Andrill brings new life to Microsoft and the Army’s IVAS program

Ten years later, he is posing with a prototype headset of a new integrated visual augmentation system created by his company Anduril. This is a personal blog post coupled with Anduril’s press release that announces that Anduril is partnering with existing contract owner Microsoft to take over hardware and software development for the $22 billion IVAS contract It was his way of doing it.

Microsoft issued a similar release, explaining more about IVAS. Microsoft has had important design, manufacturing and organizational challenges in the Hololens business, so this project has been on life support for a while. Even after Microsoft closed Hololens and kept the IVA alone, the company struggled to show great progress. For years, rumors have spread that the IVA has risen for new bids, or that the next iteration of the IVA will be a significant departure. Currently, development and production of IVAS devices is in Andrill’s hands, as (probably) approval is pending by the US Department of Defense. Meanwhile, the partnership agreement establishes Microsoft Azure as Anduril’s preferred hyperscale cloud for all workloads associated with IVAS and Anduril AI Technologies.

Why does this transaction make sense?

In my opinion, this is the perfect marriage. Because Microsoft is able to retain the cloud computing aspect of IVAS, which is the majority of its $22 billion contract. The spiny device development task falls under Andrill, who has a lot of experience in this field. This makes sense to me. Because Microsoft was pursuing the original IVAS contract primarily due to the scale of cloud opportunities, the company could still pursue it under revised transactions. Microsoft also said the new partnership should bring better production at scale, at better unit costs.

The new arrangement is a follow-up to an announcement last year that the two companies collaborated to integrate Anduril’s lattice platform into IVA to improve AI-enhanced situational awareness capabilities. Looking at the many projects and deals Anduril has won since its founding in 2017, many of them use lattice for information gathering and decision-making, and it’s no coincidence when Microsoft signed the lattice integration agreement last year. did. Still, it turns out that the deal was merely a foresight for today’s news. Anduril is currently working on his biggest contract to date, and at the same time he is working on one of Luckey’s most passionate interests.

Jeff Miller, Andrill’s Vice President of Marketing, tweeted three important reasons why today’s IVAS announcement is so monumental. The first is that the new IVA is designed to be fighter-centric. In his own post, Lucky also emphasized that he would take the right approach to building fighter systems. Miller’s second reason is Lucky’s expertise, vision and execution. This would be difficult for anyone who is upset with the XR industry to object. The final reason is the lattice.

I believe that in the end the lattice will make the IVA more useful and powerful for future generations of fighters. After all, Microsoft thought this was also true, so last year it signed its first partnership with Anduril. In combat zones, having the right information is important, so XR headsets that do not utilize quality sources do not add value. Given Lattice’s successful track record, I believe it meets the needs here.

What does this mean for the XR industry and the Army?

After considering the long delays against Microsoft’s IVA after a huge failure from Magic Leap, bringing Anduril to get the IVA into the line is a big win for the industry. Billions of dollars have been spent by many vendors, but this weighs heavily in this market without many commercial success. Investors and the industry alike are injecting billions of dollars into AR development, as well as relying on large IVAS contracts as a form of verification of the entire technology. Now, the possibilities are visible along with fascinating prototypes such as Orion of Meta.

It is unclear whether the final form of IVA even has fragments of Microsoft DNA outside of Azure Cloud, but the importance of modernizing combat capabilities such as this should not be overlooked. Logistics wins wars, fighters wins battles. The best way to gain both is to use well-informed and well-equipped combat power, with situational awareness and the ability to enhance effective capabilities through platforms such as lattice and IVA. I doubt and hope Andrill will change the course for the project for the better and return it to the course. I think most people in the world who have a passion for projects like IVAS, like the Luckey and Anduril teams, are in good hands. Ultimately, I think this will be considered the right decision for both Microsoft and the Department of Defense.