Zelim saves lives at sea with Pulsant

Edinburgh, UK, 30th April, 2025 – Pulsant today announced it has been chosen by Edinburgh-based, maritime search and rescue innovator Zelim, as its digital infrastructure partner.

As part of a vision is to deliver the world’s first unmanned search and rescue capability, Zelim launched ZOE Intelligent Detection in 2024. ZOE applies inference artificial intelligence (AI) to video feeds, to deliver real-time detection and alert of passengers or crew who fall overboard. This guides search and rescue operations, making them faster and safer.

Due to intense, rapid growth, Zelim identified a need for a colocation partner. Having initially hosted its servers on-premise, Zelim quickly realised it faced not only high energy costs but also an unacceptable level of risk. This exposure ranged from the threat of power outages and fire, to flooding and theft.

Any compromise to the resilience of the infrastructure is unacceptable as it stops Zelim from delivering life-saving services.

Following a thorough review of the market, Zelim chose the Pulsant facility at South Gyle, Edinburgh. The physical proximity of the data centre to the Zelim headquarters was key to the decision, as the team at Zelim need fast access to implement new hardware, switches, and firewalls.  The connectivity offered by Pulsant has enabled Zelim to run a 10Gb, 5G LTE out to twelve nautical miles from South Gyle. This high-speed, low latency connection is critical for the lifesaving, inference-AI feeds.

Operationally, Pulsant has enabled Zelim to meet the intensive demands of AI. Zelim servers draw not only copious amounts of power but also need to be integrated in order to analyse the high throughput of data coming in from the camera feeds. In addition, the ability to demonstrate high security and ensure physical separation of data, has been critical in reinforcing Zelim’s services and reassuring clients.

“The second someone hits the water, the clock is ticking,” said Doug Lothian, CTO, Zelim.  “Anything that makes our technology faster, more dependable and sharper means we save lives. That is the context for our move to Pulsant.” 

“We initially considered centralised, hyperscale providers, but processing this volume of video data in the cloud is expensive, and we would have lost control of the environment,” explains Euan Cowie, software engineer, Zelim.  “We have always recognized our strong AI focus and are now accelerating in that space by bringing key data processing on-premises at South Gyle. This allows us to fetch frequently accessed video data faster locally to boost performance for training and inference, while still leveraging the cloud for broader storage and scalability.”

The next steps for Zelim include plans to combine the detection and tracking capabilities of ZOE with unmanned search and rescue craft and expansion throughout the world.

“There are few examples of AI that demonstrate the need for high-speed, high-performance infrastructure, as well as Zelim,” said Mike Hoy, CTO, Pulsant. “Zelim brings innovation of the highest level to Scotland, and we are incredibly proud to become a partner as they continue to grow.”

Author: Ernestro Casas -

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