Vapor IO, creators of the Kinetic Edge and the leading provider of tower-connected edge colocation and interconnection services, along with Packet, the leading bare metal automation platform for developers, today unveiled the first two live Kinetic Edge sites in Chicago. Part of the Kinetic Edge Alliance rollout, these are the first two locations across six US metropolitan markets in 2019.

In further support of the Kinetic Edge Alliance, Packet today also announced a first-of-its-kind Edge Access Program providing both commercial and open source users with free access to bare metal edge computing servers in Vapor IO's Kinetic Edge locations, making it possible to build and trial edge applications quickly and economically.

"Packet has an extraordinary portfolio of innovative developers and customers, many of whom will jump on the Edge Access Program and quickly bring showcase applications to the Kinetic Edge," said Cole Crawford, founder and CEO of Vapor IO. "We're excited to see our first production Kinetic Edge customers go online and we see Packet's Edge Access Program as a way to unlock edge computing at scale, starting in our flagship Kinetic Edge city, Chicago."

The Kinetic Edge Alliance

Announced earlier this month, the Kinetic Edge Alliance (KEA) brings together the leading edge computing companies, all of whom are committed to collaborating on rolling out edge computing solutions across a nationwide network of tower-connected edge locations. The Alliance includes deployment partners Federated Wireless, Linode, MobiledgeX, Packet and StackPath, as well as technical partners Alef Mobitech, Detecon International, Hitachi Vantara, New Continuum Data Centers, Pluribus Networks, and Seagate Technology. KEA member companies are committed to driving the broad adoption of compute, storage, access and interconnection at the edge of the cellular network with the Kinetic Edge, simplifying edge computing for the masses.

Chicago's Kinetic Edge

Chicago is the third most populous city in the US and one of the most vibrant digital economies globally-with high bandwidth and advanced applications driving many of its industries. It offers a key internet exchange that serves the bulk of the Midwest and is a key market for many of today's global enterprises. Vapor IO's expansion of the Kinetic Edge into Chicago will also support the launch of the city's 5G networks, which will usher in a new era of next-generation services and breakthroughs reliant upon edge computing such as large-scale Internet of Things (IoT) and real-time Artificial Intelligence (AI) that will require high-speed transactions with lower latencies.

Highlights/Key Facts on the two Chicago locations:

• Wrigley Hub (ORD1) - With 150 kW of edge data center capacity, the Wrigley Hub Kinetic Edge site is about a mile from Wrigley Field and close to the densely-populated areas of north Chicago. A tower-connected site, the Wrigley Hub provides low-latency interconnection capability plus software-defined management, security and configuration via the Vapor Edge Portal and highly-automated lights-out operation for optimal performance, reliability and cost at the wireless edge.
• Edens Hub (ORD2) - With 150 kW of active capacity and expansion potential up to 300 kW, the Edens Hub Kinetic Edge site brings significant edge data center capacity to the area near Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Positioned at a tower-connected site, the Edens Hub provides the same automation, security and interconnection benefits as other Kinetic Edge sites.

Packet's Edge Access Program

Packet's Edge Access Program provides both commercial and open source users with free access to edge cloud infrastructure and expertise. The program will function on a rolling basis and feature bare metal configurations targeted at both cloud native and telco deployments. Customized infrastructure can be deployed on a case-per-case basis. Initial program participants include Catchpoint,DNSFilter, Federated Wireless, Fly.io, Hatch, Macrometa, MobiledgeX, Mutable, Nodeweaver, OpenNebula, Ori, Oort, Rafay Systems, Section.io, Travelping, VMware, and Volterra.

"Together with Vapor IO, we're committed to creating an edge computing ecosystem that is both vibrant and fast-moving," said Zac Smith, CEO at Packet. "Initiatives like the KEA and our own Edge Access Program are promoting collaboration and encouraging access from the very start, helping to activate an entirely new industry that will power the experiences of tomorrow."