Data. AI.
Quantum.
Delivered.

Bulletproof, next gen computing, data, machine learning, AI, quantum, and IoT solutions for defense, insurance, legal, and manufacturing, today.

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Advisory & Engineering ★ Veteran-Owned
01 — About Us

The leading advisory for
next-generation systems

We are engineers, architects, and operators who build and deploy mission-critical systems at any scale. From petabyte and exabyte data platforms to embedded devices running in austere, hostile environments, and the claims management system running on your desktop, we deliver solutions that work when failure just isn't an option.

Our team brings decades of advisory and engineering experience across defense, insurance, legal, and manufacturing — building systems for organizations that demand predictable results, unquestioned reliability and seamless usability.

Defense Insurance Legal Manufacturing
02 — Services

Services

01 / FRACTIONAL CxO

Senior, successful, fractional CxO services, on demand for all size firms.

Chief AI Officer, Chief Innovation Officer, and other executive roles on demand. Bring senior leadership and proven judgment to your AI, innovation, and technology decisions without a full-time hire.

Related Reading What Is a Chief Innovation Officer, and Why Might You Need One? What is a Chief AI Officer and Why Do You Need One? Getting the Most Out of Your Fractional CAIO
02 / STRATEGY & GOVERNANCE

ROI-focused, compliance-ready data, ML, AI, and quantum strategy.

Strategy, governance, roadmaps, and assessments. Identify exactly what to build, in what order, and why it matters.

Related Reading How to Build a Data Strategy AI Readiness Assessment and Strategic Roadmapping
03 / REAL-TIME SYSTEMS

Bulletproof real-time data, ML, AI, devices, robotics, and quantum.

Mission-critical systems engineered for environments where downtime isn't an option. Latency measured in microseconds.

Related Reading Building Bulletproof Real-time Systems
04 / SCALE

Petabyte and exabyte scale data, analytics, ML, and AI.

From α and β prototypes through proof-of-concept, pilot, and production systems. Engineered for the scale that matters.

Related Reading Engineering Data at Impossible Scale
05 / EMBEDDED & IoT

Real-time, high-reliability embedded and IoT for austere environments.

Cloud-based and embedded kernel systems designed for low-power operations and remote devices in conditions that destroy ordinary hardware. Built for milliwatts, extreme temperatures, denied environments, and zero-failure tolerance.

Related Reading Operating at the Edge of Possibility
03 — Industries

Industries

Defense

In defense, "down for maintenance" isn't an answer. Systems either work, every time, under any conditions, or bad things happen. We build systems that work when nothing else does.

Explore Insurance

In insurance, every policy is a promise. Every claim is a test of that promise. Legacy systems, manual processes, and fragmented data make keeping that promise harder than it needs to be. We unify the data, streamline the processes, and bring intelligence to the systems, so insurers can keep that promise.

Explore Legal

In legal, time is the product. Every hour spent on document review, research, or administrative tasks is an hour not spent on strategy, advocacy, or client relationships. AI doesn't replace lawyers. It lets them practice law.

Explore Manufacturing

In manufacturing, the gap between what your systems know and what your people know is where margin dies. Data trapped in spreadsheets, PLCs that don't talk to your ERP, tribal knowledge that walks out the door at shift change. We connect the shop floor to the C-suite.

Explore
04 — Clients

Clients

Fincantieri

One of the world's largest shipbuilding groups, designing and building cruise ships, naval vessels, and offshore platforms.

defense embedded software embedded firmware

AIG

AIG is a leading global insurance organization. AIG provides insurance solutions that help businesses and individuals in approximately 190 countries.

insurance underwriting machine learning workflow

Voya Financial

Leading provider of retirement plans, investment management, and employee benefits serving millions of Americans.

finance insurance enterprise data mainframe

DOOR3

Machine61 powers DOOR3 Labs, DOOR3's Advanced Technology Advisory — providing the data, machine learning, AI, quantum, and device expertise, along with the insurance, legal, and banking subject matter experts.

center-of-excellence ai & ml quantum iot robotics

Nuream

Machine61 brings its commercial and defense IoT and signal processing expertise to build the software behind Nuream's cutting-edge EEG data and technology solution on Google Cloud (GCP), and to help specify the device architecture, firmware, and ecosystem.

eeg iot signal processing gcp firmware

Valley Bank

Regional bank providing commercial and retail banking services across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.

banking MDM data quality data mapping mainframe

SS&C Intralinks

Pioneered the virtual data room. Key technology and services provider to global banking, dealmaking, alternative investments, and capital markets.

pharma big data analytics

Invidi Technologies

Pioneer in addressable advertising technology, enabling targeted TV advertising at scale across cable, satellite, and streaming.

advertising enterprise software

Medici

MEDICI unifies all your fund's data — deals, reports, and investor requests — into one system that gives you accurate answers in seconds.

defi data architecture business strategy

Namakina

Digital agency specializing in customer experience, marketing automation, and digital transformation.

marketing business strategy

Friended

Social platform helping people build meaningful friendships through curated connections and shared interests.

social data science

Additional references available on request.

05 — Team

Team

Sal Magnone

Sal Magnone

Co-founder, Senior Advisor

Sal's LinkedIn reads: "Co-Founder, Engineer, Veteran. I build multinational technology companies and run obstacle courses." That about covers it. He co-founded two successful technology companies, one around machine learning in the insurance space, one around embedded, real-time software in defense, and maybe one or two that weren't so successful. When he isn't running obstacle courses, he teaches business and military strategy at the university level, speaks at DARPA events, and keeps the rest of us from playing with matches near the solid fuel rockets.

x-PwC x-Sia Partners x-Gigaspaces x-US Army
Meiling Zhang

Meiling Zhang

Co-founder, Senior Advisor

Mei is the kind of engineer that senior engineers ask for advice. Her workspace is perpetually covered in small parts, some burnt, and smells of solder. She once tried to move us to a hangar because our office lease precluded welding. She co-founded her last two successful companies with Sal. Outside the lab, she's an elite CrossFitter and obstacle course runner. Mei is currently the founder of a stealthy but ridiculously well-funded quantum computing company focused on signal processing in the defense space, and our Quantum SME.

x-IBM x-Angry Robot Labs x-lab347
Subject Matter Experts
Nicole Tedesco

Nicole Tedesco

Robotics SME

Few people know more about designing, building, and deploying robotic and device technology than Nicole. At ARCA she defined and implemented a "robotics as a service" business model. At CalvIO she eliminated 50% of software-related costs and reduced time-to-delivery by 80%. At the legendary Boeing Phantom Works she built things she can't tell us about outside "the cone of silence". Yes, she really wears those glasses.

x-ARCA x-Microsoft x-Boeing Phantom Works
Alex Cone

Alex Cone

Mobile Applications SME

Alex is a rocket scientist. No, really, he worked on the Space Shuttle program. That was before he joined Steve Jobs at NeXT (he's very proud of still having two working units) and then followed Steve back to Apple, where Alex helped build the iTunes Store. Alex speaks at international conferences on enterprise mobile development and security, considers himself an alpha-geek, and is our mobile SME.

x-NASA x-NeXT x-Apple
Matt Weinstein

Matt Weinstein

High-Performance Computing SME

Despite any 8-bit resemblance, Pitfall Harry was not based on Matt. He was, however, Director of Technology at Activision back in their MechWarrior, Warcraft, and Hexen days. After Activision, Matt moved on to [x+1] (now Rocket Fuel) where he built their media-buying platform at Big Data scale. More recently, he's been at Ab Initio, where he dealt with very high-performance, low-latency, distributed systems. If it's fast, reliable, and distributed, Matt can build it.

x-Ab Initio x-Activision x-[x+1]
Michael Vila

Michael Vila

Legal SME

Michael is the person you want in the room when the regulators call. For over a decade he's worked inside banks and broker-dealers on the unglamorous-but-existential work — compliance programs, regulatory response, and remediation across the Bank Secrecy Act, anti-money-laundering, Know Your Customer, and sanctions. He started at Deutsche Bank and went on to advise global financial institutions out of PwC Advisory. Michael has worked every seat where a control can quietly fail, which is exactly why his rarely do.

x-Sia x-Chubb x-PwC
Peter Rossow

Peter Rossow

Insurance SME

Peter has spent his career on the side of the insurance balance sheet that has to add up. A trained actuary, he went on to serve as CFO and Treasurer at Wolverine Mutual and CFO at Great West Casualty, building a track record of identifying and delivering world-class solutions for carriers ranging from the Middle Market to the Fortune 100. In an industry that runs on getting the numbers right, Peter is who you call.

x-Sia x-EY x-Deloitte x-KPMG
Shelley Pittman

Shelley Pittman

Banking SME

Shelley works at the intersection of banking and technology — modernizing financial institutions and helping fintechs scale. As a Chief Banking Officer focused on Embedded Banking and BaaS, she grew a sponsor-bank portfolio from one institution to ten and guided a fintech through both a state banking license and a Federal Reserve Master Account. Earlier she led financial-services practices at Accenture, IBM, KPMG, and Slalom. Few have sat on both sides of the bank-fintech table as often as Shelley.

x-Goldman x-BoA x-Accenture x-KPMG
06 — Principles

Principles

01

SMEs First

Every project is overseen by an industry subject matter expert whose business is your business.

02

Engineering Always

We are builders. Every engagement is grounded in hands-on technical expertise and production-grade delivery.

03

Mission Critical Design

We design for environments where failure has consequences. Reliability, security, and performance are non-negotiable.

04

Operator Mindset

We build systems we'd run ourselves. Reliability, long-term maintainability and operational clarity guide every decision.

05

Affordability Built In

We design every solution with lifetime affordability as a key goal and extensibility as a requirement.

06

No Lock In

Our open data architectures make getting your data out to other systems, to business partners, to regulatory bodies, or ready for migration, easy.

07 — Thoughts

Thoughts

01 / INNOVATION

Innovation

Innovation Series, Part 1: What Is a Chief Innovation Officer, and Why Might You Need One? Innovation Series, Part 2: So You Want to Be a Chief Innovation Officer? Innovation Series, Part 3: Your First 90 Days as Chief Innovation Officer Innovation Series, Part 4: Building and Managing the Innovation Portfolio
02 / ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Artificial Intelligence

Data, ML, and AI in Insurance: Life & Annuity What is a Chief AI Officer and Why Do You Need One? The Fractional CAIO: Senior AI Leadership Without the Full-Time Price Tag AI Readiness Assessment and Strategic Roadmapping for Insurance / Reinsurance Companies AI in the Legal Industry: A Practical Guide to Current Solutions and Real-World Applications AI Doesn't Replace Lawyers. It Lets Them Practice Law.
03 / DATA STRATEGY

Data Strategy

How to Build a Data Strategy How to Build a Data Strategy: Insurance Companies How to Build a Data Strategy: Law Firms How to Build a Data Strategy: Manufacturing Data Strategy & Integration and Data Mesh: Part I, Defense Data Strategy & Integration and Data Mesh: Part II, Insurance Data Strategy & Integration and Data Mesh: Part III, Legal Firms Data Strategy & Integration and Data Mesh: Part IV, Manufacturing Data Products: The Foundation of Effective AI in Insurance Data Products in Insurance and Reinsurance: A Practical Guide Building a Data Product Practice: A Practical Roadmap
04 / QUANTUM COMPUTING

Quantum Computing

The Quantum Update: What Actually Happened in Q1 2026 Giant Superatoms: The Quantum Architecture Nobody Saw Coming The Quantum Hardware Landscape: Superconducting, Trapped Ion, Photonic, and Beyond How Do Quantum Annealers Work and What Are They Good For? How to Formulate Business Problems as QUBOs: A Developer's Guide Your First Quantum Program: Gate-Based Quantum Computing on Azure with Python Fluxonium and D-Wave's On-Chip Cryogenic Control Breakthrough Qubits, Qudits, and more [Primer] Quantum: Basics to Practical Applications — Quantum Entanglement (1) [Primer] Quantum: Basics to Practical Applications — Quantum Superposition (2) [Primer] Quicktake: Quantum Circuits [Primer] What is Quantum Machine Learning Quantum Computing Applications in Signal Processing for Defense The Quantum Update: What Actually Happened in Q1 2026 Giant Superatoms: The Quantum Architecture Nobody Saw Coming
05 / BUSINESS & STRATEGY

Business, World & Military Strategy

Inside the Missile: How Western Technology Ends Up in Russian Weapons Eight Days of Weapons If You Can See It, They Want You to See It, Maybe. The Circle Without the Shield [Thoughts on Arctic Strategy] The 200:1 Problem, Chinese Manufacturing and Naval Ascendancy, and Why the Chinese love Ronald Reagan
06 / SECURITY

Security

The Encryption Your Organization Depends On Has a Quantum Expiration Date. It Just Got Much Closer. An AI Just Found Thousands of Security Flaws That Decades of Experts Missed.
08 — Resources

Resources

Frameworks, guides, and executive briefings from our practice.

Teaching decks from our executive, military, and university teaching program.

01 — Free Resources

Advisory frameworks, engineering field guides, and strategy primers. Built from real engagements across defense, insurance, legal, and manufacturing.

Teaching decks from our executive, military, and university teaching program. Constructed for both remote and in-person teaching and used in real classroom settings.

Explore all resources
02 — Quick Links
09 — Start

Start

Whether you're modernizing systems that can't go down, deploying AI with compliance constraints, preparing for quantum, or just trying to figure out your next move — we're ready to talk.

start@machine61.net Schedule a call