Rapid Capability Delivery to
Air-Gapped Environments
Challenging and Complicated
Deploying new code to an enclave with limited or no external connectivity can take weeks of scanning and manual data transfers without a clearly defined baseline. Even when the code finally reaches the edge, operators face integration chaos where new patches break legacy dependencies on older edge hardware, stalling the update. Complicating things further, security policies mandated in the cloud do not automatically translate to the edge, forcing operators into tedious, error-prone reconfigurations.
Foundational Solution, Flexible Approach
ECHELON is the foundational operational fabric for the enterprise to drive better mission outcomes. It gives a consistent control plane and monitors service behavior across edge nodes, on-prem hardware, and cloud footprints, tying disparate systems together into a unified compute mesh from an Azure-based HQ down to the most remote edge nodes.
With a flexible à la carte approach to baseline services, organizations either utilize the platform’s full infrastructure or seamlessly blend it with existing environments. Teams gain the ability to stand up a fully configured Kubernetes baseline, complete with policy management, modern ingress, and a secure service mesh in hours, not months. By utilizing CNCF-compliant Kubernetes Gateway APIs and standard CNI Network Policies while remaining technology agnostic, the platform adopts best-in-class industry standards to advance mission-critical operations.
The Automated Deployment Pipeline
Once the foundation is set, engineering teams quickly onboard historically complex legacy defense applications into their environment. Older applications immediately inherit comprehensive auto-configuration and advanced security with minimal overhead. By integrating smoothly with common GitOps toolkits, ECHELON standardizes continuous delivery and manages updates, integration, and testing natively, executing a highly resilient pipeline:
- Build & Verify: CI/CD pipeline immediately runs exhaustive unit, integration, and End-to-End (E2E) testing against all known feature flag permutations and pre/post-upgrade jobs to verify that patches won’t disrupt active operations.
- Hardening: The validated artifact is automatically wrapped in Zero Trust security policies and local hardening layers.
- Air-Gapped Transfer: Requiring nothing more than an OCI repository, the bundled, pre-hardened artifact is easily moved to the secure enclave without dragging along complex external dependencies.
- Seamless Release: Once dropped into the environment, ECHELON’s service mesh intelligently orchestrates the cutover. It automatically handles traffic routing and certificate rotation, pushing the update without a single second of downtime.
Visibility and Impact
ECHELON remains transparent throughout the full lifecycle, providing built-in health visibility so tactical leaders quickly see what is running and what has changed. The operational capabilities delivered include:
- Zero-Drift Compliance: Security policies defined at HQ are enforced instantly at the edge.
- Reduced Cognitive Load: Operators do not need to troubleshoot Kubernetes or network ingress; automated ingress handles the routing.
- Speed to Mission: The cycle time from testing to deployment is reduced from weeks to hours, successfully modernizing legacy systems while maintaining 100% service availability during the upgrade.