Manufacturing Data Platform Available on Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing

Sight Machine Inc. today announced that its Manufacturing Data Platform is now a certified solution for Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing, further expanding its reach within the Microsoft Azure Marketplace. Sight Machine's multi-year participation in Microsoft's global partner ecosystem for manufacturing enables both organizations to help manufacturers around the world transform their businesses and unlock new levels of productivity and sustainability with leading cloud, data and AI-powered technology.

Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing brings together data, processes, people and technology in intelligent solution areas for manufacturers to build resiliency and sustainability through operational visibility, data integration, and digital collaboration. The cloud, data and AI capabilities at the core of these solutions help companies accelerate digitalization efforts across key areas of the value chain to enable more intelligent factories, create more resilient supply chains, unlock innovation with new products and services and modernize the customer experience.

Sight Machine's Manufacturing Data Platform ("MDP") makes industrial data accessible and useful at scale across the enterprise. It captures the entire manufacturing process in a single industrial data foundation, contextualizing all plant data and incorporating all machines on a line, all lines in a plant and all plants operated by a company. Sight Machine's data-first architecture delivers operational digital twins to provide real-time visibility and insights to transform production at scale across the enterprise. 

With the combined power of the MDP and Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing, manufacturers can drive enhanced production and optimize resource utilization with industrial data and AI to build more intelligent factories and pave the way for scalable operations, empowered and democratized real-time decision making, and increasing access to industrial data insights for all stakeholders. With a platform to address any production objective across the enterprise - and extended value chain - manufacturers can accelerate time to increased output, energy efficiency savings, improved quality and cost control measures.

In October 2022, Sight Machine announced Sight Machine Blueprint, developed in collaboration with NVIDIA and Microsoft, which uses AI for high-speed, automated data labeling, enabling manufacturers to analyze up to 100x more of their data.

Sight Machine was recognized as a Microsoft Manufacturing Partner of the Year Finalist in both 2021 and 2022.

"We're proud to work closely with the Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing and obtain the associated ISV designation," said Sight Machine CEO and Co-Founder Jon Sobel. "Microsoft's commitment to helping manufacturers transform production brings cloud, security, data and AI technologies to the factory floor and enables the kind of scale the industry has been working towards for a decade. With Sight Machine and Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing, we are enabling our customers to embrace a data-first architecture for the era of industrial AI."

"As a launch partner for the Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing and early adopter of Azure Open AI Service, Sight Machine gives customers the system-wide visibility and data-driven insights they need to improve productivity and sustainability across the enterprise," said Dominik Wee, Corporate Vice President, Manufacturing and Mobility Industry, Microsoft.  "We look forward to our ongoing collaboration to help our customers place data and AI at the core of intelligent operations."

Funding will accelerate platform innovation as organizations scale trust across privacy, security, ethics, and ESG

OneTrust, the market-defining leader for trust intelligence, today announced a $150 million funding round. This capital will bolster OneTrust's continued growth to meet customer demand for trust intelligence software. The round was led by new investor Generation Investment Management with participation from existing investor Sands Capital, bringing the total funds raised to date to over $1 billion with a current $4.5 billion valuation.

This latest funding comes as OneTrust reaffirms its leadership position in the privacy market. The company recently ranked number one in worldwide market share for data privacy software for the fourth consecutive year, according to IDC's Worldwide Data Privacy Compliance Software Market Shares report, "OneTrust Continues to Hold its Large Lead Over the Market." As data privacy regulations expand and evolve across the globe, organizations are embracing privacy as a strategic imperative to not only meet compliance requirements but demonstrate differentiation.

OneTrust goes beyond data privacy to provide a holistic approach to trust. As trust becomes a critical determinant of business success, the Trust Intelligence Platform is the single solution organizations use to manage trust across stakeholder demands of privacy, security, ethics, and ESG. This is bolstered by extensive research and real-time regulatory intelligence across hundreds of jurisdictions, making it easier for companies to understand and adapt to regulatory requirements.

"Our solutions have never been more mission critical. In the face of changing regulations and new business initiatives like AI, organizations need the technology to drive trust to the center of their operations and manage the complex web of privacy, security, ethics, and ESG requirements," said Kabir Barday, founder, CEO, and chairman of OneTrust. "We are focused on delivering strong customer experiences and will continue to evolve our platform as our customers' needs grow. This funding is a testament to our sustained growth, market leadership, and customer-centric innovation. We are pleased to be working with Generation."

"While critical to driving economic and sustainability progress, the proliferation of data comes with a host of unintended negative consequences, including data privacy and security issues," said Joy Tuffield, partner at Generation Investment Management. "With OneTrust's software, companies can protect sensitive data and manage the increasing volume and complexity of regulatory issues. This investment demonstrates our confidence in the company's vision, leadership, and ability to execute. We are excited to be partnering with OneTrust to make it easier for organizations around the world to demonstrate trust."

"The data privacy compliance market continues to experience significant growth amidst increased regulatory activity," said Ryan O'Leary, research director, Privacy and Legal Technology at IDC. "OneTrust continues to lead the market forward and capitalize on this emerging market. We are still in the early stages of this market, but it is poised for longevity."

Generation Investment Management joins OneTrust's existing investors, including Insight Partners, Coatue, TCV, Sands Capital, and Franklin Templeton.

NVIDIA today announced that it has named to its board of directors Melissa Lora, who spent three decades as an executive at Taco Bell Corp., a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., before retiring in 2018 as president of Taco Bell International.

She has also been appointed to the board’s Audit Committee.

“Melissa is a great addition to our board of directors,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “She brings senior management and operating experience, as well as extensive finance expertise, gained in a large corporate setting. We will benefit immensely from her guidance.”

Lora, 61, holds a B.S. in finance from California State University, Long Beach, and an M.B.A. in corporate finance from University of Southern California. She also serves on the boards of directors of KB Home, where she is lead independent director, and Conagra Brands, Inc., where she is chairperson of the Audit & Finance Committee.

AtData has released List Guard^® into its suite of email database hygiene solutions giving its customers a secondary layer of defense on their previously validated, SafeToSend^®, email address list.

AtData, the leading provider of email address intelligence to help companies optimize their first-party data, today announced the release of List Guard^®, an email list monitoring solution, into its suite of hygiene solutions. Maintaining a clean and deliverable email list starts with SafeToSend^®, AtData's email verification and hygiene service, and List Guard provides organizations a safety net by regularly monitoring their lists for spamtraps, honeypots and other dangerous domains to ensure they remain healthy and safe. List Guard protects against a number of toxic emails that can negatively impact your email marketing program and omnichannel targeting efforts.  

"List Guard allows our customers to take the next step in protecting both the integrity of their first-party data and the success of their email marketing program," said AtData's CEO, Tom Burke. "We typically see 6% of emails addresses that were originally marked as valid become problematic within the next year, which makes it critical to regularly monitor your email database." 

Once an organization verifies its email list, List Guard provides an "always-on" monitoring solution that identifies email addresses that have become problematic over time and can threaten the success of an organization's digital marketing campaigns. It leverages industry-leading email hygiene technology based on approximately 2 billion monthly email activity signals across its proprietary network. In addition, List Guard taps into AtData's AI-based machine learning models that analyze signal patterns that quickly and automatically detect malicious domain and email behavior.  

"The addition of List Guard to our suite of email database hygiene solutions adds an extra layer of protection for our customers," continued Burke. "With the number of digital transactions that happen daily within any organization as well the rate at which we see data decay, implementing an email database monitoring solution like List Guard provides an insurance policy when it comes to deploying successful outreach efforts."  

Latest Technological Development Enhances User Experience of Cloud-Based Remote Management Platform, Empowers Broadcast Teams and Public Safety Agencies with Unprecedented Control and Insights

Vislink Technologies, Inc. , a global technology leader in the capture, delivery and management of high quality, live video and associated data in the media and entertainment, law enforcement, and defense markets, today announced the availability of its LinkMatrix remote control management platform on Amazon Web Services (AWS). LinkMatrix allows for comprehensive management of its live broadcast devices. The integration with AWS provides users enhanced control, flexibility and speed, elevating production workflows and promoting innovation in live broadcasts and performance in the field.

By integrating with AWS, LinkMatrix brings several benefits to its users. Leveraging advanced cloud technologies, LinkMatrix ensures optimal performance and scalability. It offers seamless deployment across various cloud environments, giving customers the flexibility to choose their preferred cloud provider. Autoscaling capabilities dynamically allocate resources as needed, ensuring efficient performance even with changing workloads. Additionally, integration with AWS's Relational Database Service (RDS) provides a scalable database solution for storing and retrieving video-related data.

LinkMatrix users, particularly law enforcement agencies, can also access security and policing applications through the secure AWS GovCloud platform, enhancing their operational capabilities. Moreover, this integration allows for real-time collaboration, editing, and broadcasting directly from the cloud, eliminating the need for additional hardware or complex setups.

In conjunction with the AWS integration, all Vislink server products are now available as virtual services. This virtualized infrastructure enables reliable and secure video streaming and synchronization with other cloud production platforms. Notably, LinkSwitch, Vislink’s powerful debonding server, in combination with AWS, enables customers to stream high-quality video closer to the event. This capability is particularly beneficial for US military and government customers who can leverage secure AWS GovCloud regions for their video streaming needs.

"LinkMatrix has made significant strides by being fully compatible with Amazon Web Services," said Mickey Miller, CEO of Vislink. "With the power and scale of AWS, LinkMatrix empowers live production teams and public safety agencies, allowing them to gain valuable insights and optimize their workflows. The AWS integration aligns with our ongoing initiative to drive more software and services recurring revenue while fostering growth, innovation, and operational efficiency for our customers."

These advancements not only enhance the overall performance of Vislink's platform but also pave the way for seamless integration of new features and functionalities in the future. Vislink remains committed to driving growth and innovation while optimizing operations for its customers.

D2iQ ushers in a new era in cloud-native computing with the launch of DKP AI Navigator, a natural-language AI assistant that simplifies Kubernetes management and enables DevOps teams to solve the most complex problems with greater ease

D2iQ, the leading Kubernetes management platform provider, today announced DKP AI Navigator, empowering enterprise organizations to overcome one of the biggest challenges they face in adopting cloud-native technology–the skills gap.

Through a user-friendly interface, DKP AI Navigator enables organizations to harness more than a decade of the D2iQ team's experience and expertise in managing large container-based deployments.

"As the cloud, AI, and Kubernetes continue to converge, building an intelligent infrastructure is the critical foundation for organizations looking to adopt and leverage AI to power automation, decision-making, and product innovation," said D2iQ CEO Tobi Knaup. "DKP AI Navigator gives organizations unprecedented knowledge and insights that will enable them to more easily manage cloud-native Kubernetes environments and achieve the agility they seek in their modernization initiatives."

Expert Knowledge Base Is the Key Differentiator

Survey after survey shows that the biggest problem enterprises face in adopting Kubernetes is the skills gap. DKP AI Navigator helps organizations solve this problem by bringing the accumulated knowledge of the world's leading Kubernetes experts into D2iQ customers' environments.

Of critical significance is that DKP AI Navigator has been trained on D2iQ's internal knowledge-base that houses solutions to the thorniest problems that customers have encountered in production. For example, DKP AI Navigator can help DevOps teams:

• Repair misconfigured clusters
• Resolve upgrade failures
• Identify and correct YAML coding errors
• Trace and correct system failures

This means that D2iQ customers have instant access to that expertise in an easy-to-use natural-language tool integrated directly into the D2iQ Kubernetes Platform (DKP), through which they can manage Kubernetes fleets via a single pane of glass. DKP AI Navigator also has been trained on DKP product documentation, making it an exceptionally adept tutor for cloud-native beginners.

Deep Kubernetes Experience

D2iQ has been supporting modern container-based applications for more than a decade and has been working on Kubernetes for the majority of that time. D2iQ's award-winning support team handles inquiries with a more than 99% satisfaction rating, and the solutions to difficult problems are continually added to our knowledge base (anonymized, naturally).

By training DKP AI Navigator on this incredibly rich data set, D2iQ is able to bring the power of that decade-plus experience directly to customers. In addition, D2iQ's support team remains an easy-to-access resource. Together, the combination of DKP AI Navigator plus 24/7 on-call support expertise is an invaluable resource unparalleled in the industry.

DKP AI Navigator will be available with the launch of DKP 2.6 in August.

IZEA Worldwide, Inc. , the premier provider of influencer marketing technology, data, and services for the world’s leading brands and agencies, released its latest research report, First Look: The Impact of Threads, today. The report is based on a survey of more than 1,200 U.S. social media users ages 18-60-plus. It aims to understand the state of adoption, usage, and awareness of Threads, Meta’s newly launched text-based Twitter rival, during the platform’s first 10 days.

Threads launched on July 5, 2023, and according to IZEA research, 27% of all social media users surveyed created an account during the first 10 days and 60.9% of those identifying as influencers have already joined the platform.

“Over the years, we've seen influencers be the first to try new apps, and that's certainly been true with Threads," said Ted Murphy, IZEA Founder and CEO. “As trendsetters, creators eagerly seized the opportunity to test the new app's potential for engaging with their followers and making money from their influence, with 54% of influencers already posting sponsored content on Threads.”

According to IZEA research, 38.1% of respondents said curiosity is the main reason they wanted to create a Threads account, compared with 32.1% of respondents seeking a Twitter alternative.

Threads launched with similar features to Twitter and was quickly labeled a rival, gathering more than 100 million sign-ups, according to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Our survey found that 90% of active Threads users think the app will be a good place for brands and influencers.

“In less than one week, Threads had 100 million sign-ups, which is quite impressive,” continued Murphy. “The challenge for Threads will be maintaining engagement and interest in the platform. Initial excitement shows there is demand for a fresh platform, which could be an opportunity for brands and influencers. However, nearly half of the new users ages 18-29 indicated they have already deactivated or deleted their accounts.”

Threads Launch:

• Gen X was most likely to join Threads, with 36% of those ages 45-60 creating an account, compared to only 9% of those over 60.
• More males than females signed up, with 33.2% of males joining compared to 21.9% of females.
• Social media influencers continued their roles as trendsetters, with 60.9% creating accounts in the first 10 days.

Threads Usage:

• 67% of continuing Threads users say they have used the app more frequently than when they initially signed up.
• 71% of Threads users expect to check their feed at least once per day.
• Curiosity is the most selected reason for creating a Threads account, while wanting a Twitter alternative is No. 3.

Threads and Influence:

• 90% of active Threads users think the app will be a good place for brands and influencers.
• 83.5% of social media influencers are open to monetizing their Threads posts.
• 54% of social media influencers have already posted sponsored content on Threads.

Threads Impact:

• 50% of Threads users say that the app’s ownership by Meta positively impacts them to use it more.
• 28% of all social media users aware of Threads say that Meta's ownership of Threads is a top concern.
• When surveying people with Twitter and Threads accounts, those ages 45 to 60 are the only group most likely to prefer using Twitter over Threads.

Leaving Threads:

• Nearly half of 18- to 29-year-olds who joined Threads have already deactivated or deleted their accounts.
• Females are more likely to have shut down their accounts than males.
• 28% of users that have deactivated or deleted their account say that they received unwanted attention or harassment from other users.

Alchemix set to be first user of the Sovereign Bridged Token Standard proposed by Connext Founder

Connext Labs, the pioneering blockchain interoperability protocol, today announced xERC20, a mechanism for Web3 projects to bring their token to any chain, offering the best available security by using battle-tested canonical bridges under the hood. Connext's announcement follows co-founder Arjun Bhuptani's recently proposed ERC-7281 standard, which aims to fix the fragmented liquidity and security problems of token bridging by shifting ownership over supported bridges and security to token issuers. As part of the launch, Connext is announcing their partnership with Alchemix, a DeFi protocol for future-yield-backed synthetic assets, as the first flagship user of xERC20.

While the proposed ERC-7281 standard is still undergoing public review, Connext aims to be the first protocol to support deploying tokens of this type. Projects deploying xERC20s today with Connext will have full forward compatibility with the finalized ERC-7281 specification in the future, can transfer their tokens 1:1 between chains with minimal liquidity requirements, and utilize Connext's unique approach to security, which leverages the battle-tested canonical bridges that are already widely used verify data going between chains. Connext's xERC20s are live on mainnet and fully ready for projects to issue today.

"The ERC-7281 standard aims to fix the painful tradeoff space between the security risk of working with only a single bridge partner versus the high liquidity cost of supporting multiple bridges that token issuers today must navigate when bringing their token to multiple chains.  The proposed standard allows multiple bridges to mint the same token, and for token issuers to be able to add/remove supported bridges and configure rate limits for them at will," explained Bhuptani, "This approach, which aims to be a pure, bridge-agnostic public good and requires minimal or no custom work for most ecosystems to support, encourages open competition and innovation as token issuers now have the flexibility granularly update their preferences for supported bridges over time. Instead of prioritizing building a monopoly on liquidity, or trying to corner market share by locking-in token issuers (or in some cases entire chains), bridges are now forced to have an ongoing focus on their security and quality of service, lest they be delisted."

Token bridging has been the source of much controversy in the past 2 years, with over $2B in capital being lost to hacks related to bridges. These hacks stem from 3rd-party bridges that mint/burn a proprietary representation of a given token on another chain. If the bridge gets hacked, these representations effectively become unbacked, leading to widespread contagion and fallout. The recent Multichain hack is an example, where projects' lock-in on a single 3rd-party bridge provider created a systemic risk for chains. Other similar lock-in-based approaches include LayerZero's Omnichain Fungible Token (OFT) and Axelar's Interchain Fungible Standard.

Token issuers can alternatively choose to bridge tokens using liquidity-based mechanisms to avoid relying on any single bridge. However, this approach is only feasible for the most liquid or highly transferred of tokens, and introduces significant costs to both token issuers and bridges. These costs also scale with each new chain that is supported by a token issuer. With the rise of layer 3 blockchains such as those deployable in Optimism's Superchain, Arbitrum Orbit, ZkSync L3s or Polygon 2.0, there are likely to be 100s of new chains in 2024, making a liquidity-based approach likely unfeasible for issuers long term.

Connext is rolling out xERC20 with Alchemix as their first flagship use case and partner. Alchemix Finance is a future-yield-backed synthetic asset protocol and community DAO offering Self-Repaying loans. The collateral that Alchemix users deposit to secure their loan is autonomously invested in the background into other DeFi products, and yield from that investment is used to pay off loan interest. Alchemix currently supports loans in alUSD (a USD-correlated synthetic asset representing the future yield of Alchemix depositors) and alETH, with over $70m in user deposits locked in the protocol. Alchemix is already live on mainnet with Connext, allowing alUSD and alETH to be transferred between instances of their protocol living on Ethereum, Optimism, and Arbitrum.

"The multichain situation has led Alchemix to re-evaluate its bridging system and to what extent bridging should be used in the ecosystem," said Alchemix's BizGov Lead, "Alchemix has a goal of progressive decentralization, and any upgrades to the protocol need to directly help Alchemix achieve this goal. With the primary Alchemix L2 deployment being Optimism, with Arbitrum soon launching, Connext's system of relying on canonical bridges without introducing any 3rd party validator sets made the most sense for Alchemix to incorporate."