Category Archives: Technology

AI, Sustainability Can Drive India’s Future Growth

June 24: Industry leaders have said that artificial intelligence (AI) and sustainable development together can play a transformative role in shaping India’s long-term economic and social progress.

Speaking on emerging technology trends, experts noted that AI is increasingly being integrated across sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare, agriculture and financial services, helping improve efficiency, productivity and decision-making.

They added that when combined with sustainability-focused practices, AI can support cleaner production methods, better resource management and reduced environmental impact, aligning with global climate goals.

Leaders highlighted that India’s rapid digital adoption and strong innovation ecosystem provide a strong foundation for scaling AI-driven solutions that are both economically viable and environmentally responsible.

They also pointed out that sustainable development goals can be accelerated through smart technologies that optimise energy use, reduce waste and improve supply chain efficiency across industries.

According to industry voices, the convergence of AI and sustainability will be critical in building resilient infrastructure, creating new job opportunities and ensuring inclusive growth in the coming decades.

Experts believe that strategic investments in technology, skills development and green innovation will be key to unlocking India’s full potential in this space.

Iridium’s Next‑Generation Hybrid IoT Module and Development Kit are Now Commercially Available

The Iridium 9604 Module and Development Kit streamline global IoT development with integrated satellite, cellular, and GNSS connectivity

MCLEAN, Va., June 24:  Iridium Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: IRDM), a leading provider of global voice, data, and positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) satellite services, today announced commercial availability of the Iridium® 9604 module and Development Kit, giving developers, OEMs, and solution providers a faster path to build and scale connected IoT solutions worldwide.

Combining Iridium Short Burst Data® (SBD®) satellite connectivity, LTE-M cellular, and GNSS positioning, the Iridium 9604 module delivers a compact, integrated solution for global IoT deployments. Alongside the Iridium 9604 Development Kit, developers can rapidly prototype, test, and validate hybrid satellite, cellular, and GNSS applications with resources that simplify integration and streamline deployment workflows.

Built on the u-blox SARA-R5 platform, the Iridium 9604 is designed to reduce hardware complexity, lower integration costs, and accelerate time to market for connected solutions operating across industrial, infrastructure, transportation, mobility, utilities, maritime, and remote monitoring applications. The integrated design helps reduce board space requirements by 60 percent or more while simplifying RF routing, power architecture, and firmware development.

“The Iridium 9604 module and Development Kit represent a major milestone in making truly global IoT connectivity more accessible and easier to deploy,” said Tim Last, executive vice president, Iridium. “By replacing three separate components with one integrated solution, developers can simplify device design, reduce costs, and create smarter, location-aware products capable of staying connected far beyond terrestrial coverage.”

Early developers and beta participants reported significant operational and economic benefits from the platform’s integrated architecture.

“The Iridium 9604 has enabled us to develop a truly global asset tracking solution without relying on terrestrial network infrastructure. Its reliable coverage, compact form factor, and straightforward integration have significantly accelerated our development process and allowed us to focus on optimizing the end-user experience,” said Askar Gabit, CEO, GPSOne. “For applications in remote and challenging environments, the Iridium network provides the confidence that critical data can be delivered when it matters most.”

The Iridium 9604 gives developers independent control over satellite, LTE-M, and GNSS subsystems, enabling flexible implementation of failover logic, location-aware connectivity decisions, and application-specific routing strategies. A unified AT command set and comprehensive SDK resources further simplify development and integration.

Built for scalable and power-sensitive IoT applications, the Iridium 9604 features a compact 16 mm x 26 mm x 2.4 mm form factor optimized for deployments where size, resiliency, and efficiency are critical. The platform supports GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and BeiDou GNSS services alongside LTE-M (Cat-M1) and Iridium’s 100% global L-band satellite network.

The Iridium 9604 represents the next evolution of Iridium’s broader IoT strategy, expanding beyond traditional satellite-only hardware to support unified, multi-mode connectivity architectures. The Iridium network now supports multiple IoT pathways, including dedicated Iridium SBD modules, Iridium NTN DirectSM standards-based direct-to-device capabilities, and larger payload connectivity through the Iridium Certus® 9704 module.

Operating on the world’s only truly global mobile satellite network, the Iridium 9604 delivers reliable connectivity across remote land areas, oceans, airways, and polar regions where other networks are unavailable or unreliable.

Tripura Opens First Public EV Charging Station, Expands Clean Mobility Push

Agartala, June 24: Tripura has launched its first public electric vehicle (EV) charging station, marking a key step in the state’s efforts to strengthen clean mobility infrastructure and support the growing adoption of electric vehicles.

The newly inaugurated facility is expected to provide convenient charging access for EV users and encourage wider use of electric transport across the state. It also signals the beginning of a broader infrastructure rollout aimed at building a more sustainable transport ecosystem.

As part of its long-term plan, the state has proposed setting up 94 additional EV charging stations at strategic locations. The expansion is aimed at improving accessibility, reducing range anxiety among EV users and supporting the transition towards greener transportation.

Officials said the initiative aligns with broader national objectives to promote electric mobility, reduce carbon emissions and increase the share of clean energy in the transport sector.

With the rollout of additional charging infrastructure, Tripura is expected to gradually build a supportive ecosystem for EV adoption, particularly in urban centres and key transit routes.

The move is seen as an important milestone in the state’s clean energy transition journey.

Growing Middle Class and Innovation Drive India’s Market Potential: Aker BioMarine

June 24: India’s growing middle class, large consumer base and swift adoption of innovation and technology are positioning the country as one of the most attractive long-term growth markets globally, according to Aker BioMarine Chief Executive Officer Matts Johansen.

Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as the Summer Davos, Johansen said India continues to offer significant opportunities for businesses seeking sustainable growth.

He noted that the combination of a large population, rising consumer spending and openness to new technologies creates a strong foundation for continued economic expansion. According to Johansen, these factors are likely to support long-term demand across a wide range of industries.

Reflecting the company’s confidence in the Indian market, Aker BioMarine is expanding its local presence and is in the process of establishing an office in Mumbai. The Norwegian biotechnology company has been active in India for several years, supplying ingredients to the country’s shrimp farming industry, one of the largest aquaculture markets in the world.

Beyond aquaculture, the company plans to deepen its engagement with India by providing ingredients for food products and human health supplements, aligning with growing consumer demand for nutrition and wellness products.

Johansen also highlighted the transformative role of artificial intelligence in driving productivity and operational efficiency. He said AI is expected to play an increasingly important role across manufacturing, sales, marketing and finance functions, helping businesses improve performance and unlock new growth opportunities.

As companies worldwide accelerate their adoption of emerging technologies, India’s innovation-driven ecosystem and expanding consumer market are expected to remain key attractions for global investors and multinational businesses.

The Summer Davos meeting, being held in Dalian, China, has brought together leaders from business, government, academia and international organisations to discuss innovation, entrepreneurship and the future of economic development.

Probook Raises $40M from Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia to Scale the AI Operating System for Home Services

America’s largest home service brands run on Probook, built around dispatch

NEW YORK, NY — June 24: Probook, the AI Operating System for home service businesses, today announced $40 million in funding. The investment comprises a $34 million Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and a $6 million Seed round led by Sequoia Capital. Sequoia also participated in the Series A.

Home service operators spent the last three years buying AI. A voice agent. A chat widget. A follow-up tool. Each one owned a slice of the customer, and none of them talked to each other. Every vendor built for the top of the funnel, where leads come in — and ignored dispatch, the brain of every home service business, where customer experience is made or broken. Operators ended up with a stack of point solutions and a piecemeal customer experience.

Probook built dispatch first. Intake, data cleaning, customer messaging, and outbound came next, only possible because everything shares one context layer. Every customer stays on one text thread, with one number, from the first touch through the front door. Every inbound lead is answered with perfect information. Every booking is cleaned before assignment. Humans manage exceptions. Techs sell more. Shops run more jobs. Operators add points to their EBITDA and, for the first time, run a connected customer experience.

“I started Probook to solve a problem in my own business,” said George Eliadis, CEO and co-founder of Probook. “I grew up pressure washing in upstate New York with my dad. Six summers in the truck. I spent two to three hours of my day driving between jobs. I’d be up on a ladder washing a house and miss calls because I couldn’t hear my phone ringing.”

Eliadis later spent a summer inside TR Miller, a $40M HVAC, plumbing, and electrical shop in Illinois that became Probook’s first customer. There, he saw the same problems at scale.

“Most AI vendors flocked to this space because it looked attractive on a spreadsheet,” he continued. “We came to it because we grew up in it. Dispatch is the hardest problem in home services. If you don’t start there, you can’t understand the business.”

Probook deploys with customers in person, configures the platform alongside their front-line teams, and stays on the hook for the outcomes it sells.

Probook serves customers across hundreds of locations nationwide, from independently owned shops to private equity-backed platforms. Notable customers include TurnPoint Services,  Master Trades Group, Del-Air, Peterman Brothers, and Sila Services.

“With Probook, we’ve centralized dispatch across 11 markets and 200 technicians without adding overhead. That scalability is critical to how we grow,” said Chad Peterman, CEO of Peterman Brothers.

Summers Plumbing, Heating & Cooling, with 14 locations and 260 technicians on the platform, booked 2,542 jobs in its first month on Probook with zero human intervention.

Del-Air, an 8-location operation in Florida, runs Probook across the stack. “We chose Probook 

over other AI vendors because they know dispatch. They’re also part of our front-line CSR,” noted Rick Rogers, CEO.

“Dispatch is the nerve center of every home service business, and Probook built their entire platform around it.” said David Haber, General Partner at Andreesen Horowitz. “It’s a years-old structural moat. America’s largest home service brands run on Probook today. We’re proud to have led their Series A.”

Konstantine Buhler, Partner at Sequoia Capital, added: “Most founders building for the trades have never worked in them. George has. Pair that with the team’s outlier technical depth, and you see why we backed Probook at Seed and why we’re doubling down now.”

Probook will use the capital to scale its go-to-market team against surging demand, and grow engineering and customer success to deliver on it.

Netwrix Unveils New AI Governance Capabilities for Hybrid Microsoft Environments

Netwrix 1Secure™ SaaS platform now offers Agentic AI to secure data, identities and Copilot rollouts – providing insights within an hour

FRISCO, Texas – June 24, 2026 – Netwrix, a recognized leader in identity and data solutions, today announced new innovations within its 1Secure™ SaaS platform to accelerate securing and governing data, identities, and AI across hybrid Microsoft environments. 1Secure helps organizations address their most urgent security priority first, with a clear path to expand coverage over time.

“Organizations where AI expanded the identity footprint saw four times the breach rate of those where it didn’t — 43% versus 11%,” said Grady Summers, CEO of Netwrix. “The problem is speed. AI adds identities and accesses data at a much faster pace than human reviews can keep up, and attackers move in seconds. Netwrix 1Secure uses AI to help IT and security teams monitor changes across their environments, identify and fix issues faster, and prove compliance to auditors.”

AI tools like Microsoft Copilot inherit whatever access already exists, and that access is rarely fully audited. Organizations don’t know where sensitive data lives, which identities are overprivileged, or where they’re most exposed, and those gaps often aren’t discovered until AI surfaces them, or an attacker does.

“AI is creating real urgency around identity and data exposure that many of our customers didn’t realize they had,” said Rory Cooksey, VP of Brand & Business Development at WheelHouse IT, a managed services provider and Netwrix partner serving midsize organizations. “They need answers quickly and a path to reduce risk without taking on another complex project. With 1Secure, we can continuously manage who and what has access to sensitive data, monitor changes over time, and deliver that as a repeatable service, not a one-time engagement.”

This latest version of 1Secure extends recent innovations like Copilot activity monitoring and risk assessments with additional capabilities focused on visibility and speed:

• Netwrix Neo™ – a conversational AI assistant that gives security teams alerts in a plain-language briefing, so they know what happened and where to focus first.
• Sensitive Data Posture dashboard – a centralized visual overview of data risk across cloud and on-prem, including heatmaps, trend analysis, and behavioral insights in one place
• 200+ PingCastle-powered checks – across Active Directory and data sources that surface exposure gaps and close them faster with AI-powered guidance
• Group Policy (GPO) auditing – insights to detect risky configuration changes before they weaken security posture
• Windows Server activity reporting – near real-time alerts and activity records for system changes, services, DNS, DHCP, and more

Netwrix 1Secure now offers visibility, continuous monitoring, and control across hybrid Microsoft environments, extending native offerings with identity risk assessment and data classification visibility. Supported environments include:

• Identity systems: Active Directory and Entra ID
• Data sources: SharePoint Online, Exchange Online, Windows File Servers and SQL Server

Netwrix 1Secure deploys and delivers an initial risk assessment within an hour. Pricing starts at $22 per identity per year.

Netwrix 1Secure is available now. Organizations can start a free trial or request a demo at https://netwrix.com/en/lp/1secure.

Prodoscore Launches MCP Connector, Bringing Workforce Intelligence Into Enterprise AI Workflows

New Offering Allows Enterprise AI Assistants to Analyze Workforce Intelligence Alongside CRM, Project, Financial and Operational Data

LOS ANGELES– As organizations of all sizes increasingly adopt AI assistants to handle routine tasks, workforce intelligence remains one of the last major data sources isolated from business decision-making. Today, Prodoscore, a leading provider of employee productivity and data intelligence software, announced the launch of the Prodoscore MCP server, enabling enterprise AI assistants to query workforce intelligence alongside data from any connected business tool and surface answers that no single platform could provide on its own.

Prodoscore’s MCP Connector is built on Model Context Protocol, an open standard for AI-to-tool connectivity, supported by Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft. Once connected, AI assistants including Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot can draw on Prodoscore’s workforce data alongside tools like Salesforce, Jira, Asana, HubSpot and Slack.

Use cases span every major business function. A sales leader can ask which reps show declining activity and cross-reference their pipeline results. An HR leader can identify which teams show decreased engagement alongside open roles. A finance leader can flag expensive software licenses with low employee usage.

“Organizations aren’t lacking data – they’re lacking a way to connect it all together to see the full picture of a company and its workforce,” said Sam Naficy, Prodoscore CEO. “With the MCP Connector, one question to an AI assistant returns an answer that spans a company’s entire tech stack. That’s how true business intelligence should work, and Prodoscore is the first workforce analytics provider to introduce an MCP server. Companies simply cannot have an educated AI transformation without Prodoscore’s MCP, as it provides data, facts and granularity in a visible, engaging and thoughtful way.”

Additionally, for distributed and hybrid workforces, the MCP Connector transforms workforce intelligence from standalone dashboards into a core layer of enterprise decision-making. The Connector is read-only, applies existing role-based permissions automatically and does not use customer data to train external AI models.

Lightrun Launches First-Ever Pull Request (PR) Review Tool That Simulates Proposed Changes Against a Live Production Environment

Runtime Aware PR Verifier Catches Code Change Failures That Are Missed

By Tests, Static Analysis and AI Reviewers

NEW YORK, June 23, 2026 — Lightrun, the leader in software reliability, today announced the Runtime Aware PR Verifier, the first-ever solution to confirm how a new pull request (PR) will impact live production, before deployment.

Unlike tools that estimate risk based on how production code previously behaved, Lightrun collects live runtime data from the exact code paths the PR touches. It then simulates how the new code would behave in place of the old, before a single line is merged. Each PR receives a risk score from risky to safe, based on how the change behaves against live execution paths, dependency interactions, and real traffic. This catches failures that static analysis, test environments, and other AI reviewers miss.

The Runtime Aware PR Verifier goes beyond catching regressions. It reviews the original ticket and evaluates how the proposed change will impact the live runtime activity. That means every edge case, use case, and piece of requested functionality is confirmed in the implementation. Because the verification runs against real production behavior, it reduces both missed issues and false positives, ensuring that all requirements are met in the first deployment iteration, not the third.

“AI coding agents have removed the bottleneck on writing code; a backend engineer using Copilot or Claude Code can produce 10 times more PRs than they could two years ago,” said Or Golan, R&D Lead of Lightrun’s AI Labs. “However, with AI comes bugs, and the most dangerous bugs are those that pass code review, clear every test, and then quietly break existing functionality after deployment. Our Runtime Aware PR Verifier identifies these hidden issues by testing how the pull requests would actually behave in production, even when traditional testing shows no problems.”

The solution provides business benefits, including:

–          Fewer production incidents post-merge

–          Reduced MTTR (mean time to repair)

–          Lower cost of review and QA

–          Improved deployment frequency

–          Reduced cloud and data costs 

The Lightrun Runtime Aware PR Verifier delivers its findings natively in GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket. This means that there is no need for developers to switch between platforms, and the entire team stays in context. For more information, visit https://lightrun.com/runtime-aware-pr/.

Scality unveils reimagined channel program built around partner success

New ‘Authorized’ tier, improved margins, and expanded deal protection give partners a clearer path to grow with Scality across cyber resilience, sovereignty, and AI.

SAN FRANCISCO, June 23, 2026 – Scality, a global leader in data infrastructure software for AI-era storage at scale, today announced a reimagined Scality Partner Program designed to deliver greater value, stronger economics, and a clearer growth path to its global community of resellers and distributors.

This is not only a significant update; it’s a change of program model. Where most channel programs reward transaction volume, Scality’s new program rewards expertise, pipeline creation, and the ability to address three simultaneously fast-growing markets: cyber-resilience, digital sovereignty, and AI infrastructure.

The channel opportunity has expanded

The market for enterprise data infrastructure is being reshaped by three forces that are creating new addressable opportunities for channel partners: the rapid build-out of AI infrastructure, the urgent enterprise need for cyber resilience, and the rising importance of sovereign control over data. 

Each of these forces creates customer demand that partners are uniquely positioned to meet, but only if their economics, enablement, and program structure align to the kind of consultative, expertise-driven selling these opportunities require. Scality is doubling down on the channel as its route to market, and this new program is structured so that partners share fully in the opportunity ahead.

Built around what truly drives long-term success

The new Scality Partner Program is intentionally designed around the behaviors that build durable, mutual success and not just closed deals. It pairs competitive margins with deeper investment in enablement, growth and long-term value for partners.  

Through Scality University, partners get on-demand sales and technical training. Clear certification tracks help them build proven expertise in Scality ARTESCA, RING, and ADI, from selling the solution to deploying it. And with the new ARTESCA Test Drive, partners can launch a live demo environment in minutes and show the product to customers with no setup. Together with marketing campaign kits, co-funded campaigns, and qualified leads for top tiers, these tools help partners grow stronger, expertise-led businesses with Scality. 

Parallels RAS Expands Virtual Desktop Flexibility with New Hypervisor-Agnostic Custom Provider Framework

Latest Parallels RAS release delivers expanded Nutanix, Azure, and Azure Virtual Desktop capabilities, greater infrastructure flexibility, and improved browser-based user experiences

AUSTIN, Texas — June 23, 2026 — Parallels, a leading global provider in virtualization and end-user computing (EUC) solutions, today announced a significant update to Parallels RAS (Remote Application Server), introducing a new Custom Provider Framework that enables organizations to integrate their hypervisor or cloud platform of choice into their Parallels RAS environments. The release also expands Nutanix, Microsoft Azure, and Azure Virtual Desktop support, strengthens hybrid and multi-cloud deployment options, and enhances browser-based experiences for secure application and desktop delivery.

“Organizations today operate across increasingly diverse virtualization and cloud environments, yet many virtual desktop solutions remain limited to a narrow set of supported hypervisors,” said Elena Koryakina, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Parallels. “With the introduction of the Custom Provider Framework, Parallels RAS delivers a truly flexible, hypervisor-agnostic approach that empowers customers and partners to integrate a wide range of infrastructure platforms while maintaining centralized management, automation, and secure application delivery.”

The new Custom Provider Framework extends Parallels RAS’s hypervisor-agnostic approach beyond application and desktop delivery into automated provisioning, VM lifecycle management, and infrastructure orchestration. This enables organizations to support hybrid, multi-cloud, edge, and private cloud deployments through a consistent management experience. The framework provides integration capabilities for a broad range of virtualization and cloud environments, including platforms such as KVM, Xen-based environments, edge deployments, and custom cloud APIs. These capabilities complement existing native integrations and extend Parallels RAS support into emerging and specialized infrastructure environments.

“Organizations are increasingly looking for digital workspace platforms that can adapt to diverse infrastructure strategies without adding operational rigidity,” said Filippo Vanara, Research Manager, Worldwide Enterprise Client Computing Platforms at IDC. “As IT teams balance hybrid, on-premises, cloud, and regional infrastructure requirements alongside evolving compliance, sovereignty, and operational resiliency priorities, infrastructure flexibility is becoming an increasingly important consideration.”

A hypervisor-agnostic approach to modern application and desktop delivery

At the core of the framework is a scripting language-agnostic connector model that acts as a bridge between Parallels RAS and the target infrastructure platform. Organizations and partners can create lightweight integrations using PowerShell, Python, or similar scripting languages that communicate with Parallels RAS through a standardized JSON protocol.

The framework also extends Parallels RAS provisioning capabilities to third-party platforms through template-based provisioning, automated cloning, VM lifecycle management, and extensible orchestration workflows. By reducing reliance on native hypervisor integrations, the Custom Provider Framework allows organizations to evolve their infrastructure strategy without sacrificing automation, scalability, or operational consistency. The framework helps customers integrate Parallels RAS into existing technology stacks with minimal operational overhead, accelerating time-to-value across diverse environments while enabling new deployment opportunities for managed service providers, sovereign cloud environments, regional hypervisors, and edge computing deployments.

In addition to the Custom Provider Framework, the latest version of Parallels RAS introduces expanded platform integrations, enhanced security controls, and user experience improvements designed that simplify administration and strengthen secure access to applications and desktops. New capabilities in the latest release include:

• Support for Nutanix Prism Central using native template integration to improve single-console administration for multi-cluster and hybrid cloud management
• Trusted Launch support for Microsoft Azure and Azure Virtual Desktop providers, including Secure Boot and virtual TPM capabilities for enhanced workload protection
• Azure Availability Zone support for improved workload placement and deployment flexibility
• Local file access and simultaneous multi-file transfer support for the RAS Web Client to improve browser-based productivity and Chromebook experiences
• Extended Parallels Client capabilities across multiple platforms, including cross-platform Web + Credentials authentication (macOS, Linux, Android, iOS), expanded clipboard redirection with image support for macOS, and extended USB filtering support for Linux and IGEL OS clients, alongside single sign-on capabilities for IGEL OS 12.
• Enhanced Gateway access control, restricting specific logon methods, API usage control, and client auto-logout capabilities for stronger security in shared and kiosk-style environments

The latest release of Parallels RAS version 21.2 is available immediately. Customers can upgrade from previous versions or explore Parallels RAS through a free trial at www.parallels.com/ras/remote-application-server/.

For a full overview of what’s new in Parallels RAS 21.2, please visit www.parallels.com/products/ras/whats-new/.