Google launches secret high-speed telecommunications project called Aalyria

internal Google, a team of technicians worked behind the scenes on software for high-speed communications networks extending from land to space.

Codenamed “Minkowski” in Google, the secret project will be revealed to the public on Monday as a new spin-off called Aalyria.

While Google declined to provide details about Aalyria, such as how long it has been up and running on the technology and how many employees are involved in the startup, Aalyria said in a press release that the mission Their mission is to manage “super-fast, super-secure and highly complex communications networks spanning land, sea, air, near space and deep space.”

The company says it has a laser communication technology “at an exponentially greater scale and speed than anything that exists today.” Aalyria’s software platform has been used in many aerospace networking projects for Google.

The side story takes place as Google’s parent Alphabet calculates that ad spending is slowing and looks to boost or reduce experimental projects. That meant, in part, finding outside funding for some of the projects it had been hatching for years. Businesses like life sciences company Verily and self-driving car maker Waymo has raised money from outside investors, while Alphabet has close the door initiatives like Makani, which is building power-generating kites, and an internet-connected hot air balloon business Loon.

Aalyria says it has an $8.7 million commercial contract with the US Defense Innovation Unit. The company will be led by the CEO Chris Taylor, a national security expert who has led other companies that have worked with the government. Taylor’s LinkedIn profile says he’s the CEO of a stealth company he founded in November.

Alphabet itself has been chasing more profits government contract and earlier this year announced “Google Public Sector”, a new subsidiary geared towards US government partnerships primarily through Google Cloud.

Aalyria’s advisory board includes several former Google employees and executives as well as Vint Cerf, Google’s main internet evangelist who is known as one of the fathers of the web.

Google will retain a minority stake in Aalyria but declined to say how much it owns and how much outside funding the company has raised. Google said earlier this year it had transferred nearly a decade’s worth of intellectual property, patents and physical assets, including office space, to Aalyria.

Aalyria’s light laser technology, which it calls “Tightbeam,” claims to keep data “intact through the atmosphere and weather and provide connectivity where no supporting infrastructure is available.” “

“Tightbeam radically improves satellite communications, Wi-Fi on board planes and ships, and cellular connectivity everywhere,” the company said.

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