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Tech & Science
Parallel Works secured a DoD contract to provide a platform connecting military supercomputers with secure commercial cloud services for HPC and AI workloads.
A contract awarded to Parallel Works, a software company based in Illinois and spun out of Argonne National Laboratory, will enable the Department of Defense (DoD) to integrate military supercomputing centers with commercial cloud infrastructure through a unified platform.
This agreement, part of the DoD’s High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP), aims to provide scientists, engineers, and acquisition personnel across the department with streamlined access to both on-premises and cloud computing resources via a single interface. The initiative seeks to accelerate the development and deployment of high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) workloads relevant to defense research and operational needs.
Parallel Works’ ACTIVATE High Security Platform (HSP) will serve as the control plane, linking Defense Supercomputing Resource Centers (DSRCs) to commercial cloud providers. The platform is engineered to facilitate workload mobility between environments while adhering to stringent security protocols for sensitive data.
Researchers will be able to trial and deploy workloads on emerging cloud infrastructures before these capabilities are incorporated into the DoD’s supercomputing facilities, according to the company.
The ACTIVATE platform has received Impact Level 5 (IL5) authorization, a high security classification for non-classified DoD cloud environments. Parallel Works states it is among a limited number of software platforms authorized to manage export-controlled workloads, including those regulated under International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI).
The system is designed to meet the increasing demand for computing power driven by AI advancements, simulation tasks, and digital modernization initiatives within the military.
Keith Obenschain, Chief Technology Officer at HPCMP, emphasized that “AI-driven warfare and the ramp to digital modernization are demanding far more model-sharing options than legacy infrastructure can provide.”
The platform enables on-demand access to cloud computing resources, helping users avoid traditional queue delays common in shared supercomputing systems. It also allows organizations to scale computing capacity by distributing workloads across multiple environments and cloud providers.
Cloud services available through the platform include those from Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and Oracle Cloud, as stated by Parallel Works.
The Naval Research Laboratory has already adopted the platform to support weather forecasting workloads as part of the contract implementation.
Parallel Works explains that the system automates forecasting workflows while securely managing computing resources across defense and cloud environments. This approach aims to enhance reliability, expedite processing, and facilitate workload redistribution during peak demand periods.
Matthew Shaxted, CEO of Parallel Works, remarked, “The HPCMP contract allows our platform to support a broad range of mission-critical HPC and AI workloads across the DOD teams.”
The platform also functions as a secure testing environment for AI development tools and next-generation cloud architectures before their integration into the DoD’s supercomputing infrastructure.
This contract aligns with the U.S. military’s broader efforts to merge traditional supercomputing capabilities with commercial cloud services in response to growing computing demands driven by AI models and data-intensive defense applications.
