EDITORIAL DESK

NeevCloud Launches Agentic Studio: A Sovereign, Secure Execution Environment for AI Agents

EDITORIAL DESK

NeevCloud Launches Agentic Studio: A Sovereign, Secure Execution Environment for AI Agents

Bangalore, July 2026 : The managed sandbox for agentic AI workloads gives enterprises full control over how, where, and within whose borders their AI agents executeNeevCloud, an Indian sovereign AI cloud infrastructure company today announced the launch of Agentic Studio. This is a managed secure sandbox environment purpose-built for running AI agents and code execution workloads in isolated, on-demand compute environments. Agentic Studio enables organisations to deploy, test, and scale AI-driven workflows without exposing production systems, a capability that takes on strategic significance as enterprises across India and emerging markets accelerate their AI adoption under the imperative of digital and data sovereignty.Closing the Execution Gap in Agentic AIToday, the premise that agentic AI systems can reason, plan, and take autonomous action has outpaced the infrastructure required to run it safely. Most enterprises find themselves caught between two unacceptable options: running agents on local developer machines, with all the attendant security risks, or deploying directly into production environments, where errors carry real consequences.“The industry has spent two years making agents smarter. The unsolved problem is giving them somewhere safe to act. Agentic Studio is designed to bridge that gap” said Vijayakumar Nadar, Chief AI Officer of NeevCloud. Organisations can create a fresh sandbox in seconds, select a base compute template, configure resources, and run agents, scripts, file operations, and multi-step task workflows all without managing any underlying infrastructure. The result is a secure, reproducible, and fully controllable execution layer for AI at every stage of development and deployment.A Sovereign AI Execution Layer for India and BeyondAt a time when governments, regulators, and enterprises are scrutinising where AI workloads run and which jurisdictions they fall within, Agentic Studio offers a sovereign execution model. By providing a managed, isolated environment that operates within India's data infrastructure, NeevCloud enables organisations in regulated industries such as banking, financial services, healthcare, government to harness agentic AI without ceding control over their data or compute to foreign cloud providers."Sovereign AI is not just about where data is stored, it is about where intelligence acts," said Narendra Sen, Founder & CEO of NeevCloud. "Agentic Studio ensures that when an AI agent retrieves a document, executes a financial reconciliation, or automates a customer support workflow, every action happens within a controlled, auditable environment on Indian soil. That is what enterprise-grade sovereign AI looks like in practice."Platform CapabilitiesAgentic Studio provides a comprehensive execution framework for AI workloads:Isolated sandbox environments that run untrusted or agent-generated code without contaminating other systemsFilesystem snapshots, pause, restore, and fork capabilities for reproducible, stateful workflowsMulti-agent orchestration by assigning separate compute environments to planning, execution, validation, and reporting agentsBrowser and VNC templates for web automation and browser-based task agentsOn-demand compute with no infrastructure management, enabling teams to focus on building rather than provisioningBuilt for Real Enterprise WorkflowsAgentic Studio is designed for the breadth and complexity of enterprise AI deployment. Targeted use cases include:Customer support automation: agents can retrieve knowledge, analyze customer queries, and draft responses in isolated environments.Coding workflows: run tests, inspect repositories, automate bug triage, and validate code changes safely.Financial operations: process spreadsheets, reconcile reports, and run controlled data workflows without exposing core systems.Document-intensive industries: extract information from contracts, invoices, claims, and reports.Research and data operations: collect, structure, and analyze information across multiple sources.Education and developer platforms: run user-submitted code for assessments, sandboxes, and interactive coding tools.Multi-agent orchestration: assign planning, execution, validation, and reporting steps to separate sandboxes.DevOps and IT automation: execute repeatable operational workflows, validation checks, and scripted tasks in isolated environments.About NeevCloudNeevCloud AI Supercloud is enabling high-performance computing accessible, affordable, and sovereign. NeevCloud provides full-stack end-to-end AI infrastructure enabling enterprises and governments with Private AI and control on the data and compute. Our sovereign infrastructure powers a diverse range of critical use cases across the nation’s most vital sectors ranging from BFSI, Healthcare, Automotive, Startups and Research. With a vision to democratize AI for the next billion users, NeevCloud delivers compute costs 40-60% lower than global hyperscalers, ensuring that India remains a global powerhouse in the AI revolution.For more information, visit www.neevcloud.com

Zendesk’s Momentum Shows Contact Centers are Racing to End Silos as Voice Volumes Climb

EDITORIAL DESK

Zendesk’s Momentum Shows Contact Centers are Racing to End Silos as Voice Volumes Climb

Bengaluru, July 2026 – Voice remains 40% of contact center volume, while 75% of leaders say legacy tools block omnichannel serviceIn its first year, Zendesk’s AI-native voice solution surpassed 100 opportunities, achieved competitive wins against legacy providers, and landed a 4,000-seat deploymentAs AI agents take on more of the customer journey, voice remains a critical channel for customer service. Zendesk research shows voice still represents 40% of contact center volume and is growing, while 75% of contact center leaders say legacy technology prevents them from delivering a true omnichannel experience. In the agentic era, the phone line isn't going away — businesses increasingly need AI to handle it natively.That gap between rising voice demand and aging infrastructure is pushing contact centers to rethink how they operate. Businesses are looking for more integrated, AI-first service models that connect voice with the same context and customer history as digital channels. Demand for AI-native voice is growing. One year after Zendesk acquired Local Measure and launched a native voice solution within the Zendesk Resolution Platform, Zendesk Contact Center has seen strong market response, particularly among customers in the 250 - 750 agent segment. In the past 12 months, it has:Secured over 100 contact center opportunities with businesses in every region.Achieved a string of competitive displacements against established legacy market leaders.Scaled across the enterprise, including wins in the strategic 600 - 1,000 agent tier and a landmark 4,000-seat deployment.Closed individual seven-figure annual recurring revenue (ARR) agreements.Earned official support for HIPAA-enabled accounts.The shift reflects a broader move toward integrated customer service, where voice shares the same context and customer history as digital channels. By reducing friction across channels, businesses can improve service in real time and turn traditional cost centers into engines for brand loyalty.At Zendesk Relate, customers highlighted the value of a unified experience as they scale. “The value of a single interface has been huge for us, especially as we scale,” said Bridget O’Sullivan, HR Manager at Five Iron Golf."Voice can no longer live in an isolated operational silo," said Tom Eggemeier, CEO of Zendesk. "Our incredible contact center momentum over the past year proves that businesses want voice natively woven into a single, AI-first resolution platform. By eliminating the friction of disconnected tools, we are giving organizations the exact foundation they need to run a modern, autonomous contact center workforce."Zendesk Contact Center combines global telephony infrastructure from Amazon Connect with Zendesk’s AI capabilities to provide a unified desktop for omnichannel service. To simplify procurement, Zendesk also offers a bundled commercial solution with AWS, bringing enterprise telephony, platform minutes, and AI features into a single arrangement billed by Zendesk."The future of service belongs to the unencumbered," said Jonathan Barouch, GM of Zendesk Contact Center. "By harmonizing deployment, support, and cutting-edge AI under one roof, we've removed the invisible boundaries that have held contact centers back for decades. This isn't just a milestone year for Zendesk — it's a defining moment for where the industry goes next."

NTT DATA and Hyster-Yale Materials Handling Announce Breakthrough Physical AI Solution in Manufacturing

EDITORIAL DESK

NTT DATA and Hyster-Yale Materials Handling Announce Breakthrough Physical AI Solution in Manufacturing

Bangalore, July 2026 :Physical AI embeds intelligence into quality assurance for critical assembly operationsWhen compared to legacy techniques, physical AI cuts deployment timelines from months to weeksCo-innovation improves product reliability and maintains quality standards at scaleNTT DATA, a global leader in AI, digital business and technology services, and Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc. (HYMH), the manufacturer of Hyster® and Yale® lift trucks, today announced a breakthrough application of physical AI that embeds intelligence directly into manufacturing processes. This approach leverages sensor data to enable machines and systems to perceive, understand and act in real-time within real-world operations.Bringing this capability into practice introduces AI-driven quality assurance directly into HYMH’s manufacturing operations. This co-developed approach represents a first-of-its-kind use case of how physical AI can be applied in an industrial assembly environment by embedding intelligence into production workflows, helping to safeguard that products are built to consistently high standards.NTT DATA designed and developed the solution at HYMH’s manufacturing facility in Berea, KY, integrating vision sensors, edge AI that processes data on-site and advanced analytics into a critical assembly workflow.Together with partner Archetype AI, NTT DATA in collaboration with HYMH, adapted a physical AI model that analyzes assembly activity against expected production steps, validating that all parts are installed and assembly stages are completed, flagging deviations before the product moves to the next stage. By validating quality throughout the assembly process, the solution helps identify and address potential issues before products leave the factory floor.This initiative demonstrates a step-change in how AI can be applied in manufacturing environments. Combined with edge computing, the solution can run locally so all processing happens on-site, enabling faster rollout and quicker time-to-value. Early results showed that physical AI cuts deployment timelines from months to weeks when compared with legacy techniques, accelerating adoption and iteration across manufacturing operations.“Our confidence in physical AI continues to grow, and we’re starting to see the countless benefits that AI can bring to our global manufacturing operations,” said Barbara Binda, Director of Global Manufacturing Innovation, Hyster-Yale Materials Handling. “Working with NTT DATA allows us to leverage how physical AI can help our production teams maintain high-quality standards and deliver the most reliable products to our clients.”"This deployment shows what physical AI looks like in real production environments, not as a concept, but with tangible impact on the factory floor,” said Shahid Ahmed, Global Head of Edge Services, NTT DATA, Inc. "By combining real production data with physical AI models at the edge, we’re helping leading manufacturers like HYMH deliver high quality products, support frontline workers and apply AI in ways that deliver real-world outcomes.”As manufacturers accelerate automation, demand is rising for physical AI that can operate safely in complex environments, driving efficiency, quality and resilience. NTT DATA is uniquely positioned to deliver this capability at scale, combining industry expertise with end-to-end services to integrate AI across IT and operational technology environments, enabling intelligent, data-driven operations.Today’s news builds on a longstanding collaborative relationship between NTT DATA and HYMH. Together, the companies are advancing more adaptive and intelligent manufacturing processes and exploring how physical AI can be scaled to drive repeatable, high-quality production outcomes.About NTT DATANTT DATA is a $30+ billion business and technology services leader, serving 75% of the Fortune Global 100. We are committed to accelerating client success and positively impacting society through responsible innovation. We are one of the world’s leading AI and digital infrastructure providers, with unmatched capabilities in enterprise-scale AI, cloud, security, connectivity, data centers and application services. Our consulting and industry solutions help organizations and society move confidently and sustainably into the digital future. As a Global Top Employer, we have experts in more than 70 countries. We also offer clients access to a robust ecosystem of innovation centers as well as established and start-up partners. NTT DATA is part of NTT Group, which invests over $3 billion each year in R&D. Visit us at nttdata.comAbout Hyster?Yale Materials HandlingHyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc., designs, engineers, manufactures, sells and services a comprehensive line of lift trucks, parts and technology and energy solutions marketed globally primarily under the Hyster®, Yale®, Nuvera® and Maximal® brand names. The company’s subsidiary, Bolzoni S.p.A., is a leading worldwide producer of attachments, forks, masts and lift tables marketed under the Bolzoni®, Auramo® and Meyer® brand names.Hyster-Yale Materials Handling is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hyster-Yale, Inc. (NYSE: HY).

Nurix AI to Acquire Verloop.io, Expanding Conversational AI Platform Across Voice and Chat

EDITORIAL DESK

Nurix AI to Acquire Verloop.io, Expanding Conversational AI Platform Across Voice and Chat

Bangalore, July 2026 : The acquisition strengthens Nurix’s enterprise AI agent business with Verloop.io’s AI conversational deployment expertise, to create the broadest enterprise AI platform and accelerate AI adoption across India, the Middle East and beyond.Nurix AI, an enterprise AI company building autonomous AI software and agents for complex business workflows, today announced the acquisition of Verloop.io, one of India’s leading enterprise conversational AI companies, expanding its conversational AI capabilities across voice and chat for businesses in India and the Middle East.The acquisition builds on NuPlay, Nurix’s flagship voice AI platform for customer engagement, and adds Verloop.io’s chat automation expertise and regional customer base. Verloop.io currently powers more than 20 million+ customer interactions every month., with particular relevance for sectors aligned with Nurix’s focus, including financial services and retail. With this acquisition, Nurix AI and Verloop.io are uniquely positioned to help enterprises production-grade AI agents across voice, chat and emerging AI-native channels, delivering measurable business outcomes at scale.Nurix, founded by serial entrepreneur Mukesh Bansal, builds AI agents that help enterprises automate complex workflows and drive measurable business outcomes. Backed by General Catalyst, Accel and Prosus, the company has focused on helping enterprises move beyond AI pilots to production-grade deployments that improve efficiency, reliability and operational performance.“AI is becoming a core operating layer for enterprises, but its valuewill be measuredby real business outcomes, not pilots,” said Mukesh Bansal,founder and CEO of NurixAI. “Acquiring Verloop.io strengthens our ability to help enterprises move from experimentation to measurable ROI. Their expertise in chat automation, combined with Nurix’s work in voice AI, gives us a strongerplatform to automateworkflows across key customer touchpoints.”Founded by Gaurav Singh, Verloop.io built its business around helping enterprises automate customer conversations across digital channels across banking, fintech, retail and telecommunications. As part of Nurix AI, Verloop.io’s team and operations will support the company’s expansion acrosschat-led customer engagement use cases, particularly in markets where messaging-first interactions are central to how businesses serve customers. As part ofthe transaction, Gaurav Singh will join Nurix AI as part of the company's leadership team, helping shape productstrategy, enterprise go-to-market and the next generation of AI agents."Over the last decade we've learned that enterprises don't struggle to understand the possibilities of AI, but they struggle to deploy it reliably at scale. Togetherwith Nurix AI, we have exactly the kind of agentic platform we believe the market needs, and together we can dramatically accelerate how quickly enterprises adopt autonomous AI across the customer lifecycle.", said Gaurav.The acquisition expands Nurix’s abilityto support enterprises that need AI agents across both synchronous voice interactions and asynchronous chat-led journeys.Following the transaction, Verloop.io will become part of NurixAI. The companies are not disclosing further product integration plans at this time.About Nurix AINurix AI is an enterprise AI company building conversational AI agents that combine human-like engagement with enterprise-grade reliability. Led by Mukesh Bansal, founder of Myntra and Curefit, Nurix AI helps businesses deploy AI agents across customer engagement and operational workflows. The company is backed by investors including Accel, General Catalyst, and Prosus, and is focused on enabling enterprises to use AI to improve efficiency, customer experience, and business outcomes.About Verloop.ioVerloop.io is a conversational AI company that helps enterprises automate customer conversations across chat-based channels. Verloop has pioneered production-grade conversational AI for regulated industries including banking, fintech, retail and telecom, enabling businesses to deliver always-on, AI-powered customer experiences at scale. The company serves businesses across India and the Middle East and powers more than 20 million conversations per month. Verloop.io’s capabilities are particularly relevant for high-volume customer engagement use cases across sectors such as financial services and retail.

Xebia Launches Xebia Axis, an Agentic Data Foundation for Preparing Enterprise Data for AI

EDITORIAL DESK

Xebia Launches Xebia Axis, an Agentic Data Foundation for Preparing Enterprise Data for AI

Bangalore, July 2026 : The solution makes it possible for proprietary AI agents with advanced human data engineering teams to assess, migrate, monitor, and operate enterprise data platformsXebia, a global AI-first, digital transformation, and engineering leader, announced Xebia Axis: Agentic Data Foundation, a solution that gets enterprise data ready for AI with the speed of automation and the discipline of governed engineering. It combines proprietary AI agents with human data engineering teams to assess, migrate, monitor, and operate enterprise data platforms, completing migrations roughly three times faster than conventional, human-led delivery without trading away governance or data quality.The solution addresses a change in how enterprise data is consumed. Data platforms were designed for people who can work around inconsistencies. Autonomous AI agents act on data as they find it. Xebia Axis makes the data, governance, and controls that those agents rely on consistent, auditable, and production ready. Human teams set strategy and govern quality, while agents execute with roughly 10 times the leverage of a purely human-led team.At a GlanceWhat it is: An agentic data foundation that assesses, builds, migrates, monitors, and operates enterprise data platforms within a single solution.How it works: Human teams set strategy and govern quality. Proprietary AI agents perform assessment, migration, monitoring, and remediation tasks.Six modules: Readiness, Platform, Knowledge, Migration, Observability, and Operations.Timeline: Xebia Axis for Readiness produces a data readiness score and migration blueprint in two to four weeks. Traditionally, build and migration can run for several months.Governance: Access control, audit logging, data residency, and bias controls are part of the platform rather than added afterwards.Interoperability: Works across major cloud platforms and large language models; no single-vendor requirement.“Enterprises have spent years moving data to the cloud, but many still cannot put AI into production because the underlying data and governance are not ready,” said Anand Sahay, Chief Executive Officer, Xebia. “Xebia Axis closes that gap, so our clients can move AI into production faster than competitors still wrestling with legacy data platforms.” How Xebia Axis WorksXebia Axis covers the full data lifecycle in one solution rather than the separate tools enterprises typically assemble for each stage. Six modules run from initial assessment through ongoing operations: Readiness maps the data estate and produces a prioritized migration blueprint; Platform generates governed, policy-validated infrastructure as code; Knowledge converts content held in documents, email, and disconnected systems into a governed data layer for AI; Migration automates data and pipeline conversion with parity checks before cutover; Observability monitors data quality, service levels, and agent activity; and Operations performs root-cause analysis after go-live and submits fixes as pull requests for human review.Agents operate within controls for access, audit logging, and data residency, and data remains within the client’s environment. Xebia Axis works across major cloud platforms, including AWS Redshift, Google BigQuery, Databricks, Snowflake, and Microsoft Fabric, and major large language models, including Claude, OpenAI, Gemini, and Mistral AI.“The same agent technology that makes data debt urgent also makes it faster to resolve,” said Niels Zeilemaker, Xebia’s Global CTO Data & AI. “Xebia Axis puts purpose-built agents alongside senior engineers to build and run data platforms in production, with governance built into the platform itself.”Built on Partner PlatformsXebia Axis is built to run on the platforms enterprises already rely on. As a partner of Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Google Cloud, Databricks, and Snowflake, Xebia deploys it natively on each. It provisions governed environments, migrates workloads, and operates pipelines within the customer’s chosen stack. Because the solution is platform- and model-agnostic, organizations can integrate these clouds and data platforms with their preferred large language models and adapt as their architecture evolves.Early EngagementsEarly Xebia Axis: Agentic Data Foundation engagements span banking, travel, and retail, where the value at stake is well documented:A global bank used the solution to consolidate fraud and credit data from separate batch systems into one governed platform with real-time access for its detection models. Cloud data-platform modernizations for banks of this size and medium complexity typically reduce infrastructure costs by 30 to 50 percent within the first two years.'A global airline applied Xebia Axis to modernize fragmented operational and customer data. By automating estate discovery, code conversion, and validation, Axis completes migrations roughly three times faster than conventional means. It brings traditional migrations, which usually last 12 to 18 months, down to a few months.A global retailer used the solution to consolidate duplicate pipelines into a single, governed, continuously monitored platform to address data-quality failures. The retailer has benefited from more consistent, trustworthy data across its reporting and operations, with issues caught and resolved before they reach downstream systems.AvailabilityXebia Axis is available globally today. Organizations can begin with Xebia Axis for Readiness as a standalone assessment, which produces a data readiness score, estate inventory, and migration roadmap in two to three weeks; assessment fees are credited toward a subsequent migration. More information is available at: www.Xebia.AI/AxisRecently, Xebia launched Xebia Ace, an AI-Native Engineering solution. It is an AI-Native software engineering framework designed for pragmatic, outcome-driven modernization and digital transformation, which embeds AI across the entire SDLC to accelerate delivery by up to 40%.About XebiaXebia is a global AI-first, digital transformation, and engineering partner. With over 25 years of experience and a team of 4,500+ professionals across 16 countries, Xebia specializes in artificial intelligence, data and cloud, intelligent automation, and digital products and platforms. With a strong focus on engineering excellence and a people-first culture, they equip organizations to apply emerging technologies that accelerate business innovation and drive sustainable competitive advantage. Xebia leads with a responsible and human-centric approach to AI, ensuring organizations shape a better tomorrow for all.

From Tata to Cleartrip: digiCloud Solutions Crosses 200 Salesforce Implementations Across 8 Sectors

EDITORIAL DESK

From Tata to Cleartrip: digiCloud Solutions Crosses 200 Salesforce Implementations Across 8 Sectors

Bangalore, July 2026 : Across deployments, company's clients have recorded measurable gains in sales productivity, forecast accuracy, case resolution times, and customer satisfaction, with improvements ranging from 27% to 42%.DigiCloud Solutions, a Pune-based Salesforce Select Partner founded in 2016, has completed 200+ Salesforce implementations for more than 120 enterprise clients since inception. The company operates across India, the United States, Singapore, Europe, and Australia and New Zealand, with India accounting for approximately 80% of its portfolio.The implementations span manufacturing, automotive, retail, logistics, chemicals, agrochemicals and fertilisers, real estate, professional services, and hi-tech sectors. Clients include Tata, Cleartrip, Synechron, Sterling Wilson, Crompton, Bharat Forge and group companies including Kalyani Techno Forge, BASF Agro, FinIQ, and Bluedart DHL, among others.The company's work covers the full Salesforce ecosystem, including consulting, implementation, integrations, managed support, training, and its growing Agentforce and AI practice. The team of 100 professionals collectively holds over 150 Salesforce certifications.Client outcomes across deployments point to measurable business impact. A manufacturing client recorded a 27% increase in sales productivity and 35% improvement in forecast accuracy following a Sales Cloud implementation. A technology provider achieved 42% faster case resolution and a 28% rise in customer satisfaction after a Service Cloud deployment. Across the broader client base, digiCloud has recorded approximately 30% improvement in sales efficiency, around 35% reduction in turnaround time for quotes and proposals, over 20% improvement in order capturing, and approximately 28% improvement in service revenue.Abhijeet Kate, Co-founder and Principal Consultant at digiCloud Solutions, said, “In our client conversations, the shift isn't from 'if' to 'when' on agentic AI; it's from 'how many agents' to ‘which ones actually stay on the payroll.’ We're seeing early adopters in BFSI and logistics move past pilot fatigue and start deploying autonomous agents for exception handling and reconciliation. But the real unlock, especially in manufacturing and healthcare, isn't the tech; it's redefining who owns the outcome when a machine makes a decision. The mid-market is waking up to that governance reality faster than the enterprise.”Nitin Kadam, Co-founder and Cloud CRM Architect at digiCloud Solutions, said, “Enterprise Salesforce adoption isn't failing on features; it's failing on flow. We've spent years building beautiful screens, but agents are now asking for something different: access to the context behind the record, not just the record itself. In conversational CRM, the real friction isn't the bot's response time; it's the time it takes to surface the right data across 30 different Salesforce objects. The enterprises that win are the ones who stop treating conversational AI as a front-end layer and start treating it as a data-layer problem.”digiCloud Solutions has sustained approximately 20% year-on-year growth since inception. In 2025, the company was named the Fastest Growing Micro Business in India at the ET MSME Awards and received the Big Impact Award in Pune for excellence in IT/ITES services as a Salesforce consulting partner.The company is led by co-founders Abhijeet Kate and Nitin Kadam, supported by a senior leadership team comprising Bhushan Jangada, Praful Ingole, and Sagar Sharma.About digiCloud SolutionsdigiCloud Solutions is a Salesforce Select Partner and digital transformation consultancy founded in 2016 and headquartered in Pune, India. The company specialises in Salesforce consulting, implementation, integrations, managed support, and its growing Agentforce and AI practice. Since inception, digiCloud has delivered over 200 Salesforce implementations for more than 120 enterprise clients across manufacturing, automotive, BFSI, retail, logistics, healthcare, real estate, and hi-tech sectors. The company operates across India, the United States, Singapore, Europe, and Australia and New Zealand, and has sustained approximately 20% year-on-year growth. Its team of 100 professionals holds over 150 Salesforce certifications collectively. In 2025, digiCloud was named the Fastest Growing Micro Business in India at the ET MSME Awards.

Women in Cloud launches ICONIC Leadership Kickstarter Campaign; designed to build the next generation of leaders for AI economy The campaign is designed to be a global leadership movement aimed at developing 10,000 ICONIC Leaders worldwide

EDITORIAL DESK

Women in Cloud launches ICONIC Leadership Kickstarter Campaign; designed to build the next generation of leaders for AI economy The campaign is designed to be a global leadership movement aimed at developing 10,000 ICONIC Leaders worldwide

Bangalore, July 2026 : Kickstarter Campaign that is aimed at preparing professionals, executives, entrepreneurs, and ecosystem builders to develop the next generation of leaders, who will shape the AI economy through trust, collaboration, innovation, and economic access. The campaign is designed to be a global leadership movement, which is a part of the book launch of ICONIC Leadership that has been co-authored by Dee Dee Walsh and Chaitra Vedullapalli along with 20 others. The campaign will run for 60 days, concluding on September 15, 2026.The genesis of ICONIC Leadership Kickstarter campaign is deep rooted in the recent Economic Access Research conducted by Women in Cloud in 2026 that revealed a critical leadership challenge. The research highlighted that 92% of professionals know where to learn new skills but only 10% know how to access opportunity. ICONIC Leadership addresses this opportunity gap by shifting the conversation from technical excellence to opportunity creation, helping women and allies to build trust, expand influence, activate partnerships, and create lasting economic impact for others.The campaign also invites 1,000 Founding Members to help launch a global leadership movement focused on economic access, opportunity creation, and developing 10,000 ICONIC Leaders worldwide. These founding members will help establish the first ICONIC Leadership cohorts, leadership workshops, assessments, companion tools, and a worldwide community committed to democratizing economic access through leadership. The program also has insights from 20 accomplished global leaders.Commenting on ICONIC Leadership Kickstarter campaign, Chaitra Vedullapalli, Co-founder and President of Women in Cloud and co-author of ICONIC Leadership, said, "The world doesn't need more managers. It needs ICONIC leaders. AI can automate knowledge. It cannot automate judgment, trust, courage, or the ability to create opportunity for others."The first 1000, who would join as co-founders will get invitations to the inaugural ICONIC Leadership Workshop, exclusive founding member recognition, access to 20+ Co-Authors and Global Leaders through behind-the-scenes conversations and leadership experiences, special Kickstarter-Only Experiences, and get access to launch Celebration and Book Reveal Experiences available only during the campaign.The Kickstarter campaign has an initial funding goal of $20,000, which will support production of premium collector editions, educational experiences, leadership resources, and launch activities that bring the ICONIC Leadership framework to professionals around the world.About Women in CloudWomen In Cloud is a global network of 150,000 Women Tech Founders, Executives, Tech Professionals, and Allies in 100 countries who are committed to inspiring the tech ecosystem to be an inclusive force for change and take collective action by providing a powerful platform to collaborate, build community engagement and unlock $1B in new net economic access by 2030. Through events and initiatives, Women In Cloud also promotes conversations around its focus areas of Cloud Workforce Development, Civic Engagement via Policy Advocacy, Entrepreneurship and Cloud/AI Innovation and Global partnerships with corporations, community leaders, and policy makers. All of which are united by the ESG and UN Sustainable Development Goals that are driven by job creation, diversity and inclusion, technology innovation and sustainability, giving women a powerful platform to accelerate as industry leaders. We are fiscally sponsored by SDG Digital Foundation 501(3c) organization.

Ping Identity Launches India Data Centre to Support Local Hosting and AI Innovation

EDITORIAL DESK

Ping Identity Launches India Data Centre to Support Local Hosting and AI Innovation

Bangalore, July 2026 : New Mumbai deployment helps enterprises build trusted AI while supporting local hosting preferencesPing Identity, a leader in securing digital identities for the world's largest enterprises, today announced the launch of its India data centre capability. The new deployment builds on Ping’s long-term investment in India, one of the world's fastest-growing digital economies, and brings trusted identity infrastructure closer to organisations across the region.The India data centre is hosted in Google Cloud's Mumbai region and enables enterprises to host supported identity workloads locally, help reduce application latency, and strengthen governance over digital identities. It also supports customers' data residency preferences while helping them navigate India's evolving privacy and regulatory landscape."India is one of the world's fastest-growing digital economies , and data residency and identity governance have become increasingly important priorities for organisations across the country," said Jasie Fon, Regional Vice President, Asia, Ping Identity. "Our India data centre reflects Ping's long-term commitment to India and gives customers the local infrastructure they need to innovate with confidence as AI becomes central to their business."AI is moving from experimentation into production across Indian enterprises, increasing the need for trusted identity across every digital interaction. According to Deloitte's 2026 State of AI in the Enterprise report, 40% of Indian organisations report significant or full AI usage, compared with a global average of approximately 28%, underscoring the pace at which businesses are operationalising AI. Enterprises now need to know not only who is accessing systems and data, but also what AI agents are authorised to do, what information they can access, and how every interaction is governed.Supporting India's evolving regulatory landscapeOrganisations across India are placing greater emphasis on privacy, governance and operational resilience amid an evolving privacy and regulatory landscape. Many are looking for technology partners that can support those efforts while helping them navigate evolving regulatory requirements.The India deployment helps organisations:Host supported identity workloads locally to support internal governance and business requirementsStrengthen privacy-by-design, consent management, access controls and auditability across digital identity journeysImprove application performance and user experience through lower-latency local hostingAccelerate cloud identity adoption while maintaining security, resilience and operational controlSupport secure identity for AI applications and AI agentsIdentity: The Trust Layer for AIIndia is rapidly emerging as one of the world's leading AI innovation hubs, supported by a strong technology ecosystem, engineering talent and government investment in digital infrastructure. AI is becoming embedded in customer experiences, workforce operations and business processes across every industry. Identity provides the trust layer that enables those systems to operate securely, transparently and with accountability.Ping's enterprise identity platform secures identities across customers, employees, partners and non-human entities. Runtime Identity™ continuously verifies identity, context and intent at every interaction, giving enterprises the visibility and policy controls needed to govern people, applications and AI agents consistently across digital environments.Together, local hosting capabilities and Runtime Identity help enterprises build AI-powered services that are secure by design, governed by policy and designed to support evolving privacy expectations and the principles of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act.Expanding Ping Identity's Commitment to IndiaThe India data centre builds on Ping's long-standing investment in the country. The company has an established engineering and development presence in Bengaluru, with approximately 300 employees supporting global product innovation, engineering and customer success, alongside a growing go-to-market organisation supporting customers across India.The new deployment gives enterprises the identity infrastructure they need to modernise digital experiences, support compliance initiatives and securely scale AI initiatives.About Ping IdentityAt Ping Identity, we help organizations secure and manage digital identities across customers, employees, partners, and non-human entities. Whether securing millions of users, fighting fraud, simplifying third-party access, or enabling passwordless experiences, establishing trust in every digital moment shouldn't slow you down. Our enterprise identity platform is designed for scale, flexibility, and integration across cloud, hybrid, and on-premises environments. With our Runtime Identity capabilities, Ping enables organizations to adopt AI and automation by continuously verifying identity, context, and intent at every interaction, helping secure and govern AI agents in real time. Learn more at pingidentity.com.

NXP simplifies infotainment design with single-chip radio and AI/ML-enabled audio solution

EDITORIAL DESK

NXP simplifies infotainment design with single-chip radio and AI/ML-enabled audio solution

Bangalore, July 2026 : SAF9800 gives automakers the flexibility to address new radio challenges, like regulatory guidelines and mounting system complexity.What’s new: NXP Semiconductors today announced the SAF9800, a new automotive audio and radio processor designed to simplify infotainment architectures. To achieve this, NXP has integrated analog radio (AM and FM) and AI/ML-enabled audio processing into a highly flexible single-chip solution that meets the needs of a vast range of next generation vehicles. The solution enables automakers to reduce system complexity and scale features across global vehicle platforms.SAF9800 combines analog radio reception and high-performance audio processing into a single integrated solution. This innovative approach empowers OEMs to consolidate functions that have traditionally required multiple discrete radio and audio components into a single, scalable device.Furthermore, SAF9800 leverages AI-driven acoustic source separation technology that transforms in-cabin microphone data by isolating critical sounds like vocal commands, mechanical failures, or emergency sirens from overwhelming background noise. Traditional filtering often fails in complex acoustic environments like vehicle cabins, making machine learning the premier solution for dynamic, real-time audio extraction.“The industry is moving away from fragmented, hardware-driven infotainment systems toward more integrated, software-defined architectures,” said John van den Braak, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Infotainment and Audio Systems product line at NXP Semiconductors. “With SAF9800, we are combining the long-lifecycle building blocks of infotainment—such as broadcast radio and digital audio—with new AI/ML-powered audio capabilities that enhance the in-car experience, enable in-cabin audio sensing, and support functional audio use-cases. By delivering these capabilities in a flexible, single-chip solution that meets stringent global RF and audio requirements, we help automakers simplify development and scale their platforms to meet evolving market needs.”SAF9800 integrates a HiFi 5 audio DSP with integrated neural-network processing capabilities together with NXP’s hardware-based biquad accelerators, delivering more than 10x audio processing performance compared to previous generations. This enables advanced audio use cases such as real-time noise reduction, voice and sound classification, and more adaptive in-cabin listening experiences—using data-driven algorithms rather than fixed signal processingDesigned for software-defined architectures, the solution supports feature scalability through software - allowing automakers to configure, upgrade, and differentiate radio and audio capabilities without changing hardware.Why it matters: Automakers are navigating a shifting landscape of radio policy considerations, evolving consumer expectations and technical challenges for in-vehicle radio. For example, in the U.S., proposed legislation aims to preserve in vehicle access to broadcast radio, including AM. At the same time, electrification is introducing new signal interference challenges, intensifying industry debate over the role and implementation of analog broadcast in next-generation vehicles. These issues require flexible solutions that can give automakers options.SAF9800 addresses these challenges by consolidating radio and audio processing into a single, scalable chip-level solution and providing key support offerings. The reduced system footprint and simplified integration enable automakers to adapt to changing global requirements. NXP also offers support, like its latest generation of AM denoising technology (EVAM-lite) on the new SAF9800 product series to address signal interference challenges come primarily from EVs into the AM frequency band.AvailabilityThe SAF9800 automotive radio and audio processor is available as of May 2026, with development support and software enablement tools available to accelerate customer designs.###About NXP SemiconductorsNXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) is the trusted partner for innovative solutions in the automotive, industrial & IoT, mobile, and communications infrastructure markets. NXP's "Brighter Together" approach combines leading-edge technology with pioneering people to develop system solutions that make the connected world better, safer, and more secure. The company has operations in more than 30 countries and posted revenue of $12.27 billion in 2025. Find out more at www.nxp.com.NXP and the NXP logo are trademarks of NXP B.V. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved. © 2026 NXP B.V

Kaspersky uncovers a patient cyber-espionage campaign using new GoSerpent malware to harvest diplomatic secrets

EDITORIAL DESK

Kaspersky uncovers a patient cyber-espionage campaign using new GoSerpent malware to harvest diplomatic secrets

Bangalore, July 2026The new GoSerpent RAT targeted government and diplomatic entities in Southeast Asia. The campaign underscores the threat actor’s emphasis on maintaining long-term access and conducting intelligence collection.In July 2026, researchers from the Kaspersky Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) team identified a new campaign, dubbed GoSerpent, representing a sophisticated and adaptive threat focused on the collection and exfiltration of sensitive data. According to the researchers, the operation relies on a set of customized tools, including the GoSerpent backdoor, Stowaway, and TmcLoader, reflecting a high level of technical capability and operational planning.A central component of the campaign is the GoSerpent backdoor, a sophisticated Go-based Remote Access Trojan (RAT) that has reportedly been active since at least 2021, with the latest known variant deployed in 2026. The malware incorporates strong persistence mechanisms and uses filenames that imitate legitimate system processes to reduce the likelihood of detection.“What stands out about GoSerpent is the deliberate dwell time. Usually, attackers want to move quickly once they get a foothold, but this group drops the initial backdoor and waits. They let the dust settle for weeks before deploying their secondary exfiltration tools like TmcLoader. That kind of patience is a calculated move designed to outlast standard log retention policies and automated security sweeps, making it incredibly difficult for defenders to connect the initial infection to the eventual data theft," — says Noushin Shabab, Lead Security Researcher in Kaspersky GReAT.The company’s researchers suspect a link between the GoSerpent campaign and the TetrisPhantom threat actor based on shared victimology, technical capabilities, and operational methods. While there are similarities, further investigation is ongoing to definitively attribute the campaign.The full report is available on securelist.com.To stay safe, Kaspersky GReAT experts recommend organizations:Remain highly vigilant against the deployment of GoSerpent IoCs and other tools presented in the report.Apply cybersecurity solutions that enable government agencies worldwide to regain full control over their data, ensure compliance with local regulations, and build resilient, sovereign digital infrastructures. Such options are provided by Kaspersky solutions like:Kaspersky Next which enables unified real-time protection, threat visibility, investigation and the response capabilities of EDR and XDR.Kaspersky Security for Mail Server which safeguards email communications through anti-phishing, attachment sandboxing, and business email compromise protection.Kaspersky Digital Footprint Intelligence which monitors the external attack surface and dark web for exposed credentials, offering government teams an outside-in view of their risk landscape.Kaspersky Compromise Assessment, Managed Detection and Response and Incident Response which help protect against evasive cyberattacks, investigate incidents and provide additional expertise if companies lack cybersecurity workers.About the Global Research & Analysis TeamEstablished in 2008, Global Research & Analysis Team (GReAT) operates at the very heart of Kaspersky, uncovering APTs, cyber-espionage campaigns, major malware, ransomware and underground cyber-criminal trends across the world. Today GReAT consists of 35+ experts working globally – in Europe, Russia, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East. Talented security professionals provide company leadership in anti-malware research and innovation, bringing unrivaled expertise, passion and curiosity to the discovery and analysis of cyberthreats.About KasperskyKaspersky is a global cybersecurity and digital privacy company founded in 1997. Innovating the industry with a Cyber Immunity approach, Kaspersky safeguards consumers, businesses, critical infrastructure, and governments from cyberthreats, with over a billion devices protected to date.Kaspersky ensures Cybersecurity True to Business, focusing on providing clear outcomes, protecting revenue, easing workloads and preventing downtime. Kaspersky’s deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into innovative solutions and services for organizations of every size, from small businesses to large enterprises, combining proven AI-driven protection technologies with simple management and expert support.Recognized in independent tests and trusted by millions of individuals worldwide and nearly 200,000 organizations, Kaspersky helps detect threats earlier, respond faster and operate with greater confidence and freedom, protecting what matters most to our clients. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com.

Palo Alto Networks to Extend Leading Observability Platform with Innovative Digital Experience Monitoring

EDITORIAL DESK

Palo Alto Networks to Extend Leading Observability Platform with Innovative Digital Experience Monitoring

Bangalore, July 2026 — New RUM and Synthetics capabilities unify infrastructure, application and user experience insights, catching problems before a user doesPalo Alto Networks® (NASDAQ: PANW), the global cybersecurity leader, today announced its intent to acquire Embrace, a leading provider of user-focused observability, to add high-fidelity Real User Monitoring (RUM) capabilities to the Palo Alto Networks Observability platform. Palo Alto Networks is also introducing Synthetics, a new capability built with its world-class Autonomous Digital Experience Management (ADEM) team, for proactively validating application performance from anywhere. These new capabilities will extend Palo Alto Networks Observability to Digital Experience Monitoring. Customers will gain a complete, unified view, from end-user interactions and proactive app validation to backend software and infrastructure, all on the industry's leading, innovative, cost-effective platform. Modern applications are increasingly complex and autonomous, and organizations need full performance visibility to ensure reliability. Legacy tools are fragmented, cost-prohibitive, and frequently miss when a user's experience is broken. Embrace's proven RUM capabilities are built for modern environments, allowing customers to deliver applications that scale at the pace of AI. Synthetics will leverage Palo Alto Networks' globally distributed infrastructure to proactively validate application availability and performance from strategic locations across the globe. With these new capabilities, organizations will be able to: Eliminate blindspots: Monitor user experiences and infrastructure health through a single interface to help ensure user-facing applications and workflows are seamlessly executing without introducing hidden digital issues. Prevent revenue impacting downtime: Combine Embrace's advanced monitoring with Palo Alto Networks' deep data analytics, to quickly pinpoint and resolve complex performance issues, protecting revenue and brand reputation. Catch problems before any user does: Palo Alto Networks' Observability platform and ADEM deliver a complete view of digital experience by catching issues before they impact both customers and employees. Following the acquisition of Chronosphere in January 2026, Palo Alto Networks continues to drive innovation across its Observability platform, surpassing $300M ARR in Q3 FY26. The company also earned recognition from Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Observability Platforms, where it was named a leader for the third consecutive year, earning the top ranking for Observability Cost Control in the 2026 Gartner® Critical Capabilities™ report. Lee Klarich, Chief Product & Technology Officer of Palo Alto Networks "To truly understand how their applications are performing, organizations need to see the whole picture - from the moment a user taps or clicks to what exactly happens on the backend. By combining Palo Alto Networks' leading Observability platform with Embrace's innovative Real User Monitoring and the organically developed Synthetic Monitoring capabilities, we'll deliver exactly that. And we're taking it a step further - by linking these capabilities with Cortex AgentiX, organizations will be able to both see and automatically fix issues across their ecosystem. This is what true platformization looks like in practice." The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in Palo Alto Networks first quarter of fiscal 2027. Follow Palo Alto Networks on X, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. About Palo Alto Networks Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW), the global AI cybersecurity leader, protects our digital way of life with a comprehensive portfolio of cybersecurity solutions and platforms across Network, Cloud, Security Operations, AI and Identity. Trusted by 70,000+ customers and powered by Unit 42 threat intelligence, our AI-driven platforms eliminate complexity, empowering enterprises to modernize with confidence and securing the speed of innovation. Explore the future of security at www.paloaltonetworks.com. Palo Alto Networks, Cortex, Cortex AgentiX, and Chronosphere and the Palo Alto Networks logo are trademarks of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. in the United States and in jurisdictions throughout the world. All other trademarks, trade names, or service marks used or mentioned herein belong to their respective owners. Any unreleased services or features (and any services or features not generally available to customers) referenced in this or other press releases or public statements are not currently available (or are not yet generally available to customers) and may not be delivered when expected or at all. Customers who purchase Palo Alto Networks applications should make their purchase decisions based on services and features currently generally available. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the anticipated benefits and impact of the proposed acquisition of Embrace on Palo Alto Networks, Embrace and their customers. There are a significant number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from statements made in this press release, including, but not limited to: the effect of the announcement of the proposed acquisition on the parties' commercial relationships and workforce; the ability to satisfy the conditions to the closing of the acquisition; the ability to consummate the proposed acquisition on a timely basis or at all; significant and/or unanticipated difficulties, liabilities or expenditures relating to proposed transaction, risks related to disruption of management time from ongoing business operations due to the proposed acquisition and the ongoing integration of other recent acquisitions; our ability to effectively operate Embrace's operations and business following the closing, integrate Embrace's business and products into our products following the closing, and realize the anticipated synergies in the transaction in a timely manner or at all; changes in the fair value of our contingent consideration liability associated with acquisitions or the fair value of our convertible senior notes and capped call transactions; developments and changes in general market, political, economic and business conditions; failure of our platformization product offerings; risks associated with managing our growth; risks associated with new product, subscription and support offerings; shifts in priorities or delays in the development or release of new product or subscription or other offerings or the failure to timely develop and achieve market acceptance of new products and subscriptions, as well as existing products, subscriptions and support offerings; failure of our product offerings or business strategies in general; defects, errors, or vulnerabilities in our products, subscriptions or support offerings; our customers' purchasing decisions and the length of sales cycles; our ability to attract and retain new customers; developments and changes in general market, political, economic, and business conditions; our competition; our ability to acquire and integrate other companies, products, or technologies in a successful manner; our debt repayment obligations; and our share repurchase program, which may not be fully consummated or enhance shareholder value, and any share repurchases which could affect the price of our common stock. Additional risks and uncertainties that could affect our financial results are included under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on June 2, 2026, which is available on our website at investors.paloaltonetworks.com and on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Additional information will also be set forth in other filings that we make with the SEC from time to time. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we do not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements provided to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made.

NETSCOUT HITS INNOVATION MILESTONE WITH 750th PATENT

EDITORIAL DESK

NETSCOUT HITS INNOVATION MILESTONE WITH 750th PATENT

Bangalore, July 2026 : Industry Innovator Delivers Powerfully Unique Solutions for Customers Over Four DecadesNETSCOUT® (NASDAQ: NTCT), a leading provider of observability, AIOps, cybersecurity, and DDoS attack protection solutions, today celebrates the issuance of its 750th patent.The patent, “Systems and Methods for Performing Computer Network Service Chain Analysis,” issued June 24, 2026, in the U.K., is the latest in a portfolio that spans NETSCOUT’s long track record of continuous innovation, from deep packet inspection to adaptive DDoS mitigation, from 5G service assurance to AI-ready data platforms, from on premises to cloud-native observability. Guided by a philosophy of unrelenting commitment to its customers and to innovation, NETSCOUT has built an intellectual property portfolio, patent by patent and invention by invention, across technology cycles in the networking and cybersecurity industries.“Our 750th patent is a milestone we are proud of, but what it represents matters more than the number itself,” said Anil K. Singhal, Co-founder and CEO of NETSCOUT. “For more than forty years, the people of NETSCOUT, across the company, have tackled hard problems for our customers and invented and built solutions that no one had before. Our portfolio is a record of that work. Every patent in it reflects an original and important idea. That is what being a Guardian of the Connected World looks like.”A Portfolio Built Across Network IntelligenceNETSCOUT’s patents span the company’s technical domains. Its patented Adaptive Service Intelligence technology – the deep packet inspection engine at the core of the company’s “smart data” platform – is the foundation for observability and smart data that is ready for AIOps, SRE, and other applications.Across the portfolio, NETSCOUT’s patents cover a broad spectrum of technologies including:Packet capture and real-time analysis at carrier and enterprise scaleDDoS attack detection, classification, and automated mitigationMobile network performance monitoring and 5G service assurance, including radio access network observabilityNetwork detection and responseArtificial intelligence and machine learning-driven analyticsAdaptive threat detectionSmart data that is primed for AI and agentic AI workloads.The ATLAS global threat intelligence network that monitors over 800 terabits per second of internet traffic across more than 200 countries is likewise the product of patented innovations that serve as the cornerstone of NETSCOUT’s threat intelligence and protection solutions.Innovation That Translates Directly to Customer Outcomes“We are solving our customers toughest problems, often differently than others, while we propel the state of the art for our customers and the digital ecosystem,” said Jeff Levinson, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, NETSCOUT. “With our patent program, we recognize the innovations our teams create, and we ensure that NETSCOUT’s competitive leadership is protected with the same rigor with which it was earned. In the face of today’s dynamic technological changes and advances, we are pleased that the pipeline of innovation is as strong as it has ever been.”NETSCOUT’s IP strategy and continuous innovation are purpose-built to serve its customers. For example, the company’s most recent generation of patents in AI-ready data, carrier telemetry processing, and adaptive threat detection forms the technical foundation of the Omnis™ Sensor and Omnis Streamer products, designed for predictive-grade intelligence across observability, service assurance, cybersecurity, and AIOps. As artificial intelligence reshapes network operations, security, and service assurance, NETSCOUT’s ongoing innovation in AI-ready data, 5G network intelligence, adaptive DDoS protection, and real-time threat detection positions the company well to continue to deliver the innovations customers and the industry require for success.About NETSCOUTNETSCOUT SYSTEMS, INC. (NASDAQ: NTCT) protects the connected world from cyberattacks and performance and availability disruptions through its unique visibility platform and solutions powered by its pioneering deep packet inspection at scale technology. NETSCOUT serves the world’s largest enterprises, service providers, and public sector organizations. Learn more at www.netscout.com or follow @NETSCOUT on LinkedIn, X, or Facebook.©2026 NETSCOUT SYSTEMS, INC. All rights reserved. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.