Today we announced our Series C financing and our nationwide edge colocation business we call Kinetic Edge. Vapor IO now has the funding to deploy Kinetic Edge data centers in every major US metro area and we have plans to be underway in 100 locations by the end of 2020.

The Kinetic Edge is the foundation of the next generation internet. While we didn’t have a name for it at the time, it’s the reason Vapor IO was founded. By deploying a nationwide network of edge data centers as close as possible to the wireless base stations, Vapor IO is bringing the power of the cloud to the network edge to make edge-native applications such as AR/VR and high-performance autonomous vehicles not just possible, but practical, for millions of users.

As defined in the Open Glossary of Edge Computing, Infrastructure edge computing is an architecture for edge computing which uses many micro data centers deployed throughout a metro area. The Kinetic Edge pioneers this approach with proprietary and advanced technologies created by Vapor IO, designed and purpose built for the edge. The Vapor Chamber and Vapor Edge Module, powerful micro data centers that are expertly created for deployment at the edge and managed by Synse APIs and software.

Beginning in Chicago, Vapor IO is deploying Kinetic Edge sites across the United States, with plans to have over 100 sites in 20 major metropolitan areas underway by the end of 2020. The rapid deployment of the Kinetic Edge will create many Kinetic Edge cities, each of which will support the growth of the local high-tech economy and provide the best possible experience for their population.

In addition, the Kinetic Edge allows a wider range of business models for everyone from cloud operators, CDN operators, wireless network carriers and application developers. The Kinetic Edge infrastructure can provide the computing, storage and networking resources needed to support all of these applications, even powering the core network infrastructure of the upcoming superfast 5G wireless networks, which are being deployed now.

Through a partnership with Crown Castle, Kinetic Edge sites are interconnected with a mesh of high-speed fiber for redundant network connectivity. Multiple Kinetic Edge sites within a city area allow the Kinetic Edge to achieve twelve nines of reliability, allowing it to provide an incredible 99.9999999999% uptime which far exceeds that of a large traditional data center.

To find out more about the Kinetic Edge, check out https://www.vapor.io/