EdgeXtend™ Works Where the Network Doesn’t
'Cloud in a box' delivers edge computing, communications
A soldier trying to maintain intelligence operations after a generator fails. A border patrol agent tracking a drone in the remote desert. Firefighters and EMS crews rescuing civilians after a hurricane. Local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies coordinating security at a major sporting event. The missions are different, but the problem is the same: Operators on the ground need a reliable way to communicate and share information, even when networks are down.
Booz Allen EdgeXtend™ solves this problem. The portable “cloud in a box” platform maintains connectivity and provides access to critical applications in locations where network connectivity is unreliable, restricted, or cut off. Originally developed for the military, the capability now extends to border protection, public safety, and disaster response—missions where teams often operate far from reliable communications infrastructure.
Behind EdgeXtend is a team that pairs technical expertise with decades of mission experience. Former soldiers and law enforcement officials with firsthand knowledge of real-world operations work alongside technologists well-versed in the cloud solutions that nearly all enterprises use and that many teams take for granted.
“What makes Booz Allen different is the amount of information, knowledge, and expertise our people have from years—even decades—in the field,” says Carl Ghattas, a Booz Allen senior vice president focused on law enforcement. “Anyone can pitch a technical solution, but we truly understand the challenges military personnel and law enforcement agents face because we’ve lived it. That puts us in a unique position to get to the heart of the problem and solve it quickly.”
From Warfighters to Border Protection
Operating at the edge is nothing new for the military. Warfighters have long needed to collect intelligence, communicate, and make decisions in remote environments where connectivity and power are not guaranteed. EdgeXtend grew out of an effort to make existing solutions smaller, more portable, and better suited for military operations.
“I had two combat deployments, and on both of them, I lost power at critical moments,” says Micah Hall, a Booz Allen engineer and U.S. Army veteran. “Generators would go down, or someone would cut a power line. With a capability like EdgeXtend, we could have kept operating through those disruptions without gaps in coverage.”
Today, EdgeXtend is deployed as part of military missions in the Indo-Pacific and Europe, where it provides intelligence and command-and-control teams with critical computing, communications, and data-sharing capabilities.
Those same challenges increasingly extend beyond the battlefield. Along the nation’s borders, Department of Homeland Security personnel operate across miles of remote terrain where there is little or no communications infrastructure and where smugglers are using drones and other advanced technology to move illicit goods across the border.
Deploying more sensors at the border can provide greater visibility into such illegal activities. But more sensors mean more information to analyze. A camera in the field might spend hours recording nothing but cacti and coyotes before it captures activity that requires attention. Sending every recording back to a distant cloud system consumes limited bandwidth and delays decision making. With EdgeXtend, that footage can be processed at the point of collection, and agents can access critical insights while there is still time to act.
“Border security is increasingly being pushed out to the edge, where more enforcement actions and more decision making are taking place,” says Amit Kohli, a Booz Allen vice president focused on border protection and trade. “We want agents to be able to detect, identify, and intercept threats in real time. EdgeXtend allows them to integrate and triage data locally, without having to send it to the enterprise cloud for processing and wait for the results to come back.”
Connecting Public Safety and Disaster Response
Those same capabilities can support first responders after a hurricane, wildfire, or other disaster takes down communications networks, enabling them to coordinate rescues, triage urgent needs, and direct available resources. It’s a challenge that grows more complex when responders arrive from different jurisdictions.
A single emergency may bring together local fire and police departments, tribal authorities, and state and federal agencies. Each group arrives on the scene with its own radios and systems, many of which don’t even operate on the same frequency or share the same software. EdgeXtend bridges these gaps by providing a single platform that can connect devices that don’t typically work together. It allows operators and agents on the ground to stay in contact and seamlessly exchange photographs, videos, and other critical information.
“First responders need to be able to talk and share information despite the fact that they have different communication setups,” Ghattas says. “When you’re responding to a crisis, you need a common operating picture so people on the front lines have the information they need to make decisions and save lives.”
That ability to connect people, systems, and data also matters during mega-events—large public gatherings like major sporting events, concerts, or festivals—where multiple organizations must work together to maintain security, share information, and respond to threats. By providing the network connectivity needed to move information among different personnel, systems, and data sources, EdgeXtend can provide a shared operating picture that gives teams a clearer view of what is happening around them. This capability reduces the mental effort required to interpret incoming information, allowing operators to act faster.
“In these instances, milliseconds matter. Split-second decision-making matters, the faster agencies can process what’s happening, the faster they can act.””
- Amit Kohli, Booz Allen Vice President
The missions that EdgeXtend supports may be different, but the need is the same: Give those in the field the information and tools they need to keep up the critical work of defending the nation, securing the border, protecting American lives, and responding to disasters—even when the networks they rely on go down.
“Every mission has different challenges, so there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution,” Ghattas says. “We need to understand the problem, bring the right technology to bear, and do it quickly. During disasters, major events, and other critical operations, we can’t waste time figuring out the answer. We need to solve the problem immediately.”
