Keysight Launches SBOM Manager to Help Organizations Prepare for Emerging Global Cybersecurity Regulations

Keysight Technologies — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 09:05:00 -0400

SANTA ROSA, Calif., April 2, 2026 /3BL/ - Keysight Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: KEYS) announced the launch of Keysight SBOM Manager, a new solution designed to help organizations meet growing global cybersecurity and software transparency requirements, led by the European Union’s Cyber Resilience Act (CRA). The solution provides a unified approach to generating, managing, and using Software Bill of Materials (SBOMs) for digital products, enabling organizations to meet regulatory obligations with greater accuracy, confidence, and consistency across the product lifecycle.

Cybersecurity regulations worldwide are converging on a common expectation: manufacturers must understand, manage, and disclose the components within their digital products, including software and firmware. Regulations such as the EU CRA, U.S. Executive Order 14028, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cybersecurity requirements for medical devices, and emerging frameworks in Asia are making SBOMs a foundational requirement for market access, regulatory approval, and customer trust worldwide.

Keysight SBOM Manager is designed to support this shift by addressing the practical challenges organizations face as SBOM requirements expand. The solution enables broader and more accurate visibility into digital products by analyzing binary software, firmware, containers, and other packaged components, including closed-source and deeply embedded dependencies. It continuously correlates SBOMs with multiple authoritative vulnerability sources, intelligently filters out vulnerabilities that are not applicable, and supports the use of Vulnerability Exploitability eXchange (VEX). This enables teams to focus on meaningful risk rather than being overwhelmed by raw vulnerability data.

In addition, Keysight SBOM Manager supports secure and scalable sharing of SBOMs and vulnerability information through controlled, role-based access and version tracking, helping organizations meet regulatory and customer transparency expectations. Built-in validation and normalization help ensure SBOMs align with evolving standards and regulatory minimum requirements, while support for SBOM consumers enables organizations to ingest, manage, and map SBOMs to deployed digital assets, connecting transparency directly to real operational environments.

Naoki Shimazaki, Fourth Design Department, Director, Software-Defined Solutions Division, Connective Engineering Division, Hitachi Industry & Control Solutions, Ltd., said: “The use of SBOMs is becoming an essential element in monitoring system security risks, including software composition management and supply chain risk management. We believe that solutions such as these, which enable visibility into system components and support vulnerability impact analysis, have significant potential to strengthen organizations’ cybersecurity efforts.”

Dmitry Raidman, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, CyBeats, said: “While companies innovate at the speed of AI, they must also put tighter governance and stronger controls in place, especially as modern products increasingly rely on open source, third-party components, and AI-assisted development. Supply chain transparency and accountability are now paramount. To meet growing global regulations, organizations need the ability to continuously generate trustworthy SBOMs, correlate them with actionable vulnerability intelligence, apply VEX to reduce noise, and automate response workflows at scale. As transparency expectations expand across software, AI, cryptography, and hardware, visibility into the full digital product stack is becoming essential for secure-by-design development, regulatory readiness, and customer trust.”

Ram Periakaruppan, Vice President and General Manager, Network Test & Security Solutions at Keysight, said: “As cybersecurity regulations mature, SBOMs are becoming a prerequisite for doing business globally. Keysight SBOM Manager helps organizations meet these requirements with confidence by bringing accuracy, consistency, and scalability to SBOM generation and management.”

The EU CRA, which comes into force in 2026, requires manufacturers of connected digital products to implement cybersecurity risk management, maintain SBOMs, and report actively exploited vulnerabilities within 24 hours. Similar expectations are already in place through U.S. Executive Order 14028 and FDA cybersecurity guidance, while regulators in India, Japan, and South Korea are formalizing SBOM requirements across regulated sectors. Failure to comply can result in penalties, delayed approvals, recalls, or restricted market access.

By bringing together accurate SBOM generation for digital products, continuous vulnerability intelligence, secure sharing, data quality assurance, prioritization, and consumer-side visibility in a single platform, Keysight SBOM Manager helps organizations reduce regulatory risk, improve vulnerability response, and build greater trust across global digital supply chains.

Resources

Product Page: Keysight SBOM Manager

About Keysight Technologies

At Keysight (NYSE: KEYS), we inspire and empower innovators to bring world-changing technologies to life. As an S&P 500 company, we're delivering market-leading design, emulation, and test solutions to help engineers develop and deploy faster, with less risk, throughout the entire product life cycle. We're a global innovation partner enabling customers in communications, industrial automation, aerospace and defense, automotive, semiconductor, and general electronics markets to accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world. Learn more at Keysight Newsroom and www.keysight.com.

Contacts

Andrea Mueller, Americas
andrea.mueller@keysight.com

Jenny Gallacher, Europe
jenny.gallacher@keysight.com

Fusako Dohi, Asia
fusako_dohi@keysight.com

New California Training Academy To Power Next-Gen HVAC Innovation

LG Electronics USA — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 08:05:00 -0400

News Summary

LG cut the ribbon on its newest LG Air Conditioning Technologies Training Academy in Orange, Calif., as LG continues its commitment to equip California HVAC professionals with the knowledge and skills to deliver high-quality heat pump installations for efficient indoor comfort and water heating.
The facility’s opening coincided with California Heat Pump Week. Co-sponsored by LG, the statewide activation campaign included marquee events, contractor celebrations and grass roots enthusiasm, all aimed at raising heat pump awareness.
As part of California Heat Pump Week celebrations, LG’s Mobile Showroom stopped at several events co-hosted with distributors throughout the week, providing a live showcase of LG products with partners on hand to answer visitor questions about heat pumps.

ORANGE, Calif., April 21, 2026 /3BL/ - Global HVAC technology leader LG Electronics celebrated the grand opening of its new LG Air Conditioning Technologies Training Academy in Orange, Calif. The ribbon-cutting ceremony marked the culmination of California Heat Pump Week (April 11-19), showcasing LG’s commitment to advancing energy efficient HVAC solutions.

VIP attendees at the grand opening event got a first look at LG’s 2026 high-efficiency HVAC products, including water heating and control solutions designed to enhance comfort, minimize noise and maximize energy efficiency. Mayor Dan Slater welcomed LG to the City of Orange, noting that “LG Electronics’ newest training HVAC Academy will be providing great career opportunities in an increasingly important industry.”

The LG Orange Training Academy extends LG’s national network of six specialized facilities focused on developing skilled HVAC professionals. It joins established academies in Alpharetta, Ga.; Boston, Mass.; Chicago, Ill.; Dallas, Texas; and Englewood Cliffs, N.J. that provide comprehensive insights into LG’s industry-leading air conditioning solutions. In these academies, experienced trainers deliver courses spanning unitary, ductless, VRF and controls solutions, covering everything from installation to service for LG’s full range of air conditioning and water heating products.

Through its advanced heat pump technologies and training infrastructure, LG’s participation in California Heat Pump Week supports the acceleration of heat pump adoption across California and the state’s goals for a more electrified future. The statewide activation, an initiative of the California Heat Pump Partnership, is dedicated to raising public awareness, strengthening contractor capacity and accelerating the adoption of heat pumps in California.

“Contractor training is critical to advancing the adoption of heat pump technology,” said Steve Scarbrough, senior vice president and general manager of LG Air Conditioning Technologies, LG Electronics USA. “LG’s Orange Training Academy is the latest example of our commitment to equipping contractors and installers with the in-depth knowledge and hands-on skills necessary to confidently implement sustainable HVAC technologies across California.”

In addition to the training academy opening, LG rolled out its Mobile Showroom and co-hosted distributor and community events throughout California Heat Pump Week. The showroom provides immersive, hands-on demonstrations with LG products and expert insights into its HVAC technologies.

The Mobile Showroom stops during California Heat Pump Week included Home Depot Antelope and ECCO Supply in Sacramento, Miles Memorial Playhouse in Santa Monica and the Livart Group, Commerce.

Eleven-time ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year LG Electronics USA is a proud member of the California Heat Pump Partnership, the ENERGY STAR Heat Pump Manufacturers Action Council and the national Heat Pump Water Heating Initiative, and collaborates with the Building Decarbonization Coalition, Rewiring America and others. For more information about LG’s air conditioning business, visit www.lghvac.com.

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About LG Air Conditioning Technologies USA

LG Electronics USA’s Air Conditioning Technologies business is based in Alpharetta, Ga. LG is a leading player in the air conditioning market, manufacturing both commercial and residential air conditioners and building management solutions. From consumer and individual units to industrial and specialized air conditioning systems, LG provides a wide range of products for heating, ventilating, air conditioning, water heating, and building controls. Eleven-time ENERGY STAR^® Partner of the Year, LG Electronics USA (based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.), is the North American subsidiary of LG Electronics Inc., a smart life solutions company with annual revenues of more than $60 billion. Learn more about LG’s HVAC offerings at lghvac.com or follow on social: LinkedIn, YouTube, X (Twitter), Facebook and Instagram.

Media Contacts:

LG Electronics USA

Kim Regillio
+ 1 815 355 0509
kim.regillio@lge.com

Noel Hampton
+1 469 580 3094
noel.hampton@lg-one.com

Novata Expands Regulatory Navigator To Simplify Sustainability Regulations

Novata — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 07:00:00 -0400

NEW YORK, April 20, 2026 /3BL/ - Novata, the leading sustainability management platform for private markets, today announced a significant expansion of the Novata Regulatory Navigator. The solution now includes a Premium tier designed to help organizations remove the heavy lifting of monitoring regulatory noise to take clear, confident action.

As global sustainability regulations increase in complexity, companies and investors face a challenge: determining what applies to them and when. The updated Regulatory Navigator solves this through an AI-powered, expert-validated engine that uses over 30 specific company data points (such as revenue, jurisdiction, and employee count) to pinpoint relevant regulatory obligations.

“Regulatory requirements are no longer just a ‘reporting’ issue; they are a core business risk,” said Caitlin Pentifallo, Novata’s Head of Regulatory Strategy & Sustainability. “We built the Regulatory Navigator to act as an experienced coach for our clients. By combining real-time AI monitoring with our team’s sustainability expertise, we provide the clarity teams need to stop wondering which rules apply and start taking action.”

The Regulatory Navigator is available in two tiers to meet organizations at any stage of their journey:

Regulatory Navigator (Free): Provides a foundational view of the global regulatory landscape. Users can create a company profile in minutes to understand which regulations apply to them and hone in on country-specific requirements and impact.
Regulatory Navigator Premium: A comprehensive workflow solution for teams. Additional features include a centralized dashboard with real-time news feeds, a Kanban-style Monitoring Hub to track compliance status, a global monitoring heat map, “Regulation Cards” that provide timelines, source links, and specific applicability criteria for easier tracking, and trend analysis to help teams see around corners on where sustainability policy development is headed.

The Premium version also introduces Organization Structure visualizations, allowing GPs and large parent companies to monitor regulatory exposure across entire portfolios, supply chains, or complex entity hierarchies.

“Sustainability regulations have exploded in complexity over the last several years, not just in volume, but in the demands it places on companies. These are novel legal obligations, often conflicting across jurisdictions, and the pace of change means that simply knowing which rules apply to you has become a serious undertaking in its own right. And knowing which regulations apply is only the first step, actually operationalizing compliance and staying ahead of what’s coming is where most teams are really struggling,” said Beth Meyer, Novata’s Chief Legal Officer. “The Regulatory Navigator helps teams cut through that complexity by providing a clear, centralized view of what applies and when, so they can move forward with confidence and ease.”

Unlike tools that rely solely on automated scraping, the Regulatory Navigator features a "human-in-the-loop" approach. It uses AI to scan global government registries, primary sources, and top-tier news sources, but every insight is reviewed by Novata’s expert team for accuracy and relevance before it reaches the client.

The Premium tier's trend analysis capability empowers organizations to shift how they are approaching regulatory risk, moving from reactive compliance to proactive strategy. Rather than waiting for rules to land, teams can use emerging policy signals to inform their planning, get ahead of disclosure requirements, and turn regulatory preparedness into a competitive advantage.

To learn more or see how it works, visit Novata’s website.

About Novata

Novata’s solutions make it easy for organizations to achieve their sustainability goals and create value. Our trusted sustainability management platform and advisory practice empowers organizations to automate data collection and reporting, streamline carbon accounting, simplify regulations, benchmark performance, and monitor risk.

Backed by the Ford Foundation, Hamilton Lane, Microsoft, Motive Partners, Omidyar Network, and S&P Global, Novata is majority controlled by mission-driven organizations and its employees, and is a B-Corp-certified public benefit corporation. www.novata.com

Contacts

Media Contact
Katie Stueber
press@novata.com

Data Center Sustainability: The Value of Partnerships

Trane Technologies — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 10:40:00 -0400

This article is authored by Mauro J. Atalla, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology and Sustainability Officer, Trane Technologies

The AI-enabled economy is accelerating at a breakneck pace, but its ultimate speed limit won't be dictated by software; instead, it will be defined by the necessary physical infrastructure: power, cooling, water and space. At the same time, the increased infrastructure demand challenges the limits of traditional engineering. From climate modeling to advanced biomedical research and physical-AI applications, each breakthrough creates new requirements for power density and data center cooling efficiency.

As Chief Technology and Sustainability Officer, I see firsthand that the future of data centers depends not just on isolated technological breakthroughs, but on deep, strategic industry partnerships. This dual role reinforces a core truth: our greatest technological challenges and our most urgent sustainability imperatives are fundamentally intertwined. Meeting the needs of the AI economy in a sustainable fashion requires us to radically rethink how we design, build, and operate these facilities.

Engineering for a constrained world

Unprecedented scale and growth are rapidly shifting the industry’s requirements. To deliver the infrastructure necessary to power this new era, we must engineer solutions that can handle dynamic, high-density workloads while optimizing energy management and power consumption, water usage, and even acoustic profiles and noise generation. Achieving our sustainability goals is a critical imperative that is functionally linked to greater operational efficiency. We must minimize resource use and our physical footprint while maximizing overall reliability and uptime.

No single organization can solve these multifaceted challenges alone. As rack power densities leap forward, innovating at the pace our customers require demands more than the knowledge contained within our own four walls. It requires a holistic ecosystem approach.

Consolidating expertise across the ecosystem

A prime example of this collaborative approach is our work with NVIDIA. Together, we developed the first comprehensive thermal management system reference design for gigawatt-scale AI factories, engineered to support high-density platforms like Grace Blackwell and Vera Rubin. By combining Trane Technologies’ advanced HVAC expertise with NVIDIA’s Omniverse-powered digital twin capabilities, we can simulate and optimize the real-world performance of thermal systems before they are installed.

We have since built on this foundation with two new designs and further optimizations. These enhanced reference designs achieve a nearly 10% improvement in overall thermal management performance, effectively freeing up 22 MW of cooling capacity in a 1 GW data center for additional IT capacity. Furthermore, our new 250-MW duplex design delivers 14% higher efficiency with integrated heat recovery, proving that we can drastically increase compute capacity without unnecessarily elevating total data center energy consumption.

But the required ecosystem must be broad and inclusive. We are actively engaging with leading chip manufacturers to ensure our data center cooling systems are adaptable across various hardware architectures. Furthermore, to address the energy demands of modern facilities, we are partnering with specialists in onsite power generation and advanced electrical distribution. These collaborations are essential for creating resilient microgrids, enabling the direct integration of renewable energy sources at the site level, and ensuring that facilities have the highest efficiency, minimizing resource utilization. Beyond the physical hardware, working with technology leaders like Autodesk expands our ability to streamline workflows and democratize the benefits of AI for building owners and operators.

"These new advancements reflect what’s possible when deep expertise and shared purpose come together."
^{Mauro J. Atalla}
^{Senior Vice President and Chief Technology and Sustainability Officer, Trane Technologies}

Bridging the gap between research and deployment

Evolving chip and cooling technologies present both opportunities and risks. Rushed, untested solutions can disrupt operations, while delayed adoption can leave operators lagging behind. Dr. Dereje Agonafer, Distinguished Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, underscored this during a recent discussion on our Healthy Spaces podcast on data center energy demands: “We need to have a better dialogue between academia and the industry. That’s really the way that our nation can succeed.”

Putting this into practice, we are supporting academic partners at the University of Maryland and UT Arlington, where we are participating in the U.S. Department of Energy ARPA-E COOLERCHIPS program. These direct research partnerships accelerate the design process for next-generation facilities, facilitating the rapid development and testing of novel hybrid cooling solutions that drastically reduce energy and water needs.

Connecting data centers to the broader energy grid

As these partnerships move the field forward, we are collectively unlocking new levels of efficiency across the entire digital infrastructure landscape. Instead of viewing data centers solely as massive power consumers, engineers and policymakers are increasingly recognizing them as integral parts of a larger energy ecosystem.

Through advanced waste heat recovery and redistribution, data centers can actively contribute back to the network. By integrating closed-loop and hybrid liquid cooling systems, we enable localized benefits—capturing low-grade heat and using it to supply thermal energy to local communities. A prime example of this is our work with Infomaniak, a data center operator in Geneva, Switzerland. Together with the developer and the local community, we designed a system using advanced Trane heat pumps that recovers virtually 100 percent of the facility's waste heat. That thermal energy is injected directly into the city's district heating network, supplying enough energy to warm 6,000 homes in the winter or provide 20,000 hot showers in the summer. This is how we drive more efficient community integration.

The future of collaborative innovation

A clear lesson from the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure has emerged: successful innovation is measured by resilience, adaptability and positive real-world impact. The race to build the next generation of data centers is fundamentally a race for intelligent resource stewardship and reliable design.

With billions in capital at stake and high execution risks, enduring progress is only possible through deep, cross-industry collaborations capable of reliably delivering the speed, scalability, and vision that tomorrow’s digital solutions and infrastructure demands. The demands of an AI-driven world require more than just hardware; they call for new alliances, multidisciplinary approaches and human ingenuity. Our commitment remains clear: to bring people, ideas and expertise together to engineer and scale sustainable solutions.

See how Trane Technologies transforms innovation into measurable results, advancing efficiency, sustainability and performance across industries. - Learn more about our sustainable innovation.

Cloudflare and GoDaddy Partner to Help Enable an Open Agentic Web

GoDaddy — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 10:00:00 -0400

Originally published by GoDaddy

SAN FRANCISCO and TEMPE, Ariz., April 20, 2026 /3BL/ - Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET), the leading connectivity cloud company, and GoDaddy (NYSE: GDDY), global leader in domains and tech for small businesses, today announced a strategic partnership to help give website owners and AI developers transparency and control over how their content is used by AI, while also supporting standards to better identify AI agents. Together, the companies aim to help bring identity, trust, and access to the agentic open web.

The Internet is currently undergoing a fundamental shift, expanding from a web of pages designed for humans to a web that is also designed to support agents acting on behalf of humans. Without clear standards and tools, this transition risks overwhelming website owners, including small businesses and content creators, with unidentifiable and potentially malicious bot traffic. There needs to be a way to ensure that website owners have the tools to easily identify, manage, and trust AI traffic.

Visibility and Control for AI Crawlers

Starting today, GoDaddy will integrate Cloudflare’s AI Crawl Control into its website hosting platform, helping website owners, including small businesses and creators, globally gain visibility and control over how automated AI-powered crawlers access their website content. This helps website owners manage which AI crawlers can collect their information while helping keep their site protected.

Identity and Transparency for AI Agents

Beyond just controlling crawls to a site, the industry needs standardized ways to verify who operates an agent and what an agent is allowed to do. However, enforcing consistent identification methods for bots and agents that want to interact with web applications in a safe manner is a more nuanced problem. ANS is a global open standard introduced by GoDaddy that is designed to support consistent naming, verification, and discovery for AI agents across systems, using proven open standards, domain name system (DNS), and public key infrastructure (PKI). ANS enables website owners to distinguish legitimate AI agents from unidentified AI agents, including malicious impersonators, on the open web.

Cloudflare is committed to a transparent agentic web and supports ANS and the development of a broad range of verifiable agent identity standards. In 2025, Cloudflare also introduced Web Bot Auth as a new method of using cryptography to verify bot and agent traffic, as well as a Signature Agent Card to help agent developers transparently share their agent’s identity and purpose. With an open ecosystem of standards and methods for identifying agents, the agentic web can evolve with transparency built in by default.

Together, Cloudflare and GoDaddy aim to provide the technical architecture to move into the agentic web era and help to:

Enforce a permission-based model for the agentic web: GoDaddy is integrating Cloudflare’s AI Crawl Control directly into its hosting experience. This allows any website owner to set their own terms—choosing to allow, block, or signal that payment is required—protecting the value of their content.
Build trust and transparency into AI-native commerce: Identifying a bot is no longer enough; we must enable them to transact. By supporting ANS and Web Bot Auth, Cloudflare and GoDaddy are providing the verifiable identity layer needed for a functional digital marketplace. This ensures that when an agent makes a request—whether for a data query or an autonomous purchase—its identity is cryptographically signed, creating the trust necessary for a sustainable value exchange.
Secure a fair value exchange in the Answer Engine era: As the Internet shifts from search-and-click to AI-generated answers, the traditional traffic-based business model is breaking. This partnership provides one technical solution to this economic challenge. By combining granular audit logs with transparent agent identity, GoDaddy and Cloudflare are helping enable an ecosystem where human-generated content remains the lifeblood of the web but is protected and compensated in an AI-first world.

"The Internet is evolving into a high-velocity, AI-driven ecosystem, and that requires a new kind of transparent infrastructure," said Stephanie Cohen, Chief Strategy Officer at Cloudflare. "By putting tools like AI Crawl Control and open standards into the hands of website owners, we are providing essential underpinnings for a new Internet business model. We want to ensure that every creator has the tools to verify who is interacting with their site, while giving legitimate AI agents a secure, transparent way to participate in a thriving open web.”

“By working with Cloudflare on AI Crawl Control and championing the Agent Name Service, an open standard giving every agent a verifiable identity built on DNS, we are providing our customers the transparency they need to thrive in an AI-first world,” said GoDaddy Chief Strategy Officer, Jared Sine. “We move at the speed of the Internet, and we're working with the broader industry to ensure the agentic open web does too.”

To learn more, check out the following resources:

About Cloudflare

Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET) is the leading connectivity cloud company. It empowers organizations to make their employees, applications and networks faster and more secure everywhere, while reducing complexity and cost. Cloudflare’s connectivity cloud delivers the most full-featured, unified platform of cloud-native products and developer tools, so any organization can gain the control they need to work, develop, and accelerate their business.

Powered by one of the world’s largest and most interconnected networks, Cloudflare blocks billions of threats online for its customers every day. It is trusted by millions of organizations – from the largest brands to entrepreneurs and small businesses to nonprofits, humanitarian groups, and governments across the globe.

Learn more about Cloudflare’s connectivity cloud at cloudflare.com/connectivity-cloud. Learn more about the latest Internet trends and insights at https://radar.cloudflare.com.

About GoDaddy

GoDaddy, the world’s largest domain name registrar, helps millions of entrepreneurs globally start, grow, and scale their businesses. People come to GoDaddy to name their idea, build a website and logo, sell their products and services and accept payments. GoDaddy Airo®, the company's AI-powered experience, makes growing a small business faster and easier by helping them to get their idea online in minutes, drive traffic and boost sales. GoDaddy's expert guides are available 24/7 to provide assistance. To learn more about the company, visit www.GoDaddy.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “explore,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “could,” “intend,” “target,” “project,” “contemplate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” or “continue,” or the negative of these words, or other similar terms or expressions that concern Cloudflare’s expectations, strategy, plans, or intentions. However, not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Forward-looking statements expressed or implied in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the capabilities and effectiveness of Cloudflare’s AI Crawl Control and Cloudflare’s other products and technology, the benefits to Cloudflare’s customers from using Cloudflare’s AI Crawl Control and Cloudflare’s other products and technology, Cloudflare’s partnership with GoDaddy and the potential resulting benefits to Cloudflare customers, the potential opportunity for Cloudflare to attract additional customers and to expand sales to existing customers through Cloudflare’s partnership with GoDaddy, Cloudflare’s technological development, future operations, growth, initiatives, or strategies, and comments made by Cloudflare’s Chief Strategy Officer and others. Actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied in forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including but not limited to, risks detailed in Cloudflare’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including Cloudflare’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on February 26, 2026, as well as other filings that Cloudflare may make from time to time with the SEC.

The forward-looking statements made in this press release relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. Cloudflare undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this press release to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. Cloudflare may not actually achieve the plans, intentions, or expectations disclosed in Cloudflare’s forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on Cloudflare’s forward-looking statements.

© 2026 Cloudflare, Inc. All rights reserved. Cloudflare, the Cloudflare logo, and other Cloudflare marks are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Cloudflare, Inc. in the U.S. and other jurisdictions. All other marks and names referenced herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Trane Technologies Unveils the World’s Largest HVAC Training Center

Trane Technologies — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 18:30:00 -0400

SWORDS, Ireland, April 16, 2026 /3BL/ - Trane Technologies (NYSE:TT), a global climate innovator, today celebrated the launch of its new Trane Advanced Technology Training Center (ATTC), a state-of-the-art facility designed to shape the future of the commercial HVAC technician workforce. The 45,000‑square‑foot facility – the largest and most technologically advanced of its kind in the world – is located at the company’s North America headquarters in Davidson, North Carolina.

“The launch of the ATTC represents an important investment in the future of our industry,” said Holly Paeper, President, Commercial HVAC Americas, Trane Technologies. “As building systems become more connected, more efficient, and more sophisticated, the expertise required to service them continues to grow. This center empowers Trane’s technician network - the largest and most experienced in the world - to support these next‑generation systems with confidence.”

With capacity for up to 4,500 students per year and over 100,000 annual training hours, the ATTC provides immersive, hands‑on experiences that equip technicians with the necessary skills to commission, maintain, repair, and optimize increasingly complex climate control systems essential to ensuring optimal performance, delivering industry-leading levels of uptime and reliability, and protecting our customers’ investments in sustainable buildings and mission‑critical environments.

Built to support technicians at every career stage, the ATTC offers multiple learning pathways that combine in‑person laboratory instruction with complementary e‑learning modules. This hybrid approach expands access to industry‑leading training nationwide, ensuring technicians gain real‑world, applied experience with the latest technologies.

Earlier today, North Carolina Governor Josh Stein toured the ATTC, gaining a close look at the cutting-edge technologies and hands-on training opportunities available to technicians at every stage of their careers. The visit, part of an executive roundtable on clean energy, innovation, and economic growth hosted at the Trane Technologies campus, underscored North Carolina's leadership in the clean energy economy and the importance of clean energy availability for businesses across the state.

The launch of the ATTC builds on several years of strategic investments at Trane Technologies’ North America headquarters. In 2024 and 2025, the company invested more than $50 million in the ATTC as well as a state-of-the-art engineering and R&D lab for compressor development testing and full-scale chiller performance evaluation across a wide range of operating conditions.

The ATTC also expands on the strong foundation of Trane Technologies’ technician training programs in La Crosse, Wisconsin and St. Paul, Minnesota, offering technicians across the country increased access to hands-on, industry-leading development opportunities.

Trane Technologies employs thousands of highly skilled technicians across the United States and around the world—the largest and most capable technician workforce in the industry. The company continues to expand its bench of technical talent and expects to hire more than 1,000 additional technicians over the next 18 months as demand for advanced HVAC systems continues to grow.

As part of its broader commitment to developing the next generation of HVAC professionals, Trane Technologies operates the Trane Commercial HVAC Technician Apprenticeship Program (TAP), a nationally registered four-year apprenticeship accredited by the U.S. Department of Labor. Since its launch in 2023, TAP has enrolled nearly 300 apprentices across the United States.

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About Trane Technologies
Trane Technologies is a global climate innovator. Through our strategic brands Trane® and Thermo King®, and our portfolio of environmentally responsible products and services, we bring efficient and sustainable climate solutions to buildings, homes and transportation. For more on Trane Technologies, visit tranetechnologies.com.

About Trane
Trane – by Trane Technologies (NYSE: TT), a global climate innovator – creates comfortable, energy efficient indoor environments for commercial and residential applications. For more information, please visit www.trane.com or www.tranetechnologies.com.

Forward Looking Statements
This news release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of securities laws, which are statements that are not historical facts, including statements that relate to anticipated benefits of our Advanced Technology Training Center, our projected future demand for technical talent, and our outlook on the markets in which we operate. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from our current expectations. Factors that could cause such differences can be found in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, as well as our subsequent reports on Form 10-Q and other SEC filings. New risks and uncertainties arise from time to time, and it is impossible for us to predict these events or how they may affect the Company. We assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

CVS Caremark Advances Prior Authorization to Get Specialty Medications to Patients Faster

CVS Health — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 08:30:00 -0400

Key points

A faster, easier prior authorization experience ensures providers can focus on their patients, helps ensure members get their medications quickly
CVS Caremark is using Surescripts Touchless Prior Authorization for select specialty drugs
The expansion of Touchless Prior Authorization into specialty drugs helps members start treatment sooner, improving medication adherence and health outcomes

Originally published on CVS Health Company News

CVS Caremark is deploying innovative new processes and technology to simplify the prior authorization process for medications and make it faster for members and providers while upholding rigorous clinical integrity and quality. As part of this effort, CVS Caremark is expanding use of Surescripts Touchless Prior Authorization. Touchless Prior Authorization is an industry-leading technology that anticipates what clinical information will be needed to complete a prior authorization, connects directly to a patient’s electronic health record to retrieve that information, and shares that information back to CVS Caremark.

When prior authorization requirements are met, CVS Caremark can immediately approve the medication. The process of automatically matching clinical data with determination criteria at the time of prescribing enables CVS Caremark to reach approvals as quickly as possible, often in as little as 22 seconds*.

CVS Caremark is using this approach for select specialty medications. Specialty medications are essential for patients managing chronic, rare, or serious conditions, but the prior authorization process for these drugs can sometimes be complex. The first specialty medications added — Vivitrol and Epidiolex, used to treat substance use disorder and epilepsy, respectively — represent high impact therapies for which complex approval requirements are needed.

“CVS Caremark and Surescripts share a commitment to transform the prior authorization approval process through innovation,” said Dr. Michelle Gourdine, Senior Vice President, CVS Health; Chief Medical Officer, CVS Caremark. “By helping to make prior authorization instant and seamless, we reduce administrative burden while maintaining clinical integrity, helping to ensure the people we serve receive the medications they need more quickly.”

The expansion of Touchless Prior Authorization is one part of CVS Caremark’s broader commitment to enhancing the prior authorization experience by leveraging technology and optimizing process across a multitude of initiatives. Last year, these combined efforts reduced the median time to process a prior authorization to 34 minutes, down from 2-3 hours in 2024, with nearly 4 million prior authorizations approved automatically through use of responsible technology.

A faster, easier prior authorization experience ensures providers and colleagues can focus on their patients, and that members get their medications quickly.

The adoption and expansion of Touchless Prior Authorization is another step in CVS Health’s commitment to reduce administrative obstacles, resulting in less friction for providers, and expediting care and improved health outcomes for patients.

About CVS Health

CVS Health is a leading health solutions company building a world of health around every consumer, wherever they are. As of December 31, 2025, the Company had approximately 9,000 retail pharmacy locations, more than 1,000 walk-in and primary care medical clinics and a leading pharmacy benefits manager with approximately 87 million plan members. The Company also serves an estimated more than 37 million people through traditional, voluntary and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including highly rated Medicare Advantage offerings and a leading standalone Medicare Part D prescription drug plan. The Company’s integrated model uses personalized, technology driven services to connect people to simply better health, increasing access to quality care, delivering better outcomes, and lowering overall costs.

Case IH Launches Nutri-Tiller 1000 Series To Boost Long-Term Soil Health in North America

CNH — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 16:00:00 -0400

Case IH, a CNH brand, is now offering farmers in North America a new strip-till solution built on the proven agronomic performance of Case IH tillage equipment, delivering enhanced soil conservation while maintaining strong yield potential. The Nutri-Tiller 1000 series strip-till tool offers farmers the best of no-till and conventional tillage benefits with fewer field passes needed, reduced costs and integrated precision technology.

The Nutri-Tiller 1000 series strip-till tool helps farmers promote strong, early emergence and boost yield potential by creating a uniform strip with an ideal berm shape. The uniform soil environment provides earlier soil temperature warming and more consistent moisture at planting to promote fast, uniform emergence.

“The Nutri-Tiller 1000 series is designed to deliver exceptional tillage results while championing long-term soil health and conservation,” said CJ Parker, soil management marketing manager at Case IH. “By minimizing compaction and leaving protective residue between the strips, it enhances the soil's nutrient utilization— helping farmers protect their soil while supporting strong yield potential.”

TCS and University of Cincinnati Announce ‘My First AI Job’ Program to Prepare Students for Entry-Level AI Careers

Tata Consultancy Services — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 06:00:00 -0400

CINCINNATI and MUMBAI, India April 15, 2026 /3BL/ - Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS), a global leader in IT services, consulting, and business solutions, has unveiled its new TCS My First AI Job skills training program in partnership with the University of Cincinnati and Salesforce. The program is designed to provide students with skills certification in AI solutions, paid work experience, and a pathway to full-time roles at TCS upon graduation.

Designed to bridge the gap between academic learning and workforce readiness, the new TCS My First AI Job program offers final-year students an intensive, three-month curriculum covering key technical, communication, and employability skills required in today’s competitive marketplace. Through a combination of hands-on projects, mentorship, global certifications, and practice interviews, the program will help students develop skills that align with current industry and client requirements and match specific roles in TCS’ talent pipeline.

Amit Bajaj, President – North America, TCS, said, “In keeping with its aspiration of becoming the world’s largest AI-led technology services company, TCS is committed to building a pipeline of AI jobs in the heartland of America by helping students graduate with industry-ready AI skills that are in high demand. Building on our longstanding partnerships with the University of Cincinnati and Salesforce, we are designing a blueprint for the AI jobs of the future that will make U.S. companies more innovative and competitive. We are proud to launch this in Cincinnati, home of our new North America Salesforce Center of Excellence—where customer proximity meets scaled talent.”

Hazem Said, Professor & Director, School of Information Technology, University of Cincinnati, said, “Companies increasingly expect entry-level job seekers to hit the ground running with practical AI skills they can put to use on day one. It is exciting to be at the vanguard of collaborating with a technology industry pioneer to build pathways to success for tomorrow’s AI leaders. I believe that we are creating a model that will help redefine the value of a university education.”

Meredith Nabavi, Director, Workforce Development Partnerships, Salesforce, said, “The combination of TCS, the University of Cincinnati and Salesforce will create an industry-ready local workforce that will not only accelerate client outcomes, but help build the AI careers of recent university graduates.”

As part of the collaboration, TCS, the University of Cincinnati and Salesforce will jointly develop a world-class Salesforce certification curriculum for the TCS My First AI Job program. It will include a curated, industry-focused Salesforce course that offers undergraduate students an opportunity to join a fall co-op to provide full-time undergraduate students with professional training and hands-on experience working at TCS.

By alternating academic study with paid, practical, on‑the‑job training, the program will prepare students for potential employment opportunities at TCS. Additionally, by enabling the certification pathway to serve as an extended, real‑world assessment, the program increases the likelihood of students securing roles in a more timely manner. At the same time, employers such as TCS will benefit from the ability to swiftly integrate new hires into client projects, thereby achieving time and cost efficiencies while supporting employees’ long‑term professional growth.

The new program aligns with TCS’ focus on developing and recruiting local talent. The company is actively investing in industry‑specific Salesforce capabilities to meet the evolving needs of its U.S. clients as they transform their businesses using AI technologies. TCS recently inaugurated the Salesforce Center of Excellence at its Global Delivery Center in Milford, Ohio, its largest delivery center in the United States. This Center of Excellence reflects TCS’ commitment to customer‑centric innovation, AI‑driven talent development, and deeper collaboration across its partner ecosystem. In addition, TCS recently acquired two U.S.-based consulting firms, Coastal Cloud and ListEngage, to strengthen its position in the Salesforce ecosystem and reinforce its long‑standing commitment to customers in North America.

About Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS) is a digital transformation and technology partner of choice for industry-leading organizations worldwide. Since its inception in 1968, TCS has upheld the highest standards of innovation, engineering excellence and customer service.

Rooted in the heritage of the Tata Group, TCS is focused on creating long term value for its clients, its investors, its employees, and the community at large. With a highly skilled workforce of 580,000 spread across 55 countries and 202 service delivery centers across the world, the company has been recognized as a top employer in six continents. With the ability to rapidly apply and scale new technologies, the company has built long term partnerships with its clients – helping them emerge as perpetually adaptive enterprises. Many of these relationships have endured into decades and navigated every technology cycle, from mainframes in the 1970s to Artificial Intelligence today.

TCS sponsors 14 of the world’s most prestigious marathons and endurance events, including the TCS New York City Marathon, TCS London Marathon and TCS Sydney Marathon with a focus on promoting health, sustainability, and community empowerment.

TCS generated consolidated revenues of over US $30 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026. For more information, visit www.tcs.com

Follow TCS on LinkedIn| Instagram | YouTube | X

TCS media contacts:

Corporate Communications & India
Email: corporate.communications@tcs.com
Email: santosh.castelino@tcs.com | Phone: +91 22 67789098

USA
Email: james.sciales@tcs.com

###

3BL Content Editor: Formatting, Media and HTML Specifications

3BL — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:30:00 -0400

3BL Content Editor: Formatting, Media & HTML Specifications

The 3BL Editor is a structured, HTML-based publishing environment. Formatting is not decorative — it is a technical decision that affects how content is rendered, indexed, and distributed. This guide provides a comprehensive overview of how the editor works, what it supports, and how to maximize performance and discoverability using structured content.

Character Limits

Every field in the editor has a defined limit that affects how your content previews across channels — from email inboxes to aggregator feeds. These aren't soft guidelines; exceeding them causes truncation downstream.

Character Limits
Field	Limit	Notes
Headline	255 characters	Target 60 for search display
Subheadline	255 characters	Doubles as SEO meta description
Body	No limit	Full article content
Short teaser	280 characters	Used in email distribution previews

Writing a headline under 60 characters isn't just an SEO best practice — it's the threshold at which most search engines display the full title without truncation. The 255-character field gives you flexibility, but 60 is the practical target.¹

Supported HTML Elements

Text Structure & Semantics

Well-structured content starts with the right tags. Headings, paragraphs, and text formatting elements do more than control appearance — they signal hierarchy to the systems that distribute and index your content.

Bold signals importance to both readers and search systems.
Italic works well for titles or technical terms being introduced.
Underline is supported but use sparingly to avoid confusion with links.
Superscript and subscript render correctly for use cases like CO_COor trademark symbols^TM -- both travel cleanly through distribution.

Lists

When sequence matters, use an ordered list:

Lead with your most important claim in the headline and H1
Support it with evidence in modular, self-contained sections
Close with a clear takeaway or call to action
Keep each section focused on one idea

When information is parallel but not sequential, use bullets:

Semantic headings at every major section break
Descriptive hyperlink anchor text
Alt text on every image
Embeds placed within the body, not isolated at the top or bottom

Links

The <a> tag supports href, alt, target, title, and rel attributes. Use descriptive anchor text for both accessibility and search performance. Read more about 3BL's framework for optimizing content in our 2026 LLM and Generative AI Writing Guide.

Content Sanitization & Unsupported Elements

The editor automatically removes unsupported or unsafe elements on save. The most common ones teams run into:

Special characters, emojis, and math symbols
<div> (except for specific oEmbed use cases)
<span>
<video>
<audio>
<iframe>

Formatting that looks correct in the editor can degrade silently on downstream endpoints. A table that renders cleanly on 3BL Media may lose its header row on a wire service. Test every rich element against your full distribution stack before publishing.

Rich Media: Embeds & Images

Video Embeds

oEmbed is supported for YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion, and Spotify. Place embeds within the body of the article for the best rendering consistency across endpoints.

Images

Supported formats are PNG and JPEG only, with a maximum file size of 100MB. Every image should include descriptive alt text.

Rich Content & Performance Considerations

Rich content affects rendering behavior, how information is consumed by search engines, accessibility, and consistency distributed across channels.

Your headline should clearly communicate what the content is about in less than 60 characters.
Use the description to add context about why this topic matters and why your organization is positioned to speak about it.
The first header (H1) should mirror your headline, using words that communicate authority or nod toward search intent.
Secondary headers (H2, H3) help break up your content — more readable to both humans and robots than a long unbroken block of text.
Keep each section modular, with one clear idea per section.
Add descriptive alt text to images to help visually impaired readers and AI systems interpret the visuals you use.

The 3BL Content Editor gives marketing, communications, and PR teams the creative flexibility to produce rich, multimedia-driven stories — while ensuring content is structured, sanitized, and distributed consistently across 3BL's network of 79 partner sites.

¹Based on Google's standard search result title display behavior as of 2026.

Talk to our team

GoDaddy and LegalZoom Partner to Support Open Agentic Web

GoDaddy — Thu, 9 Apr 2026 14:45:00 -0400

Originally published by GoDaddy

To discover agents verified through GoDaddy ANS or to register an agent, visit GoDaddy.com/ANS.

TEMPE, Ariz., April 9, 2026 /3BL/ -- LegalZoom.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: LZ), America's #1 online legal services company, and GoDaddy (NYSE: GDDY), global leader in domains and tech for small businesses, have entered into a partnership to protect the rapidly expanding agentic open web for small and medium-sized businesses.

AI agents now act as more than simple fact-finding companions. They communicate with one another and complete tasks independently—and occasionally go rogue. As enterprises roll out AI agents across different platforms, users lack a consistent way to verify where an agent came from, who published it, and most importantly, whether it can be trusted.

Agent Name Service (ANS) is an open standard built to help solve this high-stakes challenge. ANS employs the same core infrastructure that powers today's internet: domain name system (DNS) and public key infrastructure (PKI) certificates. It requires each registered AI agent to be assigned a unique, human-readable name and a cryptographically verifiable identity. This lets agents be discovered, verified and governed across the open web.

LegalZoom and GoDaddy support the ANS open standard

As a driving force behind enhancing the ANS open standard, GoDaddy turned the blueprint into reality with GoDaddy ANS, the first public implementation of the open standard where anyone can publish and verify agents in minutes.

In support of that blueprint, LegalZoom registered its first AI agent, leveraging GoDaddy ANS. The LegalZoom agent is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that integrates LegalZoom's legal services directly into AI assistants such as Anthropic's Claude and enables users to connect with real attorneys, scan and share legal documents, and manage legal consultations.

GoDaddy ANS provides cryptographic verification that confirms the agent is legitimately owned and operated by LegalZoom using DNS as the root of trust, so other AI systems can find and verify the LegalZoom MCP agent. By registering the agent on GoDaddy ANS, it can be discovered not just by humans, but other agents as well at internet scale.

"AI agents will transform how legal services are delivered, but their value depends on verifiable identity and human accountability," said Aaron Stibel, chief customer & business officer at LegalZoom. "Partnering with GoDaddy to publish our MCP Agent on ANS lets LegalZoom deliver trusted legal experiences at scale across the open web. Customers and their AI assistants can confidently discover the real LegalZoom and our attorney-backed solutions that raise the bar on accountability and trust."

The ANS standard makes the open web safer

Here's what ANS delivers in practice:

Publishes each AI agent as a DNS record, discoverable worldwide in seconds
Enables any person or system to confirm an agent's origin with a simple DNS query
Provides cryptographic proof that the agent is bound to a verified domain, so other systems can confirm who operates it
Works with any ANS-compatible registry, including GoDaddy ANS

"Trust is the currency of online business," said Travis Muhlestein, chief technology officer of product AI at GoDaddy. "LegalZoom's partnership and publishing its AI agent through ANS shows how powerful open identity can be. Each organization that registers an agent strengthens the standard and makes the whole AI ecosystem a safer, more open place to do business."

To discover agents verified through GoDaddy ANS or to register an agent, visit GoDaddy.com/ANS.

About GoDaddy
GoDaddy, the world's largest domain name registrar, helps millions of entrepreneurs globally start, grow, and scale their businesses. People come to GoDaddy to name their idea, build a website and logo, sell their products and services and accept payments. GoDaddy Airo®, the company's AI-powered experience, makes growing a small business faster and easier by helping them to get their idea online in minutes, drive traffic and boost sales. GoDaddy's expert guides are available 24/7 to provide assistance. To learn more about the company, visit www.GoDaddy.com.

About LegalZoom
LegalZoom is a leading online platform for legal services, transforming how individuals and small businesses navigate the legal system. By combining intuitive technology with access to experienced attorneys—whether through our vast independent attorney network or our own law firm—we offer the tools and guidance people need to confidently manage everything from business formation and compliance to intellectual property protection and ongoing business management and legal support.

As AI reshapes how legal work gets done, LegalZoom is at the forefront of the human-in-the-loop approach, ensuring that the speed and efficiency of AI is always backed by the judgment and accountability of qualified professionals. With over two decades of experience and millions of customers served, LegalZoom helps individuals and small businesses navigate legal needs with confidence. For more information, please visit www.legalzoom.com.

SOURCE GoDaddy Inc.

Inside Mary Kay’s Tech & Digital Transformation With CIO James Whatley

Mary Kay — Thu, 9 Apr 2026 08:00:00 -0400

Originally published on newsroom.marykay.com

Today, Chief Information Officers (CIOs) are redefining what it means to lead in tech by moving beyond systems and infrastructure to advance enterprise strategy, culture, and growth. CIOs are not just technology stewards, but business leaders who translate innovation into value, aligning data, AI, cybersecurity, and platforms with clear outcomes that matter to employees and customers.

Fresh off a feature in CIO Dive and named a 2026 Dallas CIO Orbie Award finalist, James Whatley and his team, are leading a digital and tech transformation that’s reshaping how Mary Kay operates and empowering Beauty Consultants to run their businesses online and in person, anytime, anywhere. We met with James at Mary Kay’s global headquarters in Addison, Texas, to talk CIO leadership: what it takes to drive change at scale and what’s next for Mary Kay entrepreneurs worldwide.

Q. James, tell us a bit about you and your role. Why do you love your job?

I have been with Mary Kay for 27 years during which I have had the honor to play an instrumental role in developing Information Technology (IT) systems that ensure our Independent Beauty Consultants (IBC) can run their businesses anytime, anywhere.
My role is to align technology, data, processes, and skills to the company’s strategic ambitions, ensuring every platform and investment reinforces how the business operates and grows. I see the Mary Kay enterprise as an interconnected system, designed to perform, scale, and adapt. Together with my team we connect the front office to the back office, innovation to execution, and speed to stability.
I am passionate first and foremost about finding solutions for our Mary Kay Beauty Consultants. At the same time, I want to help create a workplace environment that fosters teamwork, trust, and strong partnerships among the company’s global partners where we operate.

Q. Can you share about the major digital and cloud transformation at Mary Kay?

Over the past years, I have had the opportunity to lead or co-lead many of our largest transformations, and our transition to a “cloud-first” model is one of them.
For a global direct sales beauty leader like Mary Kay, accelerating digital transformation is business‑critical because in a digitally driven marketplace, the competitive edge of our business model depends on speed, relevance, and scale.
We have also gone through an Organizational Transformation, forming a “Global IT Organization,” creating great efficiencies and cost savings while balancing global core systems, market nuances, and local regulations.
Our founder, Mary Kay Ash, once said: “Standing still is the same thing as moving backward.” This is my favorite quote from her, and it is a philosophy I take with me to work every day.

Q. Can you describe the key steps of this “global rewiring” of Mary Kay?

We have made a structural shift with a complete tech stack* replacement, moving us away from a 100% custom development shop in record time. This is unprecedented for a global company of our size.
Our cloud-first strategy was just as much a mindset shift as it was a tech stack change. This change was not only significant for our Independent Beauty Consultants but also for our global IT organization. During this project, we evolved how IT and other groups run cross-functional projects making more informed and faster decisions.
We closed five data centers worldwide, moving over 95% of custom applications to powerful, integrated SaaS platforms** or hosted in a Cloud environment, managing the scale of our peak commerce volumes each month. This included our business-critical applications from eCommerce to supply chain. In other words, all our systems which manage our complex business model as well as our global Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Solutions.***
Our digital transformation involved modernizing all the applications our Independent Beauty Consultants use to manage and run their own businesses in more than twenty-five countries. This includes our new Consumer to IBC Commerce solution, creating online commerce shops for our Beauty Consultants. We launched in Germany and in the United States in 2025 and we are rolling the new system out globally in 2026.
These investments in modern platforms, analytics, and digital enablement allow us to focus more on the last mile to unlock new growth opportunities, strengthen user engagement, and futureproof the Mary Kay business against disruption, staying ahead of the curve rather than reacting to it.

Q. Is Leveraging AI and eCommerce functionalities truly compatible with the Mary Kay business model based on relationships?

100% compatible! I like this question because it emphasizes how crucial it is to align IT with business goals and advance our business model while staying true to our mission of enriching women’s lives. Our obsession is “How do we continue to deliver a world-class opportunity to our Independent Beauty Consultants around the world?”
Consumer expectations shift toward seamless, on-demand, and transparent buying journeys, and our goal has been to create a seamless online experience for our IBCs to become truly omnichannel and enable commerce at every touchpoint.
With mobile commerce accounting for over 62% of beauty sales^[1] in key markets, integrating AI into digital strategies is no longer optional, it is essential for growth.^[2]
To us, digital business success blends the irreplaceable customer service Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultants are known for with technology. I always think about this quote from Steve Jobs: “You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology.”
We leverage digital transformation to enhance and expand the way she runs her business using the right tools from e-commerce, smart reporting, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and many other applications. Digital tools enable her to engage customers where they already are, across social, mobile, and e‑commerce channels, while using data, AI, and automation to personalize experiences, optimize inventory, and improve productivity.

Q. What’s Mary Kay’s approach to Artificial Intelligence and how do you leverage it?

It is all about the right use case. We are gradually integrating AI based on a proven return on investment (ROI) approach. We have reviewed repeatable manual tasks and assessed opportunities to leverage AI spanning from IT, Marketing and Creative, to R&D, Manufacturing and Supply Chain.
We integrated AI governance from the beginning because we knew it would make our use of generative AI better. We created a Mary Kay AI Committee which is responsible for implementing the vision and strategy for AI within the organization. The AI Committee oversees all new implementations of AI into our global environment to ensure compliance with our internal risk tolerance, legal requirements, moral implications, security concerns, and proving the ROI of the implemented tools. The committee helped us prioritize, and better and faster integrate the use of our approved AI tools.
Education about the risk and power of AI is key. Our AI Committee and AI Champions are leading in-depth training of our teams to understand the capabilities of the available AI platforms and models, promote the use of AI, and help generate new ideas as well as a culture of innovation within our user base.
In addition to enterprise AI-driven solutions, we are also integrating our digital tools like the Mary Kay® Skin Analyzer App, Mirror Me™, our real-time makeover app using augmented reality (supporting Virtual Try On) and our latest tool – the AI Foundation Finder. A first in the direct selling industry, this AI Foundation Finder uses advanced artificial intelligence to scan a customer’s face on their mobile phone and provide personalized foundation shade recommendations in just seconds allowing the precise detection of 151 facial feature points.
Our blended technology portfolio of generative and agentic AI is helping to build the digital toolset we want to provide for our Beauty Consultants, customers, and our staff.

Q. CIOs today are not only tech experts - they are also culture shapers. What is your own experience with culture?

Our digital acceleration was powered by a “One Team Mindset,” building cross functional partnerships to serve our Mary Kay markets and beauty consultants around the world.
I have learned that a key factor in success is culture: it is essential to treat internal teams, market partners, vendors, and customers as key stakeholders in the transformation process, not just end-users. Change is a journey; culture helps shift from uncertainty into excitement and disruption into possibility.
AI can process data at lightning speed, but culture determines whether people trust it, use it, and let it optimize the way they work. I look at it as a multiplier. Reinforcing our strong purpose-driven culture, encouraging experimentation, and modeling openness to change, helps us move faster, and ensure that digital progress translates into sustainable business and human outcomes. Technology alone does not drive change, people do.

Tech Glossary:

*Tech Stack or technology stack refers to the comprehensive collection of technologies, tools, and frameworks utilized to develop and operate a software application. This includes components such as frontend and backend systems, databases, and supporting infrastructure.
**A SaaS platform solution is a cloud-based software model that allows users to access applications remotely via the internet.
***Global ERP Solutions are specialized resource planning systems designed to manage multinational operations across multiple countries, regions, currencies, and languages, business processes such as finance, HR, sales, and inventory management into a single platform, enabling seamless data flow and real-time analytics.

***

About Mary Kay

One of the original glass ceiling breakers, Mary Kay Ash founded her dream beauty brand in Texas in 1963 with one goal: to enrich women’s lives. Learn more at marykayglobal.com. Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, or follow us on X.

# # #

^[1] What is Mobile Commerce? Benefits & Trends | Blog Miquido

^[2] Generative AI in Beauty Industry: Use Cases | Blog Miquido

SLR Launches Enhanced Digital Services Following Acquisition of Leading Climate-Modelling and Analytics Platforms

SLR — Thu, 9 Apr 2026 04:00:00 -0400

LONDON, April 9, 2026 /3BL/ - SLR today announced the launch of its enhanced Digital Services following the acquisition of Planetrics and ClimSystems – two of the market’s most advanced climate‑modelling and analytics platforms. The move significantly strengthens SLR’s digital climate-intelligence capabilities and responds to growing demand from investors, businesses and public sector organisations to understand and address climate risk and associated value at risk with greater accuracy.

As momentum behind long‑term climate commitments fluctuates globally, climate‑related risks continue to intensify. Decision‑makers across sectors are increasingly focused on understanding how physical impacts - such as flooding, shifting rainfall patterns, heat, and wildfire - create both risks and opportunities for how business and governments operate. With physical impacts accelerating alongside heightened regulatory expectations, the financial implications are increasingly material across almost every sector. Organisations face growing pressure to base decisions on robust, science-driven climate intelligence. Traditional risk models - built on historical data - are increasingly unable to capture fast-moving transition dynamics and asset level climate shocks, leaving many businesses exposed. As a result, companies across energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, real estate, financial, consumer markets and the public sector are turning to science-based climate modelling for clearer foresight. These analytics - grounded in decades of validated research and high-resolution climate projections - equip organisations to make more confident investment and planning decisions, strengthen risk management, and build long term resilience into their operations and portfolios.

Strengthening SLR’s digital, technical and advisory capabilities

The acquisition of Planetrics and ClimSystems enhances SLR’s strategic advisory, climate and technical expertise, significantly advancing its digital climate analytics and modelling capabilities to create a powerful foundation for the next generation of climate intelligence. These acquisitions build on SLR’s long-standing investment in advanced digital tools and data driven‑intelligence that help organisations to understand, quantify and respond to climate-related risks and opportunities.

Planetrics, acquired from McKinsey & Company, delivers advanced climate scenario modelling through its PlanetView platform, widely trusted by leading banks, insurers, asset owners, managers and corporates. PlanetView converts complex physical and transition risks and opportunities into clear financial metrics - including changes in earnings, asset value shifts and portfolio-level impacts. It also enables organisations to assess how different transition pathways – such as an accelerated energy transition or policy developments could influence operational and financial performance, and impact long-term value. Planetrics data and analytics are used for risk management, stewardship and engagement activities, investment research, opportunity identification, regulatory climate stress testing exercises, such as those conducted by the Bank of England and the European Central Bank, and are commonly featured in climate disclosures, such as TCFD, ISSB, CSRD and CA SB 253 (forthcoming). Planetrics and SLR will continue to collaborate with McKinsey through an ongoing alliance, bringing a world class suite of capabilities to help organisations address critical sustainability challenges while ensuring continuity for clients. SLR is excited to deepen this relationship and to work alongside McKinsey’s board level networks and transformational business leadership.

Building on the strategic partnership established in 2022, and now formalised as a full acquisition, ClimSystems brings 20 years of market-leading physical climate intelligence to SLR, delivering detailed, science-driven modelling that quantifies how climate-related hazards could impact asset values, infrastructure resilience and supply chain exposure. ClimSystems supports a global client base, including market leaders in agriculture, mining, infrastructure and financial services. Its product suite include interactive, tailored dashboards that integrate with business, risk and financial oversight functions – enabling business owners to engage and interact access high-resolution physical hazard risk assessments at an individual asset or portfolio level, crop-specific yield modelling to identify risks, and opportunities of changing climate, residential and commercial real-estate climate risk assessments, and rapid-response due-diligence physical climate risk support.

Together, these technologies set a new standard for accuracy, transparency and usability. By translating complex climate signals into clear, actionable intelligence, SLR enables organisations to make future-proof decisions to price risk more accurately, anticipate regulatory shifts, protect asset value and uncover new opportunities.

Bradley Andrews, Chief Executive Officer at SLR, noted, “Our clients are navigating a new level of complexity – balancing transition opportunities, physical climate impacts, and the transformation required for long-term risk, resilience and reward. In this environment, confidence is only possible with robust scientific evidence. For more than 30 years, SLR has been Making Sustainability Happen by combining deep technical expertise, strategic advisory and cutting‑edge digital intelligence to give clients not only clarity and assurance, but science‑based foresight and insight they can act on.

Today marks a major milestone in SLR’s digital journey. With the integration of Planetrics and ClimSystems, we have two of the most advanced climate platforms enabling organisations to quantify climate risks, explore multiple futures, and understand how physical and transition impacts translate into operational outcomes and financial value-at-risk across assets and portfolios.”

Clients can now make investment, planning and risk decisions with far greater accuracy and confidence - with clear financial insight into climate risks and precise visibility into which assets, crops, facilities or supply‑chain links are exposed, and how that exposure will evolve. To understand what these enhanced capabilities mean for your organisation’s risk, value and long‑term performance, connect with SLR’s Digital Services team: www.slrconsulting.com/digital

- Ends -

For media enquiries, please contact Cecilia Law, Global Head of External Communications, SLR: claw@slrconsulting.com

If you would like more information on SLR’s Digital Services, including a demo, please visit: www.slrconsulting.com/digital

Notes to editors:

About SLR

SLR is a leading global environmental and advisory consultancy, with a team of 5,000+ talented professionals operating from a network of offices in Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa.

Our purpose - Making Sustainability Happen - means delivering outcomes that are grounded in evidence, shaped by experience, and built to last. Our team of scientists, engineers, economists, data modellers, and technicians work across our clients' full sustainability journeys, from strategy through to on-the-ground project planning, execution and ongoing operations, all supported by robust data and science-based modelling.

Guided by our philosophy of Rational Sustainability, SLR specialises in the energy, mining, finance, industry & technology, government & infrastructure, and built environment sectors. Operating across more than 50+ technical disciplines, we’re helping a growing base of business, regulatory and government clients navigate the ever-shifting context of sustainable business.

Find out more: www.slrconsulting.com

About Planetrics

Planetrics is a leading climate‑analytics platform that provides financial institutions with advanced scenario modelling to quantify, report and manage climate‑related risks and opportunities. Its PlanetView platform translates physical and transition risks into clear financial metrics across tens of thousands of assets globally, supporting risk management, regulatory reporting, stress testing, target‑setting and climate disclosures for banks, insurers, asset owners and asset manager

Learn more about the acquisition here: www.slrconsulting.com/news/slr-acquires-planetrics

Find out more about Planetrics: www.slrconsulting.com/planetrics

About ClimSystems

ClimSystems is an award-winning climate change consulting and technology firm dedicated to enhancing climate-resilient decision-making and planning. Headquartered in New Zealand and partnered with leading science agencies worldwide, they have more than 20 years of experience delivering climate risk assessments and climate‑intelligence solutions to organisations worldwide. Its multidisciplinary team - spanning climate scientists, data engineers, economists, and sector specialists - supports informed decision‑making for asset owners, corporates, governments, and research institutions across more than 50 countries.

Its innovative Dashboard is a deployable analytics platform designed to help organisations assess and visualise physical climate risk at scale. Built on ClimSystems’ extensive climate data expertise, the dashboard supports large data ingestion, and provides an interactive geospatial mapping interface that enables users to explore asset‑level risk through clickable map layers and customisable filters. The dashboard includes multi‑year time‑series charts, climate‑scenario comparisons, and a structured data‑view panel with CSV export, offering clear, actionable insights across indicators, scenarios and time horizons. Alongside ClimSystems’ suite of climate tools, it integrates the latest IPCC‑aligned climate projections, enabling users to evaluate acute and long‑term climate impacts with scientific rigour and global consistency.

ClimSystems has supported resilience planning for numerous infrastructure and natural resource companies, cities, development banks and government agencies. Leading organisations including the UNFCCC and the World Bank have recognised our rigorous and practical approaches.

Find out more: www.climsystems.com

Everpure: A Bridge Too Far? AI’s Power Problem

Everpure — Wed, 8 Apr 2026 09:05:00 -0400

This episode of Beyond the IT Headlines tackles the most urgent infrastructure challenge facing the tech world: AI's insatiable hunger for energy. Host Shawn Rosemarin and this week’s co-host Don Kirouac argue that AI's massive power draw is no longer just a "data center problem"—it's a fundamental societal tension point.

The conversation explores the startling numbers: from wholesale electricity costs skyrocketing near data clusters and the projection that AI power demand could grow 30x by 2035, to the invisible cost of every single chatbot query. The discussion frames AI's trajectory as a collision course with the global grid, pushing utilities to plan controversial new gas plants and forcing citizens to foot the bill. Don and Shawn then shift from crisis to solution, exploring how industry leaders must embed efficiency as a first-class design parameter.

This includes rethinking AI pipelines, exploring smart scheduling, and utilizing AI itself to become an ally in grid optimization. Cut through the hype with actionable insights—Subscribe Now! We’re also on Spotify! (Search “Beyond the IT Headlines by Everpure”)

Explore The Data Wire by Everpure for more executive POVs on AI leadership, cyber resilience, and the future of data management: https://www.thedatawire.com/

The Doctor Will See You Now: The Value of Human Connection in AI-Supported Medicine

DaVita — Tue, 7 Apr 2026 09:05:00 -0400

Recently, a New York Times article explored the question of whether advancements to AI in medicine could reduce the value of a doctor. Do you see this taking place — or is AI redefining that value?

Dr. Weinstein: I think AI changes the balance of how doctors work rather than reduces the value of that work.

Technology has always shaped and reshaped medicine. The internet changed how we access information. Electronic health records changed how we interact with data. Before that, medical textbooks and journals shaped how physicians stayed current.

Technology and times change.

AI is probably a tool that will change the nature of how physicians do their work.

The irreducible value of a physician is the coaching, the relationship and the human-to-human interaction that translates knowledge and information into suggested action.

Humans — our patients — are often inconsistent and struggle with long-term changes in behavior patterns. The role of physicians and clinicians is to provide consistent support and advice over time.

That human connection, sustained over years in complex chronic disease, is not diminished by AI

It may actually become more central.

What makes kidney care a good fit for AI tools?

Dr. Weinstein: Success in complex chronic disease management – like kidney care – requires two things: large amounts of data and long-term relationships that help shape patient outcomes.

Nephrology is extremely data rich, with information collected from a wide variety of sources — labs, dialysis metrics, blood pressures, medications, hospitalization data, imaging, specialist notes.

The challenge is not the absence of data. The challenge is fragmentation, variability in format and the cognitive load required to assemble a coherent clinical picture.

For me, the greatest promise AI in nephrology is effective summarization and aggregation to directly reduce the cognitive burden and uncover nuanced patterns that may otherwise be too subtle or too time-consuming to detect during a busy day. This provides immediate and meaningful value for clinicians and their patients.

How does this change your day as a physician?

Dr. Weinstein: If AI manages data retrieval, summarization and pattern recognition, it can fundamentally shift how I spend my time.

Much of my cognitive energy goes toward searching medical records, reconciling information across systems and interacting with a keyboard. If that burden is reduced, I can redirect that time toward coaching and education — which is central to managing chronic kidney disease.

This also has the potential to impact physician well-being. Reducing cognitive load mitigates the “drinking from a firehose” effect of information overload. It creates space not only for better patient interaction, but also for addressing burnout and mental fatigue among clinicians.

Essentially it could perhaps give more of that human role back to caregivers. More time making eye contact. More time building rapport. More time reinforcing what we know helps improve outcomes.

What is the value of human connection in medicine?

Dr. Weinstein: At least for the foreseeable future, AI struggles with the subtleties of human emotion and the ability to read between the lines. Patients often communicate indirectly: Their tone, hesitation, body language and inconsistencies all carry meaning.

There is also the matter of trust. Many patients may not fully trust technology or may lack consistent access to it. For them, the human relationship is foundational.

And, there is something powerful about human-to-human accountability. Patients sometimes adhere to treatment not because an algorithm or literature tells them to, but because they trust the person sitting across from them.

That relational bond is difficult to replicate electronically. It involves nuance, empathy, social norms and shared history.

How can healthcare systems help ensure physicians maintain decision-making authority?

Dr. Weinstein: Appropriate AI use begins with training and governance.

First, the right people need access to the right tools. Second, clinicians must understand both the capabilities and limitations of AI systems change. Medical terminology evolves. LLMs are upgraded. Data quality varies. Outputs can drift.

Healthcare systems must establish institutional safeguards — governance frameworks, audit mechanisms and clear expectations that AI remains advisory rather than determinative.

Equally important is cultivating individual accountability and critical thinking among all clinical and physician users. Clinicians and physicians must be trained to ask the right questions (what do you really want to know about this data or patient?) and view AI output from through lens of patient safety, error-checking, a broader clinical context, as well as bias or drift monitoring.

The goal is augmented decision making (enhancing the quality, speed or depth of thought while keeping the human in the loop), not an abdication of critical thinking.

The True Cost of CMMC Non-Compliance

Keysight Technologies — Fri, 3 Apr 2026 09:45:00 -0400

By Scott Register

If you’re in the Defense Industrial Base (DIB), you’ve probably felt the shift: cybersecurity has moved from a contractual footnote to a deciding factor in who gets to compete. The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) is the clearest signal yet that the Department of Defense (DoD) is moving away from “trust us” security and toward verified compliance.

And in the face of a rapidly evolving threat landscape, that’s not unreasonable. The DIB faces increasingly frequent and complex cyber-attacks, and an extended supply chain is only as resilient as its weakest link. To meet these challenges, CMMC serves as a market gate: it changes who is eligible, who is credible, and who gets picked.

So let’s talk about the uncomfortable part: the cost of non-compliance. Because non-compliance isn’t theoretical. It entails lost opportunity, delayed revenue, supply chain exclusion, and, in the worst cases, legal consequences tied to the gap between what you claimed and what you can prove.

A Practical Reality: Readiness Takes Longer Than Most Expect

CMMC isn’t optional, and it isn’t “someday.” Assessment requirements are being implemented using a four-phase plan over three years, beginning with Phase 1, which launched on November 10, 2025, and adding requirements incrementally until full implementation of program requirements in Phase 4.

That runway may sound generous, but it will dissipate quickly because building a defensible compliance posture takes sustained work and a robust plan combining scoping, implementation, evidence collection, and validation. Waiting until requirements are widespread across your target solicitations is not a plan. It’s a decision to compete later… assuming you can afford to.

The Readiness Gap Is Massive, and It’s a Business Problem (Not Just a Cyber Problem)

Keysight’s commissioned research surveyed 206 cybersecurity leaders across the DIB and revealed two jarring numbers that should reset expectations:

Only 2% of organizations are audit-ready
Only 3% use automated validation tools to continuously verify compliance

The conversation is no longer only about “will we pass an audit?” but “will we be eligible to bid or even remain in the supply chain?” Where CMMC applies, contractors and subcontractors entrusted with Federal Contract Information (FCI) or Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) must achieve a specific CMMC level as a condition of contract award, creating concrete competitive differentiation where none previously existed.

CMMC raises the bar for security by raising the bar for proof.

Non-Compliance Costs Stack Up Fast

With the history of NIST SP800-171 compliance via self-attestation, many organizations adopted a performative approach to certification with any gaps addressable on a line-item basis by bringing in some consultants or deploying new security tools. This was easy to account for, but in reality the costs of non-compliance now go far beyond those budget items. The cost of non-compliance can quickly become a stack of compounding penalties that far exceed projections.

Lost Contract Eligibility (the “Silent Failure”)

The most immediate consequence is blunt: you can’t compete for contracts requiring a specific CMMC level. CMMC requirements are implemented through contract clauses, and the required level depends on the type and sensitivity of the information involved.

That’s not a cybersecurity problem. That’s pipeline and revenue.

Audit Delays and Schedule Risk (the “Time Tax”)

CMMC assessments are not one-size-fits-all. Depending on the contract and the information scope, organizations may be required to complete a self-assessment or a certification assessment by an authorized CMMC Third-Party Assessment Organization (C3PAO). For Level 3, assessments are conducted by the Defense Industrial Base Cybersecurity Assessment Center (DIBCAC). These assessment paths have different logistics and timing implications, and delays can directly affect eligibility windows.

Remediation Under Pressure (the “Expensive Scramble”)

If you treat compliance as a late-stage scramble, you pay for it twice: once in rushed remediation, and again in operational disruption. CMMC is designed to increase confidence that organizations are implementing required cybersecurity standards for systems that process, store, or transmit FCI or CUI. Often, the teams scrambling to remediate audit shortcomings are also on the hook to support production operations, posing immediate jeopardy to revenues from both commercial and government sales.

Credibility and Supply Chain Positioning (the “Trust Gap”)

Cybersecurity credibility is becoming a differentiator. If you can’t demonstrate evidence aligned to the applicable level, you become harder to select and harder to defend.

Legal Liability (the “One Nobody Budgets For”)

This is where “paper compliance” becomes dangerous. The Department of Justice has pursued cybersecurity-related cases under the False Claims Act, and Keysight’s research cites nearly $40M in recent settlements tied to alleged noncompliance and misrepresentation.

One referenced case is especially telling: a contractor submitted a self-assessment score of 104 out of 110, while an external review calculated the company’s actual score to be -142.19. That case resulted in a $4.6M settlement.

The lesson is simple: the gap between “we believe” and “we can prove” is where exposure lives. CMMC is pushing the industry from intent to evidence.

Why the Gap Exists: Complexity, Resources, and Manual Proof Readiness

When asked about obstacles, respondents cited three major pain points:

35% pointed to the complexity of requirements
30% cited lack of internal resources
30% struggled with understanding requirements and lack of clear guidance

The combination of high complexity, constrained teams, and uneven clarity is a daunting challenge.

It’s also made worse by a common assumption: “If we’ve been working toward NIST SP 800-171, we’re basically there.” The nuance matters. The CMMC program focuses on protecting FCI and CUI. Level 1 requires an annual self-assessment and annual affirmation against the 15 requirements in FAR 52.204-21. CMMC Level 2 is aligned to the 110 requirements in NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2, including an assessment every three years (self or C3PAO, depending on the solicitation), and requires annual affirmations. Level 3 requires a prerequisite CMMC Level 2 status and a DIBCAC-led assessment every three years, plus annual affirmations (including continued Level 2 affirmations).

That’s also why automation matters. Modern cyber defense moves too fast for manual attestation to keep up. Yet only 3% reported using automated security validation tools today.

What Winning Looks Like: Making Compliance Credible

The best way to think about CMMC isn’t as a checkbox. It’s a credibility engine. When compliance is built as an evidence-based program, a few things happen:

Controls become measurable.
Audit prep becomes continuous.
Gaps surface earlier, when fixes are less expensive.
Cyber maturity improves in ways that reduce incidents.
Market positioning strengthens because you can prove readiness.

In other words, you don’t just “meet requirements.” You’re becoming a more trusted, lower-risk partner, one to whom customers can confidently award CMMC-governed contracts.

Tools for a More Streamlined Path to Compliance

CMMC readiness can feel overwhelming because it touches scoping, implementation, documentation, validation, and sustainment.

Keysight network visibility and security solutions can help organizations shift to evidence-based, continuously validated security.

Turn Visibility Into Audit-Ready Evidence.

Keysight network visibility solutions, such as Vision Series Network Packet Brokers, help ensure security tools receive the right traffic and telemetry. That supports audit trails and monitoring needed for domains like Audit and Accountability (AU) and System and Information Integrity (SI). Without visibility, every other control becomes harder to prove.

Validate Controls Continuously, Not Just at Audit Time.

Keysight’s breach and attack simulation capabilities (like Threat Simulator) help organizations continuously validate defensive controls by emulating real-world attack behaviors and producing measurable results. Continuous validation reduces surprises, shortens remediation cycles, and increases confidence before an assessor ever arrives.

Build Sustainment into the Operating Model.

CMMC is not a one-time event. Certification results are recorded in government systems, and organizations must complete affirmations (after assessments and annually thereafter, depending on level). Readiness fades without reinforcement. Keysight Cyber Range Training (KCTS) helps teams practice incident response and maintain operational readiness between assessments, supporting the people and process side of a sustainable program.

CMMC is a forcing function, but it’s also an opportunity. Organizations that treat it as an evidence problem, solved with visibility, validation, and repeatable proof, won’t just stay eligible. They’ll build credibility the market can actually trust.

Read the Full Research White Paper

AI Applied: Practical AI Strategies for Leaders Getting Started

Baker Tilly — Fri, 3 Apr 2026 09:45:00 -0400

By Baker Tilly’s Chris Wagner and Dave DuVarney

Artificial intelligence has quickly moved from an experimental technology to a boardroom priority. Leadership teams across industries are being asked the same question: What is our AI strategy?

Despite the growing pressure, many organizations struggle to answer that question. AI can feel powerful but ambiguous, and without a clear starting point, initiatives often stall or fail to deliver results. In fact, a significant percentage of AI initiatives fail to produce meaningful outcomes in their first year.

The organizations that succeed with AI tend to take a structured but practical approach — balancing leadership direction, experimentation, governance and a focus on real business problems.

Start with executive alignment

Successful AI adoption begins with leadership. Without executive support, AI efforts often remain scattered experiments rather than strategic initiatives.

Leaders don’t need to start with a massive strategy document. What matters most is establishing clear intent: AI is important to the organization, and exploring its potential is a priority.

When executives actively encourage teams to explore AI — asking how it might improve workflows or create new capabilities — it signals that innovation is expected and supported. This tone from the top creates the momentum organizations need to begin experimenting and learning.

Build a cross-functional AI team

Although AI relies on technology, it cannot succeed as an IT-only initiative.

Organizations benefit from forming a cross-functional team responsible for guiding AI adoption. This group typically includes representatives from technology, operations, finance, marketing and other key business functions.

Their role is to help the organization move forward intentionally by:

Identifying and prioritizing potential AI use cases
Establishing governance and risk policies
Selecting enterprise AI tools
Encouraging adoption across departments
Developing business cases for investment

This team acts as the internal steering function that balances experimentation with strategic alignment.

Encourage Grassroots Innovation

One of the most transformative aspects of modern AI, especially generative AI, is its accessibility. Employees across the organization can experiment with these tools to solve everyday problems.

Organizations can benefit from encouraging this experimentation and capturing the best ideas. A simple innovation funnel can help:

Employees experiment with AI tools.
Promising ideas are shared with the organization.
The most impactful use cases are evaluated and expanded.

Many AI platforms also provide usage data that can highlight successful workflows. If a particular tool or process becomes widely used internally, it may signal an opportunity to formalize and scale that solution across the organization.

Focus on problems, not technology

A common mistake organizations make is starting with the question, "Where can we use AI?”

A better approach is to start with the problem. Ask, “What business challenge are we trying to solve?”

Sometimes AI will be the best solution. Other times, simpler tools, such as spreadsheets, automation platforms, or traditional analytics, may be more effective.

Treating AI as one tool among many ensures that organizations apply it where it truly creates value rather than forcing it into every problem.

Capture everyday productivity gains

Not every AI benefit comes from large transformation projects. Some of the most immediate value comes from small improvements in daily work.

Employees are already using AI tools to help with tasks like:

Drafting emails and reports
Summarizing information
Brainstorming ideas
Structuring plans and strategies
Working through complex problems

These small efficiencies may be difficult to measure individually, but when multiplied across an entire workforce, they can significantly improve productivity and job satisfaction.

Over time, this also helps employees become more comfortable and creative with AI tools, which can lead to larger innovation opportunities.

Strengthen governance and security

Security concerns are one of the biggest barriers organizations face when adopting AI. Leaders worry about sensitive data exposure, regulatory risks and the rapid growth of AI tools.

Addressing these concerns requires a thoughtful approach.

Provide enterprise-grade AI tools

Organizations should offer secure AI platforms within their own environments. If employees lack access to approved tools, they will likely use public alternatives, which increases risk.

Providing enterprise tools gives employees a safe place to experiment.

Extend existing data policies

Most organizations already have data governance policies. AI policies should simply extend those rules.

For example, sensitive company data should only be used within approved platforms rather than public AI tools.

Clear guidelines help employees understand how to use AI responsibly while still enabling innovation.

Review security practices

AI systems often interact with large volumes of organizational data, which can expose weaknesses in existing access controls.

Organizations should review how administrative privileges and sensitive data access are managed. Strengthening these controls ensures AI tools do not unintentionally expand access to information.

Learn from external expertise

AI technology is evolving quickly, and many organizations lack deep expertise internally.

Leaders can accelerate progress by learning from external sources such as:

Industry communities and professional groups
Peer organizations experimenting with AI
Advisors and technology partners
Educational resources and training programs

These networks help organizations stay informed, avoid common mistakes and move forward with greater confidence.

Moving forward with AI

Organizations don’t need a perfect strategy before they begin exploring AI. What matters most is creating the right environment for progress.

That environment includes:

Clear leadership support
Cross-functional collaboration
Safe experimentation
Strong governance and security
A focus on real business problems

By combining these elements, organizations can move beyond the hype surrounding AI and begin realizing real value — one practical use case at a time.

How we can help

Baker Tilly helps organizations safely and effectively harness AI. Our AI consulting services support you from strategy development through implementation, including model design, data and AI governance, workflow automation and organizational readiness programs. Ready to accelerate your AI journey? Connect with a Baker Tilly specialist to get started.

A Digital Guardian: AI-Powered Insights Bring Patients and Clinicians Closer

DaVita — Thu, 2 Apr 2026 08:05:00 -0400

Key Takeaways

Combatting Home Modality Loss: To help address the 30% of patients who leave peritoneal dialysis (PD)— a home treatment option — within two years of starting treatment, DaVita developed and deployed a predictive AI model that supports clinical teams in identifying patients needs to sustain home dialysis.

Closing the Visibility Gap: DaVita’s connected cyclers and CWOW system provide care teams with consistent patient updates and data to support adjusted care plans and tailored interventions before complications arise.

Seamless Transitions: When a transition off peritoneal dialysis is necessary, DaVita’s PD-to-HHD pathway enables and empowers patients to transition to home hemodialysis (HHD) in a mean of 6 days.

“Clinical teams now have better visibility into home treatments, equipping teams with insight on how to address issues before they escalate.”
— Dr. Mihran Naljayan

For approximately 80,000 Americans, home dialysis offers a sense of normalcy and stability amid many changes that inevitably come with a diagnosis of kidney failure. Home dialysis includes both peritoneal dialysis (PD) and home hemodialysis (HHD), differentiated options that allow patients to complete treatments with greater schedule flexibility. This not only provides a greater sense of control over treatment but also reduces the need for frequent trips to dialysis centers, giving patients time back to pursue employment, education, time with loved ones and personal hobbies.

Supporting patients with home treatments and sustaining success on therapy, like PD, requires a vigilant and proactive approach from care teams:

“Sustaining success on home dialysis requires true partnership with our patients,” Mihran Naljayan, MD, chief medical officer of clinical transformation, home and pediatric modalities for DaVita, says. “We must work hand-in-hand with patients to support their well-being and their success on their treatment of choice.”

Data from the National Institutes of Health show that home dialysis has steadily expanded during the past 10 years. In 2012, less than 9% of patients with newly diagnosed kidney failure chose home dialysis. By 2023, that statistic had increased to almost 15%.

“Impressive as that trend is, home dialysis would have expanded even more rapidly if patients were able to dialyze at home for a longer duration,” explains Eric Weinhandl, PhD, an epidemiologist at DaVita who has published dozens of studies about home dialysis. “Within two years of starting PD, more than 30% have transferred to in-center hemodialysis, whether because of medical complications or psychosocial obstacles, including a sense of burnout.”¹

Complicating matters is that the transfer from PD to in-center hemodialysis is often accompanied by hospitalization.² Weinhandl says, “Historically, we may have been too reactive, not proactive, when patients were struggling the most with home dialysis.”

Now, advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are providing clinicians with powerful new tools to support their patients. Kidney care leader DaVita has developed a predictive model that leverages machine learning to help clinical teams recognize and anticipate patient needs before they become critical problems.

The tool, known as the PD Loss predictive model, extracts hundreds of variables from a patient’s health record and creates a list of individuals each week who are at relatively high risk of discontinuing PD therapy during the next 90 days.³ This report helps care teams understand when people need extra support as well as why someone has been flagged as higher risk for transitioning off PD.

When a patient is identified, the system can suggest specific interventions, such as a medication review or a consultation with a specialist. The model doesn’t dictate care, though. Rather, it offers evidence-backed insights to inform care. Based on this feedback and interactions with the patients, nurses can tailor care activities with data-driven insights.

“When nurses initiate interventions within 5 days of a patient being identified as high-risk, we see that patients have approximately 15% lower risk of transferring to in-center hemodialysis during the next 2 to 3 months,” explains Weinhandl based on internal data from DaVita.

Keeping Care Close When Dialyzing from Home

What’s driving the availability of new technology? Data.

In the past, patients recorded treatments on paper and delivered this information to their care team when they saw them — often monthly. Now, at-home devices are helping close the gap between the home and the dialysis center.

At DaVita, the majority of patients treating on PD or HHD use connected cyclers — the machines that perform treatment — that record and integrate treatment data into their clinical profile within DaVita’s cloud-based platform, Center Without Walls™ (CWOW™).⁴

This gives care teams unprecedented visibility into what’s happening with a patient’s health while treating at home, tracking everything from treatment adherence to fluid removal trends.

“The physiologic and lifestyle benefits of home dialysis are readily apparent,” Dr. Naljayan says. “Historically, it has been difficult for the physician to manage the home dialysis treatment regimen in a timely manner, given once-a-month updates about blood pressure and fluid removal. Connected cyclers change that. Clinical teams now have better visibility into home treatments, equipping teams with insight on how to address issues before they escalate.”

Supporting Patients Through Their Kidney Health Journey

This data stream can also help clinical caregivers create pathways for safer, more thoughtful patient care journeys. This includes supporting DaVita teammates (employees) as they empower home dialysis patients in their “PD to HHD” pathway. This pathway helps identify PD patients who have one or more well-established risk factors for transfer to hemodialysis and provides education about HHD, a therapy that can allow the patient to continue dialyzing at home if the efficacy of PD eventually diminishes.

In a Kidney360 study published in 2022, Weinhandl reported that only 3% of patients who transfer from PD to hemodialysis select HHD. By flagging these patients early, care teams can provide enhanced education and proactive planning, whether it includes education, training, or helping the patient get a fistula (a dialysis access) placed if needed.

A pilot study of DaVita’s “PD to HHD” education process, presented at the 2025 National Kidney Foundation Spring Clinical Meeting, demonstrated a significant increase of people transitioning to HHD when PD was no longer an option. The study also highlighted that early education helped patients start HHD quickly, with a mean transition of just 6 days and the majority of patients making the transition without needing in-center hemodialysis.⁵

“We remain focused on supporting patients on their treatment of choice,” Dr. Naljayan adds. “Harnessing the power of predictive analytics and real-time data, we are building a more connected care ecosystem. The simple reality is that home dialysis requires effort, but that effort can unlock huge upsides. Our mission at DaVita is to share the load of that effort exerted by patients and their families.”

By combining the vast analytical power of AI with the irreplaceable expertise of clinicians, healthcare providers can create a more responsive, personalized and sustainable system of care that helps patients manage their health from their preferred environment: at home.

Service provider and modality select are choices made exclusively between the patient and nephrologist.

[1] United States Renal Data System. 2025 USRDS Annual Data Report: Epidemiology of kidney disease in the United States. Figure 3.11a, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Bethesda, MD, 2025.

[2] Weinhandl, Eric D.1,2; Saffer, Tonya L.3; Aragon, Michael3. Hidden Costs Associated with Conversion from Peritoneal Dialysis to Hemodialysis. Kidney360 3(5):p 883-890, May 26, 2022. | DOI: 10.34067/KID.0007692021

[3] Transplant and renal recovery losses are not included in or predicted by the model, and these modality losses account for positive loss reasons to be encouraged. This flag is a tool to assist in identifying patients who may change modality within 90 days and RNs should use their clinical license to interpret if a patient is at risk of leaving their modality of choice. The RN should tie in the nephrologist and entire care team as needed and document interventions recorded. Service provider and modality selection are choices made exclusively between the patient and nephrologist.

[4] While connected cycler data can sometimes be impacted by malfunctions or patient user error, the data is one of several valuable sources of patient treatment completion that should be analyzed alongside patient submitted treatment records and clinic visit conversations.

[5] Increase in Conversions from Peritoneal Dialysis to Home Hemodialysis: A Pilot Study of a Structured Education Process; AJKD NKF 2025 Spring Clinical Meetings Abstracts

How to Leverage AI Without Compromising Sustainability Goals

Everpure — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 10:05:00 -0400

By Patrick Smith

There’s no denying that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become one of the fastest growing and largest areas of enterprise technology investment and innovation in recent years. Given there are so many practical applications for this technology, it’s no surprise that AI is supporting mainstream use cases, ranging from healthcare and life sciences to semiconductor and chip manufacturing, automotive, financial services, and beyond.

While generative AI tools such as ChatGPT have dominated the headlines in recent months, the reality is that AI has been present for a number of years. However, the latest wave of widely accessible generative AI tools is resulting in more machine generated data than ever before, and this is driving the unprecedented growth of unstructured data worldwide. In fact, IDC predicts that by 2025, the total amount of digital data created globally will rise to 175 zettabytes (from approximately 40 zettabytes in 2019). This estimate can actually be considered conservative, given the surge in AI-generated data we are seeing today.

In a somewhat perpetual cycle, greater volumes of data and the acceleration of AI means a bigger opportunity for businesses to turn this information into actionable intelligence, to innovate faster than their competitors, increase customer satisfaction, streamline operations, and ultimately become a more successful company. However, just as we refine oil into useful products such as fuel and plastics, data must also be refined before it can provide value. This is where data analytics (increasingly AI-based) comes in.

How Can Businesses Succeed with AI Projects?

In order to power AI, and AI-based data analytics, organizations need a flexible, reliable, performant, and perhaps most importantly, sustainable data storage infrastructure in place.

Performance is key because AI relies on sending massive amounts of data into GPUs, over and over again. The faster organizations do that, the quicker and better results they get. AI resources (GPUs, data scientists) are expensive and in high-demand, so keeping them waiting on access to data can lead to a hefty bill. Just as important as feeding the GPUs, is accelerating the whole data preparation and curation workflows, helping to collect and process the data in the first place.
Flexibility comes in as AI is easily the most rapidly evolving space in technology – tools, techniques, data-sets and use-cases are evolving every single day. As a result, it’s critical to invest in technology and infrastructure choices that are going to allow organizations to adapt to changes quickly.
Enterprise reliability and controls are more important to organizations than ever with AI environments. These are mission critical environments, and any downtime can lead to exorbitant costs. As a result, availability and reliability are essential. Additionally, AI projects are often large sprawling projects and heavily automated. Having controls around quotas, security, and ease of management is critical.
Last but certainly not least is one of the planet’s most pressing concerns, sustainability.

Why Do Businesses Need to Run AI Sustainability?

Current estimates have data centers accounting for between one to four percent of all global energy consumption. In fact, in some countries datacenter expansion has been halted because they cannot access adequate power. AI is not going anywhere, and overall it will be an overwhelmingly positive tool for humanity, helping us automate repetitive tasks, treat diseases more effectively, and better understand our world through weather and climate patterns. However, from an environmental perspective, it only adds to energy consumption and carbon footprint concerns. In the wake of this immense challenge and opportunity, building an efficient and sustainable technology infrastructure for AI is critical to mitigating global warming and the worst impacts of climate change.

How Can Customers Capitalize on AI in a Sustainable Way?

As data volumes grow and high performance becomes mainstream as a requirement for AI, sustainability concerns come to the fore. As these needs increase, so do costs in terms of power, cooling and the space to house equipment. In today’s context of soaring energy prices this is not only an environmental issue, but an operational and financial challenge for businesses too.

Fortunately, some companies are designing and building products and delivering services that allow customers to dramatically decrease their own environmental footprints. For example, all-flash storage solutions are considerably more efficient than their spinning disk (HDD) counterparts. What’s more, flash storage is much better suited to running AI projects.

This is because the key to results is connecting AI models or AI powered applications to data. To do this successfully you need lots of data, this data can’t be cold, and crucially data needs to be easily accessible, across silos and applications. This simply isn’t possible with HDD based storage underpinning your operations, all-flash is needed.

To further bolster the adoption of sustainable technology choices, consider whether your organization has a sustainability officer, someone responsible for the company’s overall carbon footprint. Involve those stakeholders at the beginning of the process to ensure no stone goes unturned on your journey to sustainable AI.

How Can You Prepare for Success?

To prepare for a world in which ever-growing amounts of unstructured data will be the subject of much-increased use of AI analytics, companies will need storage in colossal volumes that offers rapid access and is efficient in sustainability terms.

Businesses should look for vendors with a roadmap for high density flash storage capacity that can handle workloads from the most performance-hungry to those currently categorized as secondary but which will gain in importance with the rise of constant AI processing. Companies should also evaluate vendor purchasing options that can build in seamless capacity and technology upgrades for years ahead.

Lastly, organizations should look for all-flash storage providers that can demonstrate third-party verified ESG metrics, so that AI projects can be executed without damaging the environment, and their bottom line.

Building Inclusive, Ethical AI: Lessons From Lenovo for Technology Leaders

Lenovo — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 08:05:00 -0400

By Chloé Broguet, Global Corporate & ESG Communications Manager, Lenovo

Every company developing AI technology should prioritize inclusive data sets, diverse user testing, and foundational ethics. This is part of Smarter AI for all at Lenovo, and it does not happen by accident. As the pace of innovation seems to somehow keep accelerating—and public trust in AI remains tenuous—this is especially important.

Our commitment to inclusive, responsible AI started years before the current generative AI boom, and it’s crucial to how we build trust in this era. While our efforts stretch back decades, the focus here is on inclusion and empowering women. It is, after all, Women’s History Month, and we’re right on the heels of International Women’s Day.

What began as an ambitious push from passionate employees evolved into a structured, company-wide approach to gender-fair AI. We’ve learned a lot along the way by critically examining how systems are being built, governed, tested, and consistently improved.

“Real transformation often starts with a few people who care deeply enough to act,” said Marine Rabeyrin, EMEA Education Director at Lenovo and an established leader in corporate citizenship. “One of the strongest lessons from this journey is that motivated individuals really can influence an entire organization—when they are proactive, persistent, and able to build a community of changemakers.”

From intention to action

Lenovo’s Women & AI initiative emerged from participation in Cercle InterL, a French tech inclusion network, beginning in 2019. And as momentum built, Lenovo joined InterL’s ‘Women and AI’ Charter in 2021. Those commitments helped Lenovo develop a comprehensive approach to inclusive AI, including how it should be evaluated.

We undertook rigorous self-assessments in 2021, 2023, and 2026. We’ve experienced meaningful progress from an early baseline that highlighted strong instincts to a much more consistent and holistic governance model today.

“You have to be honest, individually and as an organization,” Marine said. “Our internal assessments pull no punches, and we never sugarcoat the findings. That’s the only way to ensure the progress is real and measurable.”

The key parameters for those evaluations include governance, compliance by design, data selection and processing, team inclusion, awareness and accountability, and ethics of algorithms.

Governance

One of the clearest drivers of progress for Lenovo has been the strengthening of AI governance and internal awareness around bias risks in AI systems. As our governance structures and committees matured, they gave responsible AI work greater clarity, consistency, and longevity. Establishing and empowering a Responsible AI Committee to review our technology, define benchmarks, and overhaul processes was essential.

Compliance by design

Inclusion and fairness are most effective when they are built into AI systems from the beginning and not simply reviewed at the end. That means designing with bias mitigation in mind from the outset and aligning early with emerging regulatory expectations, including developments such as the EU AI Act. There’s a fundamental mindset shift that some organizations may need to demand. That initial lift may be difficult, but it pays off.

Team inclusion

Better AI comes from broader thinking. Our progress has been supported by collaboration across inclusion, legal, regulatory and technical teams, as well as by leaders who could bridge AI expertise with inclusion priorities. This kind of cross-functional effort helps surface blind spots earlier and makes decision-making stronger. AI systems are shaped by the people who build, guide, and govern them. The more perspectives brought into that process, the better the outcome is likely to be.

Awareness and accountability

Building inclusive AI cannot rest with a single team. It requires broader organizational awareness, shared ownership, external commitments, and visible support from leadership. At Lenovo, executive sponsorship gives this work essential momentum and credibility. Just as important, our company culture and employee resource group infrastructure helped employees turn ideas into action and scale their impact.

“Doing the right thing with AI takes more than good intentions,” said Ada Lopez, head of Lenovo’s Inclusive Product Design Office. “It requires institutional support, clear accountability and a company-wide appetite to ask the right questions early. When that support is in place, inclusion becomes something a company can genuinely operationalize and scale.”

Data and algorithms

Over time, our approach evolved from evaluating individual AI solutions to examining broader governance processes across data, algorithms, monitoring, HR, and awareness. The algorithms and training data powering AI can reflect unconscious bias that must be proactively and meticulously addressed. Responsible AI requires understanding systems, assumptions, and processes. Organizations that want to build more inclusive AI need to look at the full chain, from data inputs to design choices to oversight mechanisms.

Organizational transformation

Our experience also shows that this work can have positive effects beyond product development alone. Lenovo has applied AI in areas such as learning and upskilling, including using AI in our HR systems to recommend training based on employee interests. That helps create more equitable access to learning opportunities and broadens the impact of inclusive AI thinking across the company.

Taken together, these lessons form a practical roadmap for other organizations. Assess where you are. Build governance. Involve diverse voices. Embed compliance early. Educate widely. Keep improving.

That is what we have worked to do at Lenovo. And while the journey is ongoing, our progress shows what is possible when responsible AI is treated as a business imperative rather than a side discussion.

“One of the real privileges of leadership is empowering people and championing their vision,” said Calvin J. Crosslin, Lenovo VP and Chief Inclusion Officer. “The Women & AI initiative reflects what can happen when committed people are given the support to lead meaningful change. At Lenovo, we deliver smarter AI for all, which means it’s responsible, inclusive, and built to create trust.”

Our Women & AI journey has shown us that responsible, inclusive AI requires both conviction and structure. It takes people who care, leaders who listen and systems that hold us accountable. Most of all, it requires a belief that innovation is strongest when it works for everyone.