Andrill announced its ninth acquisition on Monday, purchasing KLAS from Dublin, the manufacturer of rugged edge computing equipment for military and first responders.
Andrill will not reveal any financial details of the transaction. The purchase will be subject to regulatory approval, but the company said KLAS employs 150 people.
Relatedly, on Monday, Anduril also announced a new product called Menace-T.
I'll give the company some interesting product names, especially devices that are actually a computing/network connection bundle rather than a fantasy style broadsword. (Compare the name Threat to Lockheed Martin's C2BMC, the name of its command, control, combat management and communications product.)
Klas' flagship product known as Voyager is a robust family of computing and networking systems Anduril already used in other Menace Command Center products. Voyager was already integrated with Anduril's flagship lattice software. Lattice brings sensors and AI to devices, performing tasks such as object identification.
But while most of us imagine a portable command system, the size of a truck, the Menace-T fits two carry-on cases that one person can set up in minutes, the company says. Its goal is to bring edge computing and communication to off-grid and/or unpopular environments. Andrill says it is already in use on military vehicles and sea boats.
One interesting use case for Menace-T is the computing/communication support for the military's integrated visual augmentation system (IVAS) VR headset. The IVAS project was originally awarded to Microsoft in 2018 after pitching the idea of developing a sturdy Hollolen headset for soldiers. The project was awarded the first $21.9 billion budget.
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However, after years of technical struggle, Andrill controlled the troubled contract in February, but Microsoft remains a cloud partner.
The grid has already been added to Microsoft's IVAS headset, bringing computer vision AI to help the headset detect, track and classify objects.
Now, Anduril believes that the KLAS technology that powers its threat-T products can solve some of IVAS's other historical issues, such as reliable data processing.
“There are scenarios where these soldiers need to communicate with the tactical edge to receive autonomous systems to send data and receive data, and that's where KLAS technology comes in handy,” Engineering SVP Tom Keene said at a press conference. “KLAS has been supplying technology to the IVA for several years in that context, so we hope to do more there.”
Beyond Andrill's military goals, there are many other computer vision situations that are not practical until more powerful edge computing is available. This ranges from automobiles to industrial and pollution monitoring.
Anduril focuses on military and related fields like law enforcement when solving the IVA edge computing problem, but on all rhetoric that means all rhetoric, at least there is at least a lot of commercial potential for technology. Andrill doesn't rule out pursuing them one day.
“KLAS technology and products have many use cases, including military, national security, law enforcement, autonomy, and more. Anduril continues to support its customers with partners. [with] Keene told TechCrunch.