Crystal Group, Inc., a designer and manufacturer of rugged high-performance edge computing solutions, has secured a multimillion-dollar contract with a major defense contractor to deliver rugged, cybersecurity-enabled, Crystal Group servers for deployment in advanced radar systems used by the United States Army.
Rugged servers from the Hiawatha-based Crystal Group will be deployed in radar systems used to detect incoming missile and artillery attacks, as well as attacks from hypersonic weapons. The radar systems are essential to the protection and safety of U.S. soldiers and civilians around the world, according to a Crystal Group release.
Officials said Crystal Group was selected due to their proven history of reliability, quality, and customer support, as the existing provider of rugged computing hardware on other portions of the program.
“Winning this program represents so much more than just a win, it is a renewed pledge to Crystal Group and proves to our employee-owners that their relentless commitment to our customers does not go unnoticed,” said Lindsay Palma, program manager at Crystal Group. “We understand the importance of mission success for the end-user and are ecstatic to grow Crystal Group’s presence on this program that is protecting our warfighters each and every day.”
For this program, Crystal Group is supplying a network attached storage unit, equipped with Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSfC) Program capabilities, enabling encrypted data transmission in edge environments. Crystal Group’s advanced engineering team developed the custom cybersecurity-optimized solution that meets all requirements.
“Our participation in this program unlocks a new realm of opportunity for our customers’ cybersecurity challenges and enables them to pair our proven agile engineering development with industry-leading data protection,” said Chad Hutchinson, vice president of engineering at Crystal Group.
The ground-based radar systems are deployed at the tactical edge, where environmental and electromagnetic concerns are significant, posing numerous challenges for traditional computing hardware.
Crystal Group also secured a previous contract in 2023 to provide servers for advanced radar systems.
Crystal Group, Inc. is a leading provider of high-performance, rugged computing solutions for defense, government, and industrial markets. Founded in 1987, the small, employee-owned business specializes in the design, customization, build and testing of rugged servers, embedded computers, networking devices, displays, and data storage for high reliability in harsh environments.
Crystal Group’s integrated solutions meet or exceed IEEE, IEC, and military standards, including MIL-STD-810, 167-1, 461, and MIL-S-901, to bring seamless, real-time artificial intelligence, autonomy and cybersecurity to demanding edge applications. All products are manufactured in the company’s U.S. facility, certified to ISO 9001:2015/AS9100D standards and are backed by a five-plus-year warranty.
