Don Duet, former head of the Goldman Sachs technology division, joins Vapor IO to help lead the next industry transformation around edge computing with Project Volutus

Austin, Texas – June 21, 2017 – Vapor IO, the next generation platform for edge clouds, today announced the appointment of Don Duet to the position of president and chief operating officer. Duet’s experience will help guide the company’s expansion of Project Volutus, a “data center as a platform” service which places thousands of micro data centers at the base of cell towers to enable cloud-based edge computing applications, including autonomous driving, augmented and virtual reality, IoT, and wireless 5G services.

“Project Volutus and Vapor Edge Computing represent the next frontier of cloud, and we couldn’t have found a better person than Don Duet to help lead the charge,” said Cole Crawford, founder and CEO of Vapor IO. “Don deeply understands low-latency edge computing and has been part of some of the most complex data centers in the world. He brings to Vapor IO a world-class level of operational excellence, a deep understanding of data center infrastructure, and a proven track record for innovation at scale. These traits make him a perfect fit for Vapor IO, and I’m excited to have him on board as we build out our vision for cloud services at the true edge of the wireless network.”

Prior to joining Vapor IO, Duet served as head of the Global Technology Division at Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. He joined Goldman Sachs’ New York office in 1988, serving in a number of positions within the Technology Division prior to assuming leadership positions in London, Frankfurt and Tokyo. He served as the Chief Information Officer for Goldman Sachs Asia from 2001 to 2006 and was named its Managing Director in 2000 and Partner in 2006. Duet holds a B.S. in Computer Science and Mathematics from Marist College.

“Vapor IO, and its just announced Project Volutus, will extend the cloud by placing thousands of micro data centers at the edge of the wireless network,” said Duet. “By combining Vapor IO’s hardware and software with its partners’ nationwide networks of cell towers and metro fiber, Project Volutus will create massive innovation in the cloud ecosystem. I’m looking forward to ushering in this next generation of edge services, from 5G wireless to autonomous driving. Vapor IO gives me an opportunity to work alongside startup entrepreneurs where I can leverage my expertise in creating critical, real time systems and architectures that I’ve obtained through my career in enterprise technology.”

As the world moves toward augmented and virtual reality, 5G wireless, autonomous driving, smart cities and IoT, thousands of micro data centers must be built at the farthest edge of the wireless network, bringing cloud computing closer to the devices and data. Vapor IO and its partners in Project Volutus are building a nationwide collection of data center facilities at the base of cell towers, woven into the urban infrastructure, one hop away from the wireless network. By seamlessly extending centralized data centers with a software-defined platform for orchestrating and managing thousands of highly-distributed data centers, Vapor IO is providing the industry’s first intelligent, “data center as a platform” edge solution. The launch of Project Volutus pushes the industry forward by enabling a new class of highly-distributed, low-latency applications, bringing Vapor Edge Computing to market and creating an entirely new way to approach cloud computing.

Additional information about Project Volutus can be found in today’s announcement here.

Supporting Resources

• From the blog: Project Volutus: Extending the Cloud to the True Edge
• Related press release: Vapor IO Announces Project Volutus
• Twitter
• Blog
• LinkedIn

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.

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Media contact:

Eleni Laughlin
Mindshare PR
eleni@mindsharepr.com
(510) 406-0798

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
• Twitter
• Blog
• LinkedIn

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

Company introduces end-to-end platform for operators building out edge environments to support emerging applications such as IoT, AR/VR, autonomous driving and high speed mobile apps

Vapor IO, the next generation platform for hybrid and edge clouds, today announced Vapor Edge, a complete end-to-end platform for building out IoT and edge environments. Entering the new age of computing, where infrastructure is driven by data, Vapor IO is working with cloud operators, telcos, real estate holding companies and some of the world’s most innovative enterprises to build out the next generation cloud with Vapor Edge.

“The cloud as we know it is changing,” said Cole Crawford, co-founder and CEO of Vapor IO. “For the last decade, it’s been dominated by large, centralized data centers. But there is an emerging class of applications—including IoT, virtual and augmented reality, and mobile apps—where centralized data centers simply won’t work because compute, storage and network capacity must be near the application or device. With Vapor Edge, we’re paving the way for a truly decentralized data center and enabling cloud computing at the edge.”

Putting Compute Capacity at the Edge of the Network

By putting cloud capabilities at the edge of the network, Vapor Edge substantially speeds up interactions, removing latency and reducing network and compute load back to centralized data centers. Vapor Edge can process vast amounts of data locally, efficiently sharing only the most important results with centralized servers. For low latency applications, such as autonomous driving and virtual reality, Vapor Edge makes it possible to operate at scale, as each micro-datacenter on the edge can respond to nearby devices in microseconds.

Vapor Edge allows operators to construct highly-automated command-and-control policies for optimizing workloads in edge environments, evaluating key parameters including latency, cost, security and privacy, then making real-time optimization decisions, including rescheduling workloads onto different machines, onto different edge nodes or onto different centralized or regional data centers.

“Vapor is taking a very sophisticated approach to enabling edge networks,” said Corey Bell, CEO of the Open Compute Project. “They are connecting to the underlying hardware in new ways to solve key challenges, such as remote operation and workload migration. This has always been a vision shared by the Open Compute Project and we are excited to see Open Compute hardware play a vital role in making edge computing practical, as customers deploy OCP accepted and inspired hardware in Vapor Edge environments.”

Vapor Edge Components

Vapor Edge consists of specialized software for remote operation and workload management, as well as patented hardware designs which are optimized for edge environments and manufactured by partners under license. Included are:

• Vapor CORE: Operators use Vapor CORE software to remotely monitor and administer their Vapor Edge environments. Vapor CORE spans all of the centralized data center and edge machines, ingests hardware telemetry in real time, and provides operators with a way to remotely view and manage their edge capabilities.
• Vapor Compass: Operators use Vapor Compass software to build highly-automated command-and-control policies for managing workloads in distributed edge environments. Vapor Compass makes real-time optimization decisions, including rescheduling workloads onto edge nodes or centralized data centers, based on policies, including latency and cost.
• Vapor Chamber: Optionally, operators use Vapor Chamber designs to build out the physical environment for Vapor Edge. The Vapor Chamber is a revolutionary circular racking system for servers, designed by Vapor IO, which is licensed to manufacturers who sell and distribute the system. The Vapor Chamber is tightly integrated with Vapor Edge software, and is ideal for use in more hostile edge environments, such as in cell towers and on rooftops. It is self-contained, extremely energy efficient and well-suited for remote operation. Customers can also retrofit existing equipment into a Vapor Edge environment, with or without Vapor Chambers.

Vapor IO’s software is built atop the Open Data Center Runtime Environment (OpenDCRE), an open source protocol created by Vapor IO for monitoring and responding to data center hardware, software and environmental characteristics in hybrid and edge environments. Vapor Edge integrates with public clouds, such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, as well as popular private clouds, such as OpenStack and VMware Vsphere, as well as with modern container-driven systems, such as Mesosphere’s DC/OS and the Cloud Native Computing Foundation’s Kubernetes.

First Deployments

One of the first deployments of Vapor Edge will be with Centrepointe, a data center company located in the Czech Republic, which has entered into an agreement to purchase Vapor Edge technologies from Vapor IO and has partnered with Vapor IO to build out a 200-megawatt data center locally, called DataHub Verne. DataHub Verne will be one of the most modern, green and efficient data centers built to-date, and will provide low-latency edge capabilities to Prague, Frankfurt and the surrounding areas.

“With the Vapor IO technology and the Vapor Edge software, we’re able to build out and operate one of the most sophisticated data centers in the world, with edge capabilities to Prague and Frankfurt,” said John Stotter, CEO of Centrepoint. “DataHub Verne, our data center being built around Vapor IO technology, will be a state-of-the-art 150MW data center with modern edge capabilities. It will operate more efficiently than a typical facility of its size, and will cost 20-30% less to build.”

Product Information and Availability

Vapor Edge is available today for deployments in 2017. For more information on Vapor Edge, as well as to learn more about how Vapor IO is providing the next generation platform for hybrid and edge clouds, please visit http://www.vapor.io or email info@vapor.io.

Supporting Resources

• Twitter
• Blog
• LinkedIn

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 hybrid and edge cloud. For additional information, please visit www.vapor.io.