# From the data center to the drone: why MOSA's time is now

DevFeed: [From the data center to the drone: why MOSA's time is now](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/from-the-data-center-to-the-drone-why-mosa-s-time-is-now-79755.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://www.spectrocloud.com/blog/from-the-data-center-to-the-drone-why-mosas-time-is-now>)

Author: Ant Newman

Published: 2026-06-19T09:47:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Spectro Cloud Feed](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/spectro-cloud-feed.md>)

Topics: [Software-Defined Data Center](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/software-defined-data-center.md>), [Service fabric](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/service-fabric.md>), [Open Source](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/open-source.md>), [CI/CD](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/cicd.md>)

Tags: [cloud](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/cloud.md>), [defense](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/defense.md>), [has](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/has.md>), [modular](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/modular.md>), [systems](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/systems.md>)

## AI overview

The article argues that the Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) is increasingly important for defense systems because battlefield needs and AI technology change faster than traditional procurement cycles. It describes how modular, open infrastructure can make software, AI models, and hardware components replaceable, while discussing challenges such as security, disconnected deployments, support, and vendor lock-in. It also presents Spectro Cloud's Palette platform as an example of infrastructure designed around swappable layers.

## Source excerpt

The Modular Open Systems Approach has been law since 2019. A wave of 2025-26 memos, and a battlefield that now reinvents itself every few months, have made it urgent. We sat down with two people who've lived the problem -- Nolan Schultz, a Spectro Cloud account exec and Army Special Forces vet, and Colton Shaw, a principal architect with six years in public sector and defense -- to cut through the policy noise and talk about what it means on the ground.