SpaceX Starlink Partners with Microsoft Azure to Deploy Cloud Computing Anywhere
takyon writes:
SpaceX Starlink partners with Microsoft Azure to deploy cloud computing anywhere:
Microsoft Azure has announced a partnership with SpaceX that will give customers the ability to both access and deploy cloud computing capabilities anywhere on Earth with the help of Starlink internet.
[...] To better exploit the benefits offered by the kind of blanket connectivity Starlink may soon offer, Microsoft has developed its own Azure Modular Datacenter (MDC), essentially a data center built into a mobile, satellite-connected shipping container. Customers can choose to either use the MDC as a wholly independent datacenter or connect it to one or more satellite constellations, Starlink included. With what a SpaceX executive recently described as dual parabolic antennas, an MDC could likely have access to gigabit-class internet connectivity with latency comparable to fiber anywhere on Earth.
According to Microsoft, possible scenarios where an MDC would be valuable include "mobile command centers, humanitarian assistance, military mission needs, mineral exploration, and other use cases requiring high intensity, secure computing." Several Azure Mobile Datacenters have already been deployed and are being trialed by private sector companies and the US military.
Likely less than coincidental, Microsoft Azure's Starlink partnership comes around the same time as Amazon has begun to peel back the curtains on Project Kuiper, a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite internet constellation almost indistinguishable from Starlink. Lead and largely staffed by former Starlink executives and employees, Project Kuiper aims to deploy a constellation of ~3200 small, interlinked communications satellites - a goal Amazon has pledged at least $10 billion to achieve.
Also at Ars Technica and The Register.
See also: SpaceX teams with Microsoft for Space Development Agency contract
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