Parallel Works, a provider of the Activate control plane for hybrid multi-cloud computing, announced that the Department of Defense (DOD) High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP) has awarded the company a contract to provide DoD scientists, engineers, and acquisition engineering professionals with a single, unified interface for accessing on-premises and cloud computational resources to address complex technical challenges.The Parallel Works Activate High Security Platform (HSP) will serve as the control plane for connecting Defense Supercomputing Resource Centers (DSRCs) with a secure commercial cloud infrastructure, enabling defense researchers and engineers to deploy mission-critical workloads across environments through a single interface. Users will be able to test and deploy workloads on next-generation cloud infrastructure before those capabilities are integrated into the DSRC.

“AI-driven warfare and the ramp to digital modernization are demanding far more model-sharing options than legacy infrastructure can provide,” said Keith Obenschain, CTO, HPCMP. “There is an urgent need for controlled unclassified information (CUI) and ITAR-capable cloud workflows. Activate HSP provides users with flexible access to powerful computing resources, while meeting the security requirements for sensitive defense workloads. These capabilities are critical for accelerating mission outcomes with the speed, scale and complexity of today’s operational challenges.”

Thousands of users across the Department of Defense and research institutions will have immediate access to DSRCs through Parallel Works’ HSP. The unified, hybrid multi-cloud offering has been approved for the highest non-classified DOD security level, Impact Level 5 (IL5). It is one of only three SaaS / PaaS software programs approved to handle export-controlled workload environments, including International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). 

By connecting secure cloud infrastructure, the platform creates a computing fabric capable of running large, distributed workloads across on-premises systems and multiple cloud providers through:

• On-demand access to elastic compute resources, eliminating queue delays
• Access to added capacity, with a fabric that connects computational resources and runs across a variety of environments
• Rapid deployment of mission-critical workloads, shrinking time to operations from days to hours
• A secure environment for CUI and ITAR-regulated workloads
• Access to AI and code-assist tools for model development and a variety of workloads
• Testing of next-generation instances and capabilities in the cloud, before integration
• Scalable, secure workload hosting without requiring internal IL5 expertise

As the first major implementation under the HPCMP contract, the Naval Research Laboratory implemented Parallel Works HSP to advance the speed and reliability of its forecasting model workloads. By automating complex weather prediction workflows and securely orchestrating hybrid defense computing environments, the solution enables faster, more strategic decision-making in the mission-critical DoD operation. The improvements go beyond efficiency and ensure operational continuity and the proactive redistribution of workloads. 

“The HPCMP contract allows our platform to support a broad range of mission-critical HPC and AI workloads across the DOD teams,” said Matthew Shaxted, CEO, Parallel Works. “It gives teams a secure sandbox to test, deploy AI and code-assist tools for model development, and run workloads on next-gen cloud architectures before DSRC integration, all connected across hybrid and multi-cloud environments, including AWS, Azure, Google and Oracle.”