June 30, 2021 – Microsoft and SES, in partnership with GovSat and UK-based solutions provider GRC, came together to demonstrate how Microsoft Azure Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities can be brought directly to end-users deployed globally in a highly secure, reliable way while maintaining network sovereignty – allowing users to exploit key Azure workloads regardless of location and drastically boosting the efficiency of critical missions. In these demonstrations the Azure Stack Mini R device was connected to a quick deployable tactical satcom terminal from GRC through the secure SATCOM connection on GovSat-1 satellite, and sent directly to Azure UK via the SES Cloud Direct service, giving connected and disconnected access to Azure services. The first demonstrations of its kind highlighted how this technology could be used in a number of scenarios such as a remote disaster relief operation, collecting information for analysis, at any given classification, allowing AI and ML models to be used to categorise and assess the information locally before using the available SATCOM to update the overall situational awareness picture and, if required, updating the AI and ML models via hyperscale Azure DevOps processes.