Google will reportedly retain an undisclosed stake in Aalyria, as it looks to revolutionize the telecom space.
Google LLC (NASDAQ: GOOGL) has unveiled a new project called Aalyria, which seeks to radically enhance the telecom space. According to the American multinational tech company, Aalyria is an attempt to improve satellite communications across the board. In addition, Google’s latest telecom endeavor will also reportedly improve Wi-Fi on aircraft and vessels, as well as cellular connectivity. Codenamed “Minkowski” while in development, the Aalyria software establishes high-speed communications networks that travel between land and space.
Besides declaring its mission to manage extremely fast and secure complex telecom networks, Google remains tight-lipped on Aalyria. For instance, the tech giant declined to provide further insight into the working duration of the technology or the number of staff joining the startup. Nonetheless, Google emphasizes the scale and speed of its laser communications technology as surpassing “anything that exists today”. Furthermore, reports also state that Aalyria’s software platform is already used in numerous Google telecom-driven aerospace networking projects.
The Aalyria project reported that it has a commercial contract, valued at $8.7 million, with the US Defense Innovation Unit. Furthermore, leading the telecom-focused company as Chief Executive Officer will be Chris Taylor, who is a national security expert. Taylor has reportedly led other companies that have worked with the government.
Several former Google employees and executives are serving on Aalyria’s board of advisors. One of them is Google’s chief internet evangelist, Vint Cerf, credited as a prime mover of the web.
Google will retain a minority stake in Aalyria, although the company chose not to reveal the exact value. Also, Google opted to remain mum on the value of outside funding raised by Aalyria.
Google Aalyria Project Comes Amid Broader Alphabet Business Juggle Including Ad Slowdowns, Lucrative Government Projects
Aalyria comes to the fore even as Google parent Alphabet contends with a slowdown in ad spending. As a result, the tech conglomerate holding company is contemplating which experimental projects to advance or wind down. For the long-incubated projects that the company chooses to advance, it has sought external funding.
Alphabet has also been actively seeking more lucrative government contracts for a while now. In fact, earlier in the year, the tech holding company announced “Google Public Sector”, which is a new subsidiary tailored to US government partnerships. For this, Google primarily uses its Cloud-based services across a range of US public sector institutions to accelerate their digital transformations. These public sectors include federal, state, and local governments, as well as educational institutions. Part of a press release by Google in late June read:
“Google Public Sector will provide unique products and expertise, such as Google Cloud’s data and analytics platform, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML) tools, so institutions can better understand their data and automate core processes.”
Google also specified that it would offer its Cloud’s “highly scalable and reliable open infrastructure” so that government agencies can modernize their procedures. The release specified infrastructure such as computing, storage, and networking, to also help design and launch new applications. The aim is for these applications to properly serve tailored needs with scalability and reliability as key features.
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