and make real time workload decisions based on actual tower conditions, including latency and radio frequency congestion, as well as optimize network handoff and offload. Project Volutus offers direct fiber connections to cloud provider data centers, regional interconnect points and custom facilities.
Don Duet to Join Vapor IO
Vapor IO also announced today that Don Duet, former partner, managing director and head of the technology division at Goldman Sachs, has joined as President and Chief Operating Officer. Duet’s extensive experience will help guide the company’s expansion of Project Volutus. More on this announcement can be found here.
Ecosystem Partner Quotes
- “Intel’s FlexRAN and Multi-access Edge Compute (MEC) software libraries provide an agile virtualized radio access network (vRAN) reference design that is an ideal foundation platform for Project Volutus. Intel’s FlexRAN reference design for virtual or Cloud RAN provides a vision that maximizes flexibility with programmable processors and FPGAs, enabling scaling for capacity and versatility for applications. By collaborating with wireless carriers and telecom equipment manufacturers running vRAN and MEC in Vapor Edge Computing locations, we can bring the network closer to the mobile user. This will reduce network congestion by optimizing traffic flow between the core and the edge and create cost savings through the use of standard, high volume Intel® architecture servers.” – Caroline Chan, VP of 5G Infrastructure Division of Intel
- “Flex has been designing and manufacturing critical elements of the telecommunications infrastructure for over 20 years and we’re proud to be Vapor IO’s manufacturing partner for the Vapor Chamber. The unique cylindrical configuration of the Vapor Chamber can facilitate the rapid growth of edge cloud deployments at the base of cell towers. Our platform services and global reach are uniquely capable of accelerating the deployment of Vapor Chambers in the field, and we look forward to Project Volutus expanding its footprint nationwide.” – Chris Winslow, senior vice president, Communications & Enterprise Compute, Flex
- “Edge computing represents one of the unsolved areas of public cloud. Project Volutus with Vapor Edge Computing is the kind of physical platform innovation that is needed to solve the problem of latency specific computing. We’re excited to work with Vapor IO and Project Volutus to bring last mile edge computing to wireless networks.” – Zachary Smith, CEO and co-founder of Packet
- “Project Volutus will be using Open19 to revolutionize the way edge data centers are built and serviced. By leveraging the Open19 platform, small micro data centers can deploy the mega data center technology. Volutus field technicians can snap together data centers using interchangeable parts, making it possible for them to build and operate thousands of edge data centers at the base of cell towers with the same kinds of efficiencies that we see in mega data centers today.” – Yuval Bachar, founder of the Open19 Foundation and principal engineer, Global Infrastructure Architecture and Strategy at LinkedIn
First Deployments Roll Out Second Half 2017
Project Volutus will be available for early access in Q3 and multi-city rollouts are targeted to begin later in the year. To request a free consultation and early access, contact info@volutus.io or visit www.volutus.io.
Supporting Resources
- From the blog: Project Volutus: Extending the Cloud to the True Edge
- From the blog: Introducing Vapor Edge
- Related press release: Don Duet joins Vapor IO
- Blog
About Vapor IO
Vapor IO is building the cloud of the future. Working with cloud operators, telcos, real estate holding companies and the world’s most innovative enterprises, Vapor is enabling the next generation edge cloud. For additional information, please visit www.vapor.io.
###
Media contact:
Eleni Laughlin
Mindshare PR
eleni@mindsharepr.com
(510) 406-0798
