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Tag: Octo Consulting Group

Amazon, Va. Tech partner on machine learning initiative

Virginia Tech announced Thursday morning that it is partnering with Amazon.com Inc. on an artificial intelligence and machine learning research initiative that will have a presence at both Tech’s Blacksburg campus and its emerging Innovation Campus in Alexandria.

Dubbed the Amazon-Virginia Tech Initiative for Efficient and Robust Machine Learning, the program will include doctoral student fellowships, research projects and community outreach, as well as a shared advisory board. It will be housed at Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering in Blacksburg and at the Sanghani Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics, which will be in the first building at the Innovation Campus, a $302 million center currently under construction.

“This partnership affirms the value of our connection to Amazon as we scale up project-based learning and research programs in artificial intelligence and machine learning,” Virginia Tech President Tim Sands said in a statement. “Building Virginia Tech’s strength and expertise in these fields will support critical technological advancements and our commitment to fuel workforce development in the commonwealth.”

Virginia Tech played a major role in luring the e-tail giant to Arlington, where it is building its $2.5 billion-plus HQ2 East Coast headquarters, where 25,000 people are expected to be employed by 2030. Tech has started construction of its $1 billion Innovation Campus in Alexandria, just a short distance from HQ2, and the university has pledged to produce about 16,000 more computer science and engineering bachelor’s and master’s degree graduates over the next 20 years.

“We are delighted to collaborate with Virginia Tech in launching this new initiative, which brings together the top talent in our two organizations in a joint mission to achieve groundbreaking advances in robust machine learning,” said Prem Natarajan, Amazon’s vice president of Alexa AI – natural understanding. “The proximity of this initiative to Amazon’s HQ2 will catalyze research efforts that leverage the depth of talent in the Northern Virginia area to address some of the most pressing challenges in AI.”

The Sanghani Center is supported by a $10 million gift from Reston-based Octo Consulting Group CEO Mehul Sanghani and his wife, Hema, who are both Tech graduates. According to the university, graduate and doctoral students, as well as faculty members, will have the opportunity to submit machine learning sponsored research projects for Amazon. Machine learning is a branch of artificial intelligence that focuses on algorithms that can improve performance through experience and the use of data.

Also part of the program will be a group of fellowships awarded to Virginia Tech doctoral students in the engineering school. Each Amazon Fellow will be invited to interview for a paid Amazon internship during the summer after winning the fellowship. Tech also will co-host two annual workshops, as well as training and recruiting events for students, and the partners will establish a collaborative advisory board to provide input for the program’s direction and review research proposals.

“Virginia Tech is growing research and graduate programs in critical disciplines to meet the needs of industry and fuel the tech sector economy across the commonwealth and beyond,” said Julia M. Ross, Tech’s Paul and Dorothea Torgersen Dean of Engineering. “This new partnership with Amazon will fuel ongoing and future investment in research and education in AI-centric fields, and will provide important support for graduate students in these areas. We’re also excited to have engineering faculty and students working alongside industry leaders on these important technological advances and discoveries.”

Octo acquires Herndon-based B3 Group

Reston-based Octo Consulting Group, backed by Arlington Capital Partners, has acquired Herndon-based health IT company B3 Group Inc.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

B3 modernizes applications using low- or no-code software and platforms such as Microsoft Power Platform. The company also provides data governance, integration and analytics as well as cloud engineering and operations to federal health care clients.

B3’s leadership will remain with the company and expand Octo’s health business.

“We are ecstatic B3 is joining the Octo family,” Octo CEO Mehul Sanghani said in a statement. “Now with even deeper experience across the health space added to our defense, intelligence, national security and civilian customer base, Octo has greatly enhanced its position to serve as the federal government’s complete, end-to-end digital modernization partner.”

B3 has worked with the U.S. Veteran Affairs Department for 13 years. The company holds the $686 million U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Digital Transformation Center task order. In September 2019, it also won a 15-year, $59.9 million contract to provide the VA with a software-as-a-service enterprise telecommunications expense management integrated solution (eTEMS).

“Joining Octo allows us to enhance our offerings to our customers through a more robust set of solutions and provide greater career opportunities to our employees,” B3 President and CEO Dwight Hunt said in a statement. “As B3 and Octo began to collaborate, we collectively realized that our commitment to improving digital services to the VA and the broader federal health community will turbocharge the solutions we deliver to our nation’s veterans and those that support them.”

B3’s Digital Transformation and Modernization lab will add to Octo’s oLabs, a federal government research and development center housed in a 14,000-square-foot facility.

Fairfax-based software company Sevatec merged with Octo in December 2020, creating a company with 1,100 employees and nearly $300 million in annual revenue. In July 2021, Octo acquired Chantilly-based defense software development company Volant Associates.

Octo acquires Volant Associates, creating new division

Reston-based government contractor Octo Consulting Group has acquired Volant Associates, a Chantilly-based defense software development company, it announced Tuesday.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Volant has contracts supporting the Defense Intelligence Agency and other U.S. intelligence community agencies and created the Defense Intelligence Information Enterprise Common Data Fabric program. Founded in 2008, Volant has more than 85 employees.

“For a number of years we have admired the highly differentiated, technically complex and impactful work performed by Volant. Through our teaming relationships that long predate this transaction, we have witnessed the impact of Volant’s technical expertise on our intelligence community and other related customers,” Octo CEO Mehul Sanghani said in a statement. “We are excited to have formalized the relationship with Volant, which demonstrates our dedication to serving our customers whose missions directly impact our nation.”

Volant’s leadership will remain with the company and will head a new division within Octo’s Intelligence Community and Air Force Business Unit.

Volant CEO Eric Mohney said: “Octo has a fantastic reputation for putting their clients’ mission ahead of all else and bringing to bear the best solutions and practices available in the commercial and government IT space while taking great care of their employees. That reputation resonated with Volant, and we feel very well-aligned culturally. … With Octo’s wider reach, resources and talent base, we expect to be able to grow into those additional markets and expand our own capabilities. It’s an exciting time, and we are thrilled to be part of the Octo family.”