Tag Archive for: jarvis

VIA’s Joe Babiec and Advisor General Tom Blackstock Participate in 3-Day JETC Conference

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VIA was proud to participate in this year’s JETC Conference. This is the first time the conference has been in person in three years, with over 2,000 attendees participating.

To kick off the event, VIA’s SVP, Strategic Initiatives, Joe Babiec and Advisor, General Tom Blackstock, set up shop in the exhibit hall that included over 150 participating companies. The duo had excellent conversations with fellow attendees about the ways JARVIS™ supports facilities management.

A peek into VIA’s booth at JETC.

On Day 2, General Tom Blackstock moderated the panel, “SMEs in Installation Facility Management and AI” with Joe Babiec, Major General William T. Nesbitt, and Lowell Ursey, Integration Branch Chief, NDR PMO. The panel covered how to prioritize facility investments in an environment where demands on today’s military facilities are increasing and budgets to support improvements to critical infrastructure are tight.

General Tom Blackstock moderating the panel discussion (photo courtesy of JETC Conference committee).

For a full recap on the event including a fun 2-minute video, visit the JETC website.

U.S. Air Force Taps VIA for Data-Driven Infrastructure Decision-Making at Tyndall Air Force Base

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SOMERVILLE, Mass., November 4, 2021  — VIA, the leading provider of artificial intelligence (AI) for data privacy, integration, and analysis, announced today that the United States Air Force (U.S. Air Force) awarded the company a new contract with Tyndall Air Force Base (Tyndall AFB). The contract was a result of VIA participating in the Revolutionizing Flightline Operations Challenge run by the U.S. Air Force’s flagship innovation unit, AFWERX. VIA was selected out of more than 140 of the world’s leading technology providers and innovators competing in the same challenge category.

Expanding VIA’s partnership with the U.S. Air Force, the contract highlights the increasing demand for VIA’s AI for infrastructure application, JARVIS™. In the past year, JARVIS has supported over $200M in infrastructure maintenance and repair decisions at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. Tyndall AFB, located near Panama City, Florida, will immediately begin using VIA’s fast, secure, and intuitive JARVIS application to improve airfield maintenance and repair.  

Tyndall AFB is the lead facility for the Air Force’s Installation of the Future program. After Hurricane Michael destroyed much of the air base in 2018, Congress directed that Tyndall AFB should be rebuilt to serve as a template for refurbishing and building U.S. air bases worldwide. Under the terms of its contract with VIA, Tyndall AFB, in partnership with the U.S. Air Force Civil Engineering Center (AFCEC), will also integrate JARVIS into the overall Installation of the Future system architecture so that the application will become available across the U.S. Air Force.

Major General Kimberly Crider, a recently retired two-star general from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) who served as Chief Data Officer for the U.S. Air Force until 2020, added: “Data is essential for DOD leadership to make mission-critical decisions and ensure that installation infrastructure remains safe, mission-ready, and comfortable for all personnel. As the base of the future, Tyndall and its evaluation is a logical step along the path to adopting JARVIS enterprise-wide. A DOD-wide adoption will ensure the Air Force can effectively and efficiently sustain essential infrastructure at all of its domestic and overseas air bases for decades to come.”

VIA’s Joe Babiec presented JARVIS to the U.S. Air Force at the invitation-only AFWERX Showcase in Nevada in September 2021.

Designed by airmen for airmen, the solution solves a critical pain point for the U.S. Air Force not resolved by other analytics tools. VIA’s Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, Joe Babiec, who represented VIA in the challenge, explained: “JARVIS routinely saves Air Force civil engineers time and money. Before, they would spend days following complicated manual procedures to prepare a report for their leadership. JARVIS automates all of the Excel and data science tasks so that engineers can generate reports in minutes and with the same ease as using an application on a smartphone. Now they can focus on maintenance and repair work as they were trained, while leadership has the insights to inform strategic decisions about whether to expand, maintain, or replace billions of dollars of critical air base infrastructure.”

VIA’s technology will help Tyndall AFB commanders make faster, better, data-driven decisions about how to keep air base infrastructure safe, mission-ready, and comfortable while saving taxpayer dollars. VIA’s TAC™ platform brings speed, security, and simplicity to make JARVIS 100 times faster than any other infrastructure decision-making support system and holds the DOD’s top cybersecurity accreditation. 

Follow the latest from VIA by visiting https://www.solvewithvia.com/latest/ or on social media, including LinkedIn and @solvewithvia on Twitter and Instagram.

About VIA

90% of the world’s data is trapped. VIA makes it accessible. Trusted by leading government agencies and clean energy companies around the globe, VIA’s secure, digital collaboration platform overcomes the most common barriers to AI: lack of data, data quality issues, and data privacy concerns. By bringing AI to data 100 times faster than alternatives and with the highest level of cybersecurity, VIA’s platform is the driving force to make communities of all kinds cleaner, safer, and more equitable. VIA is headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts, with a technology center in Montreal, Quebec, and European offices in Denmark and Switzerland. For more information, please visit www.solvewithvia.com.

Trio of U.S. Army Generals Support VIA’s Critical Infrastructure AI Application

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Three retired U.S. generals join VIA as advisors to support mission of protecting critical infrastructure

SOMERVILLE, Mass., August 23, 2021 — VIA, the leading provider of AI for data privacy, data integration, and data analysis, today announced three advisors to support its mission to improve and protect critical infrastructure, such as military bases and airports. The new Department of Defense (DOD) advisors include Lieutenant General Michael Spigelmire, Major General William T. Nesbitt, and Brigadier General Thomas H. Blackstock, Jr.

“Technology is only as valuable as the problems it solves,” said Colin Gounden, CEO of VIA. “Each advisor has a track record of bringing innovation to solve complex and high-stakes problems at a regional and national scale. We’re honored that they selected VIA as the company able to address the growing critical infrastructure needs at the Department of Defense.”

Lt. Gen. Spigelmire, a retired three-star United States Army General who led the VII Corps of over 80,000 in Stuttgart, Germany, brings a background in base operations efficiency. He was the first to implement Total Quality Management (TQM) into base operations for the U.S. Army. He personally briefed over 4,000 personnel to begin the program. Under his leadership, Fort Benning was selected as the Best Installation in the DOD for several years.

Maj. Gen. Nesbitt, a retired two-star general, most recently served as adjutant general of the Georgia National Guard, where he reported to the governor and was tasked with command and control for the Georgia DOD (Georgia Army National Guard, Georgia Air National Guard, and Georgia State Defense Force). Over his 40-year career, Maj. Gen. Nesbitt was responsible for the safety and security of critical infrastructure including a role as a director of the Georgia Office of Homeland Security in 2006 and as commander of the Georgia Army National Guard. 

Brig. Gen. Blackstock, a retired one-star general and civil engineer, joins with deep expertise in infrastructure. Brig. Gen. Blackstock spent over 25 years directing installation management activities and ultimately led the largest new facility planning and design program in the history of the Georgia National Guard to upgrade critical infrastructure. Most recently, he served as director, joint staff in Marietta, Georgia.

Lt. Gen. Michael Spigelmire, Maj. Gen. William T. Nesbitt, and Brig. Gen. Thomas H. Blackstock, Jr.

“With thousands of installations and over a million soldiers, the U.S. Army is an enormous and complex organization,” Lt. Gen. Spigelmire shared. “Technologies like VIA’s are a requirement for our forces to operate with greater efficiency and improve the DOD’s mission readiness.”

Brig. Gen Blackstock added, “The infrastructure upgrades and programs I led throughout my career all required data-driven decisions. The AI in VIA’s JARVIS application allows engineers and commanders to navigate massive amounts of data across data sources that were previously siloed. Knowing the capabilities of VIA’s platform, I am committed to the benefits of saving taxpayer dollars and saving lives that the DOD will receive from improved operations.”

Maj. Gen. Nesbitt stated, “I was impressed by the value that USCENTCOM and Al Udeid Air Base were realizing from VIA’s work. Seeing the response from Army Facilities Management Officers and their senior staff to VIA’s technology convinced me of the need for JARVIS to help manage the vast DOD infrastructure.”

The addition of these three advisors complements VIA’s recent DOD-wide Platform One accreditation for JARVIS, its base operations and infrastructure application, upgrading its cybersecurity to top secret levels. With the highest levels of cybersecurity underpinning its platform, VIA delivers smarter infrastructure management through secure data analysis, predictive maintenance, and maintenance optimization for government and commercial customers.

Follow the latest from VIA by visiting https://www.solvewithvia.com/latest/ or on social @solvewithvia

About VIA

VIA is powering the clean energy revolution. Working with the world’s leading power providers, clean energy companies, and government agencies, VIA’s software overcomes the most common barriers to AI: lack of data, data quality issues, and data privacy concerns. As a result, VIA’s software accelerates the AI required for the clean energy transition. VIA also provides the bridge that enables EVs, battery storage, demand response, and distributed energy resources to be on the grid. VIA is headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts, with a technology center in Montreal, Quebec, and European offices in Denmark and Switzerland. For more information, please visit www.solvewithvia.com.

VIA Receives U.S. Department of Defense Platform One Accreditation for Blockchain Core of Base Operations and Infrastructure Application

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Company’s secure AI and data privacy protection platform upgrades to military-grade cybersecurity standards across DOD and commercial sectors

 

SOMERVILLE, Mass., July 13, 2021 — VIA, the leading provider of secure AI and data privacy software, today announced that the core software containers that underpin its base operations and infrastructure application, JARVIS, have received Department of Defense (DOD) Platform One cybersecurity accreditation. The accreditation also upgrades VIA’s cybersecurity capabilities for its commercial and energy customers.

For nearly a year, multiple users at one of the largest U.S. expeditionary bases under U.S. Central Command have been using JARVIS, an application built on top of VIA’s blockchain core. A first user group leverages work order and predictive maintenance insights from JARVIS to protect more than 700 buildings (nearly eight million square feet) and 15,000 engineering systems such as HVAC, utilities, and plumbing. A second user group applies JARVIS’ AI and satellite imagery features to ensure mission readiness on roads and runways on the base. Since its installation, JARVIS has supported over $200 million in base operations decisions such as building construction and demolition. 

The blockchain core of VIA’s software allows sensitive data to be analyzed securely on premise, or on Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services (AWS) through Kubernetes clusters. All VIA containers use only services authorized on the AWS Secret and C2S Regions. The combination of full AWS C2S Region compatibility and Platform One accreditation enables VIA’s software to work with and analyze data up to the Top Secret U.S. security classification level (one above Impact Level 6 or IL-6). 

“VIA’s software platform has always enabled secure analysis of our customers’ data. Since the evolution of cybersecurity threats is accelerating, we believe that making a substantial investment to achieve and maintain Platform One accreditation is the best way to ensure VIA upholds the highest level of cybersecurity protection for our DOD and commercial customers,” said Joe Babiec, VIA’s senior vice president of strategic initiatives. “The accreditation gives DOD customers confidence that JARVIS can scale to improve mission readiness at bases and airfields globally. We are committed to meeting Platform One DevSecOps standards for VIA’s new and remaining containers.”

VIA’s commercial customers will also benefit from the cybersecurity upgrade. Smart city and infrastructure managers for roads, airports, and commercial buildings are increasingly the target of cybersecurity attacks. With Platform One accreditation, VIA uniquely enables infrastructure analysis, predictive maintenance, and maintenance optimization while meeting the latest in DOD-level cybersecurity standards.

“In mission critical environments where every second counts, we have to ensure that software and updates can deploy fast — in hours, not years — while maintaining the highest level of cybersecurity,” said Nicolas Chaillan, chief software officer of the U.S. Air Force and co-lead of the DOD’s Enterprise DevSecOps Initiative. “Companies like VIA are key to delivering on this promise through continuous cybersecurity testing and fast deployment at any classification level across the DOD. We’re excited to welcome VIA onto Platform One, especially as AI and data privacy technologies remain among the DOD’s highest priority technologies.”

Follow the latest from VIA by visiting www.solvewithvia.com/latest/ or on social @solvewithvia.

About VIA

VIA is powering the clean energy revolution. Working with the world’s leading power providers, clean energy companies, and government agencies, VIA’s software overcomes the most common barriers to AI: lack of data, data quality issues, and data privacy concerns. As a result, VIA’s software accelerates the AI required for the clean energy transition. VIA also provides the bridge that enables EVs, battery storage, demand response, and distributed energy resources to be on the grid. VIA is headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts, with a technology center in Montreal, Quebec, and European offices in Denmark and Switzerland. For more information, please visit www.solvewithvia.com.

VIA Partners with MIT on U.S. Air Force Contract

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VIA is pleased to announce that they have partnered with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) through MIT Innovation Initiative‘s Mission Innovation Program for a contract with the U.S. Air Force (USAF). The contract is part of USAF’s Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, whose mission, according to their website, is to “support scientific excellence and technological innovation through the investment of Federal research funds in critical American priorities to build a strong national economy.” 

VIA and MIT will work together to use VIA’s Trusted Analytics Chain™ (TAC™) software to bridge data from one of USAF’s classified training programs to advanced commercial AI solutions, without comprising data security. 

“USAF training programs are rich with data, which AI can analyze, to produce unique insights. As you can imagine, this data is highly sensitive, so making it accessible to AI specialists outside of USAF has been a big challenge,” commented Joe Babiec, VIA’s SVP, Strategic Initiatives. 

He continued, “We’re proud to be working alongside MIT to help USAF connect to AI specialists while ensuring the security and privacy of training program data. Combining VIA’s unique technology with MIT’s AI expertise and experience collaborating with the United States Department of Defense (DoD) on confidential initiatives will yield great benefits for USAF.”

“MIT Innovation Initiative is excited to work with VIA on this project with the United States Air Force,” said MIT Innovation Initiative Executive Director, Gene Keselman. “VIA’s innovative new TAC™ software provides secure access to confidential and classified data for analysis. This ability to bring AI to the data can help the USAF tackle many challenging applications.” 

This is the fifth time VIA and its TAC™ software have been selected by USAF in the past 18 months, with the most notable contract signed in July 2020.

About VIA

VIA helps governments, regulators, and power providers deliver $200Bn in energy every year to more than 100 million customers. VIA’s privacy-preserving analytics software, Trusted Analytics Chain™ (TAC™) reduces the cost and improves the quality of service of electricity transmission and distribution using AI and blockchain technologies. TAC™ (patents pending) is the bridge that securely connects power company data, distributed across many locations, to potential AI solutions. VIA established the Global Data Asset Collaborative™ (GDAC™), built on top of TAC™, to allow multiple companies to securely pool data for more accurate analytics. Headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts, VIA has been featured in Wired and Inc. Magazine for its leadership in technology innovation. For more information, please visit www.solvewithvia.com.

About MIT Innovation Initiative
Founded at MIT (https://web.mit.edu) in 2013, MIT Innovation Initiative is charged with delivering innovation to the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem by identifying problems and creating solutions faster, more effectively, and at scale; and to focus and amplify MIT’s natural strength in innovation in service to the world. The organization is a team of unceasingly inquisitive, data-obsessed problem solvers—academics, business professionals, military, alumni, and community-builders—dedicated to stewarding the innovation process from idea to world-changing impact. Learn more: https://innovation.mit.edu and https://innovation.mit.edu/mission-innovation-program.

Contact:
David Sweeney
Director of Communications

dws1052@mit.edu 

 

VIA Selected for Panel, Virtual Booth, and Pitch During AFWERX Reimagining Energy Showcase

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Last week, VIA had the honor of participating in the AFWERX Reimagining Energy Showcase. The showcase was attended by thousands of participants from government agencies and companies bringing cutting-edge technologies and solutions to the energy industry.

CEO Colin Gounden was invited to speak on the Energy Data Panel during the event along with representatives from companies participating in the AFWERX Challenge: Data Availability and Improved Planning and Decision Making. The panel touched on topics like how to make unstructured and disparate data sources available while addressing security concerns and how AI can play a role in decision making for the DoD.

In addition to Colin’s panel, VIA hosted a virtual booth during the showcase. The page is open to the public and can be visited here.

As mentioned in a previous press release, VIA is one of 179 companies chosen (out of over 1,000 submissions) to compete in the AFWERX Challenge. VIA’s solution to the Data Availability and Improved Planning and Decision Making Challenge is to use TAC™ to make energy data available for AI and machine learning analysis 100x faster.  

For more information on VIA’s solution to this challenge, watch our 5-minute pitch video.