technology juggernaut Google, which has a history of working covertly on complex, deep-tech projects, just revealed that it is spinning off yet another one. Aalyria, a telecom start-up, was announced on Monday, according to a report on Sept. 12 by Crunchbase, a company that follows trends, investments, and news of international businesses from start-ups to the Fortune 1000. Despite the lack of specifics, it continued, sources claim that the start-up has been developing software for fast communication networks that reach satellites in orbit.

It was code-named Minkowski in the earlier stages

The management of “hyper-fast, ultra-secure, and very complex communications networks that span land, sea, air, near space, and deep space” is reportedly Aalyria’s stated goal in a news release. Aalyria would “radically” enhance satellite communications, aeroplane Wi-Fi, and other cellular connectivity, according to the press release, which also stated that the start-up already had an US$8.7 million federal defence contract. Aalyria is now Google and its parent company, Alphabetnewest,’s a spin-off. Other examples include the self-driving car company Waymo and the maker of augmented reality, Niantic Labs.

By separating such technology, Google may keep a stake in what may turn out to be very valuable intellectual property and enable the research programmes to seek outside funding and not be entirely reliant on Google. That, according to Crunchbase, is particularly crucial in the current environment, when many businesses are cutting down on their R&D spending while the stock market remains unstable. According to the article, although it is unknown how long Google has been working on Aalyria’s technology, it would make sense to assume that it has taken some time and money to create.