One backbone.
Data and AI, anywhere.
Volt is NquiringMinds' fully distributed, secure platform. Layered on it, Synapse is the signed, synced data fabric and Cortex the distributed AI agent runtime — one standards-based foundation that runs from public cloud to the constrained, contested edge.
Volt
The platformA fully distributed, secure data & AI fabric.
NquiringMinds' flagship platform — a fully distributed secure architecture on which adaptable, interoperable, scalable, resilient and secure systems are built. A standards-oriented distributed identity and policy framework at its core, carrying the Synapse data fabric and the Cortex agent layer.
Identity model
Fully decentralised W3C DIDs — key, web, webvh plus NQM's extensible volt method — with TPM and quantum-safe key options.
Data model
Data-centric security by default: W3C Verifiable Credentials carrying identity, provenance and optional encryption, independent of bearer.
Policy model
Defined and enforced fully distributed — every rule, edit and evidence signed for verifiable enforcement and continuous assurance.
API model
Distributed, secure service publishing and discovery — REST, gRPC and Volt Wires, resilient pipes that interoperate with OS pipes.
- Sovereign control of your data — no central honeypot to defend.
- No single point of failure — keeps working at the edge and under poor connectivity.
- Deploy anywhere on one backbone — C++ native, under 100 MB, cloud to constrained edge.
- Future-proof, low lock-in — W3C standards, NIST-aligned, quantum-safe options.
- Faster assurance and audit — signed, distributed policy with continuous assurance.
- DSTL OFEME & NATO IC Cyber Resilience by Design
- BAE integrated combat system
- Edge deployments — drones, cameras, battleships
Synapse
Data layer of VoltA signed, synced distributed data fabric — the alternative to APIs and brokers.
The data-fabric layer of Volt: a signed, synchronised event model that replaces conventional APIs and message brokers. Highly resilient, scalable and easy to integrate — NQM's expression of a Digital Targeting Web data fabric.
CRDT core
Implemented with Conflict-free Replicated Data Types on Volt's distributed identity, signed data and distributed policy.
Bandwidth-adaptive
Multiple synchronised documents optimised per bandwidth; NIST SP 1800-36 policy adapts data to comms and swaps bearers.
Security travels with data
Signed Verifiable Credentials mean sync is resilient when disconnected and works across transports — including air-gapped.
Resilient by construction
Redundancy is automatic through synchronisation; integrity is provable via signature checks. Demonstrated under DSTL OFEME.
- Lower integration cost — removes the n² connection problem and integration sprawl.
- Keeps working when the network doesn't — low-bandwidth, intermittent and air-gapped.
- No central bottleneck — no server in the data path; scales as nodes come and go.
- Provable integrity and provenance — trust and audit data wherever it ends up.
- Resilient by default — automatic redundancy, less bespoke failover.
- Resilient API/event backbone for the DTW
- Sensor-Decider-Effector synchronisation across echelons
- Multi-document sync over contested bearers
Cortex
Agent layer of VoltSigned, distributed AI agents — a lambda-like runtime for the edge.
The agent and compute layer of Volt: a distributed, lambda-like runtime where compute elements are curated, deployed and instantiated as digitally signed artefacts across federated cloud-and-edge architectures. How new protocols, integrations and AI are added without re-architecting.
Signed artefacts
Protocol adapters, transformers, AI models and system-call bridges become signed, deployable agents on Volt's foundation.
Lambda-like, edge to cloud
The same governed agent runs from data centre to constrained edge device while remaining policy-controlled and verifiable.
Protocols as agents
REST, WebSocket, gRPC, Wires and Synapse out of the box; AIS, ADS-B, InteACT, FedNet and OMG specs added as agents.
TAIBOM-native
Trustable AI Bill of Materials — co-authored with BAE and BSI, integrated with GCHQ AI tools — keeps AI supply chains verifiable.
- Extend without re-architecting — add capability by deploying a signed agent.
- Governed AI everywhere — the same agent runs data centre to edge, policy-controlled.
- Verifiable AI supply chain — native TAIBOM keeps AI components auditable.
- Modernise legacy faster — wrap third-party systems lacking a mature API.
- Safe autonomy — built-in human-in/on-the-loop oversight of agent decisions.
- BAE integrated combat system — multi-protocol integration
- AI agents deployed to the tactical edge
- Legacy and proprietary systems surfaced as APIs
See the platform proven in defence
Every Volt capability mapped against the MOD Digital Targeting Web — full reconciliation of the assessed technical criteria, challenge themes and Exploitable-by-Design principles.