New financing will fund the first customer deployments of standardized plasma diagnostic systems, giving fusion developers faster access to higher-quality, third-party-validated data.

TORONTO, Sept. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Daedal Systems, which develops standardized plasma measurement systems for the nuclear fusion industry, today announced it has raised US$4.035 million to industrialize its measurement platform and deploy its first diagnostic systems with pilot customers. OMERS Ventures led the round, with participation from Garage Capital, Panache Ventures, Ripple Ventures, MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF), and a group of angel investors.

Fusion developers need detailed plasma measurements to understand how their reactor designs perform. Companies typically build diagnostic systems in-house, even though measurement is not core reactor intellectual property. This duplicates work across the industry and diverts time, capital, and talent from the technologies that differentiate their reactors.

"After building and deploying plasma measurement systems at General Fusion, I saw the same challenge across the sector: every company needs high-quality diagnostics, but too much time and capital go into recreating similar systems in-house," said Henry Gould, founder and CEO of Daedal Systems. "Daedal was created to solve that problem by giving fusion companies access to standardized, high-quality plasma measurement systems that can improve the quality of their data and help them move faster toward commercialization."

Daedal will use the financing to build its first three diagnostic systems and deploy prototypes under contract with pilot customers. The company has a research partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Delivered as a service, Daedal's platform can adapt to different fusion machines and reactor approaches. By producing higher-quality data faster and independently validating technical milestones for investors and partners, Daedal allows fusion companies to focus on reactor development while reducing their reliance on lengthy peer-review timelines.

"Advanced plasma diagnostics were among the key enabling technologies that led to ignition and target gain at the NIF" said Dr. Johan Frenje, a Technical Advisor to Daedal Systems, referring to National Ignition Facility's historic fusion-ignition demonstration in 2022. "As fusion technology advances in the private sector, measurement solutions designed specifically for private-sector needs will be essential."

"While fusion remains nascent, realizing its significant long-term potential will require a broader ecosystem of specialized companies and world-class expertise," said Brian Kobus, managing partner at OMERS Ventures. "By building the measurement infrastructure the industry needs, Daedal can strengthen that ecosystem and attract the expertise required to advance this important technology."

Initially, Daedal will serve the fusion industry, with a longer-term ambition to become a major instrumentation provider for commercial fusion power and other industries that require advanced measurement systems.

For more information, visit https://daedalsystems.com/.

About Daedal Systems

Daedal Systems builds standardized plasma measurement systems for the global fusion industry, enabling high-quality, fast-turnaround measurements and an accelerated path to fusion commercialization. Founded by Henry Gould, Daedal is based in Toronto.

About OMERS

OMERS is a jointly sponsored, defined benefit pension plan, with more than 1,000 participating employers ranging from large cities to local agencies, and 665,000 active, deferred and retired members. Our members include union and non-union employees of municipalities, school boards, local boards, transit systems, electrical utilities, emergency services and children's aid societies across Ontario. OMERS teams work in Toronto, London, New York, Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Singapore, Sydney and other major cities across North America and Europe – serving members and employers, and originating and managing a diversified portfolio of high-quality investments in government bonds, public and private credit, public and private equities, infrastructure and real estate.

Media contact:

Remy Pinson

(510) 556-8517

[email protected]

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- Schneider Electric to display how automation and energy tech can strengthen resilience and modernize increasingly complex water management operations

- The company also releases its latest Modicon™ PLC enhancements, designed to strengthen cybersecurity and operational resilience for industrial automation and water operations.

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Schneider Electric, a global energy technology leader, will showcase automation and digital technologies at the Water Environment Federation's Technical Exhibition and Conference (WEFTEC) 2026 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center held in New Orleans (September 26-30). As North America's largest annual water-quality exhibition, WEFTEC brings together more than 23,000 attendees and 950 exhibitors for 125 educational sessions.

The exhibition is happening as water and wastewater utilities are facing mounting pressure amid aging infrastructure, water scarcity, rising energy costs, workforce challenges, and escalating cybersecurity threats. Previous research from Schneider Electric found that 60% of U.S. leaders believe water-related risks will outpace all other infrastructure threats.

Against this backdrop, organizations across the water sector are looking to accelerate investments to modernize, digitalize, and boost cyber preparedness to ensure reliable service and long-term sustainability.

"Water providers are facing significant challenges from aging infrastructure, growing cyber threats, and increased pressure on resources," said Sophie Borgne, Water and Environment President, Schneider Electric. "By adopting and deploying open, software-defined automation and technologies to secure industrial systems, organizations can harden critical infrastructure, future-proof operations, and leverage the agility of modern software to enable quicker, data-driven decisions throughout the water ecosystem."

Open software-defined automation and secure-by-design technological architectures are leading the charge in helping water organizations maintain continuous service, optimize plant and network performance, and equip teams with the data they need to make faster, more informed decisions across the water cycle.

At WEFTEC, the critical technologies and services enabling electrification, automation, and digitalization for water operations will be on full display (Booth #4641), including:

- The newly launched Modicon™ release advances cybersecurity across the automation architecture, certified to IEC 62443-3-3 Security Level 2 (SL2), with enhanced capabilities including encrypted firmware, network authentication, and role-based access control. Together, these enhancements help strengthen the cyber resilience of Modicon M580 CPUs, related communication cards, and Modicon Ethernet switches while unleashing the cybersecurity capabilities of the Modicon Edge I/O NTS Distributed I/O platform.

- Cybersecurity Solutions, which provides OT security assessments, cybersecurity program and policy development, and managed security services with continuous monitoring, threat detection, and response.

- EcoStruxure™ Automation Expert, which offers flexible, open software-defined automation for efficient plant upgrades and operations.

- TeSys™ Tera, which provides motor protection, control, and monitoring to help reduce equipment failures, energy costs, and asset wear.

- An Altivar™ Process ATV680 low-harmonic drive, which supports fluid-handling applications such as pumping, aeration, and dosing, with real-time intelligence and automated diagnostics.

- EcoStruxure™ Water Advisor, which is water management software covering the complete water cycle through connected data and predictive analytics for smarter decisions.

- AVEVA™ CONNECT, which integrates organizational data, applications, and systems into a centralized environment to achieve fast, reliable integration to enable quicker, data-driven decisions.

The partner ecosystem is critical to Schneider Electric's work in the water sector. CITI, Inc., a Charlotte, North Carolina-based Vessco Water Platform Partner specializing in industrial automation and control systems integration, has achieved Alliance Master status, the highest system integrator tier in Schneider Electric's Alliance Partner Program for Industrial Automation. The designation recognizes CITI's technical expertise, project delivery, and commitment to Schneider Electric technologies. It also strengthens collaboration to help water and industrial customers modernize aging control systems, improve operational visibility, and move toward open, interoperable automation architectures. CITI provides control systems integration, PLC and SCADA software development, and in-house UL-certified control panel construction for water and wastewater, industrial, and municipal applications across the Southeastern United States.

Throughout the event, Schneider Electric will also be available to discuss the tech, partnerships and projects designed to improve water and wastewater efficiency, reliability and resilience.

Schneider Electric at WEFTEC 2026

- Modernize Without the Rip-and-Replace: How Open, Software-Defined Automation Is Transforming Water Utilities, Monday, Sept. 28, 10–10:45 a.m. CT, Product Launch Theatre on the WEFTEC show floor. A fireside chat moderated by Jacob Thompson of Schneider Electric with Fabrice Meunier, VP, Industrial End Users and Software, North America, Schneider Electric, and Leonardo Jurado, President, CITI, Inc., on how water utilities are modernizing critical operations with EcoStruxure™ Automation Expert while keeping the hardware they already have.

- In-booth sessions, Booth #4641, 11–11:30 a.m. CT, including:

- Roadmap to OT Cyber Protection, Monday, Sept. 28

- Accelerating Digital Transformation in the Age of AI: Lessons from Leading Utilities, Tuesday, Sept. 29

- Start Small, Think Big: Using Proofs of Concept to Guide Modernization, Wednesday, Sept. 30

Executives attending WEFTEC 2026 include:

- Sophie Borgne, Water and Environment President

- Sielen Namdar, Water and Environment Segment Leader, North America

- Greg Magdanz, VP, OEM Sales, North America

- Fabrice Meunier, VP, Industrial End Users and Software, North America

- Julia Hull, VP, Industrial Business and Strategic Accounts, North America

About Schneider Electric

Schneider Electric is a global energy technology leader, driving efficiency and sustainability by electrifying, automating, and digitalizing industries, businesses, and homes. Its technologies enable buildings, data centers, factories, infrastructure, and grids to operate as open, interconnected ecosystems, enhancing performance, resilience, and sustainability. The portfolio includes intelligent devices, software-defined architectures, AI-powered systems, digital services, and expert advisory. With 160,000 employees and 1 million partners in over 100 countries, Schneider Electric is consistently ranked among the world's most sustainable companies.

Follow us on: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | Blog

Learn more about Advancing Energy Tech on Schneider Electric Insights.

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Gotion Secures 75% of Saudi Arabia's First Utility-Scale BESS Tender

Chinese battery maker takes 75% of capacity with 25-year system life and desert-engineered storage technology.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Sept. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) has awarded China's Gotion High-Tech 6 GWh in the kingdom's first utility-scale battery storage program—about 75% of the total tender, signaling how seriously Saudi Arabia is pursuing its 2030 energy transition goals. The G1 project totals 2 GW/8 GWh and is valued at roughly $1.16 billion. Gotion secured all three core sites—Al Muwayah, Haden and Al Kahafa—each 500 MW/2 GWh, making it the largest single technology supplier.

The contract marks the first international large-scale deployment of Gotion Grid, its utility-scale storage system. Gotion says its edge is not price but engineering for extreme conditions. The system operates from -30°C to 55°C, uses a desert-optimized thermal management system that maintains full output during sandstorms and cuts high-temperature degradation by 40% versus conventional systems. It offers a 25-year design life, 25% longer than the industry average of 15–20 years, eliminating mid-life equipment replacement—a key factor for BOO contracts requiring 20-plus years of operation. An AI-powered battery management system enables intelligent dispatch, proactive safety warnings and full lifecycle diagnostics. All three sites can be remotely operated and integrated into Saudi Arabia's 380 kV backbone grid.

For investors, the award signals three shifts. Saudi storage procurement is moving faster than expected; G1 is awarded and G2 is underway, positioning Gotion for further phases. Competition is increasingly focused on lifecycle economics and extreme-environment performance over upfront pricing. Gotion is also building a regional footprint: roughly 9 GWh across the Middle East and North Africa, including a 1.5 GWh BESS in Egypt with a planned 3 GWh local manufacturing base, and a 1.2 GWh Morocco project with ACWA Power. Globally, its cumulative system-level storage projects exceed 10 GWh, including a 281 MW/843 MWh solar-storage project in Australia under construction and expected to reach commercial operation in 1H 2027.

The Saudi award does not appear to be a one-off. As renewable penetration rises and grid stability becomes a priority, G1's technical standards are likely to carry weight in future tenders. The question for Gotion is whether it can convert its early lead into sustained regional market share.

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Heidi II puts agents to work on visit admin, giving clinicians more time with patients

Heidi II brings agentic capability into existing clinical workflows, moving from documenting the visit to doing the routine work around it with clinician supervision.

MELBOURNE, Australia, Sept. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Heidi, the AI Care Partner for leading clinicians and health systems globally, today unveiled Heidi II, a new version of its platform that acts on the administrative work surrounding every patient visit rather than documenting the visit alone.

Heidi currently supports 2.8 million patient visits every week globally, surfacing around 10 million follow-up tasks. Until now, those tasks were handed back to the clinician. With Heidi II, these tasks can be acted on with the introduction of several new capabilities: Agents, Memory, and Peer-reviewed research.

Administrative work is consuming an increasing share of clinical time across health systems globally. The average doctor spends 8.7 hours a week, or 16.6% of working hours, on administration, with tasks scattered across the four to six systems typically used during a patient visit. The work that surrounds care is increasingly competing with care provision itself.

Heidi was built to alleviate that burden. Its Scribe has supported more than 175 million visits and 67 million clinical hours globally, while Heidi Evidence has answered more than 10 million queries since launch. Since February 2024, Heidi has surfaced more than 400 million follow-on tasks. Heidi II is designed to take the next step: acting on that work rather than simply identifying it.

"This is the culmination of our work at Heidi," said Thomas Kelly, Co-Founder and CEO of Heidi. "We started inside the visit by capturing the note and gathering the care context. Now Heidi can create the tasks and complete them from referrals and chart prep to arranging follow ups. It handles that work as a partner, while clinical judgement and approvals remain with the clinician."

Heidi II starts where a clinician would

With the new Home, Heidi opens on a clinician's day, bringing patients, sessions and tasks together with the relevant context already loaded. Clinicians can attach sessions, patients and sources as references, or upload external files to provide additional context.

From there, clinicians can ask Heidi to complete a task in plain language. Heidi spins up an agent that plans, and executes the work, then returns the result for review without needing to be re-prompted at every step. Early use cases include pre-charting a full day's patients, performing evidence based analyses on a practice's visits or referral communications, and running panel sweeps to identify patients due for immunisations, blood tests, screening or recalls.

"Heidi does the preparation I used to squeeze in between patients," said Raymond Brown, MD, Capital ENT & Sinus Center. "It loads my schedule, finds the pathology results in the chart, and writes a pre-visit note I can read in thirty seconds."

Agents can be saved and scheduled as Routines, either for an individual clinician or an entire practice, and run across a patient list rather than one patient at a time.

Heidi II can also use the computer like a member of the care team, acting across the systems a practice runs on: the record, the calendar, the inbox, the portal, even systems you never thought possible. When Heidi cannot complete a task, it says so and explains why.

Clinical judgement stays with the clinician

Agents in healthcare need supervision and should be met with friction. In Heidi II, every agentic run is designed around that principle. Clinical judgement remains with the clinician, with approval controls applied according to the workflow and settings configured by the clinician or organisation. Heidi II's capabilities are staged by region and setting, with dedicated internal clinical safety teams reviewing features through a clinical risk lens before and after release.

Heidi becomes the connective tissue across clinical tools

Heidi II is designed to work across the systems clinicians already use. Peer-reviewed research from content partners such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Wiley, Cochrane and more, alongside BMJ Group's clinical decision support information, will bring the evidence base directly into every chat, with citations that journal subscribers can follow to access the full article. New connectors allow Heidi to work with existing practice systems, from pulling appointment lists and answering questions from the EHR, to reading and writing appointments and clinical mail, or following a practice's documented process from an SOP.

Heidi's ambition is to double the world's capacity for care, and Heidi II is the next chapter. For practices, that means less time spent on low value work. For patients, it means clinicians can deliver more complete care that is timely and high quality. This isn't built simply for clinicians who want to go home earlier. It is built for clinicians who want to work at the frontier of care, with Heidi bringing more clinical context to every decision.

Heidi II begins rolling out on September 29 in English and French, followed by additional languages. These product capabilities will not be available in the UK or EU. Clinicians and care teams can find out more at heidihealth.com.

About Heidi

Heidi is building an AI Care Partner to expand clinical capacity by supporting every stage of care delivery. Heidi II is the platform that brings it together: Scribe for clinical documentation, Evidence for trusted medical research at the point of care, and Dictate for voice-to-text, now joined by agents that take on the administrative work around each visit; while Remote, Heidi's hardware device, pairs with Scribe for reliable audio in any room. Together, Heidi supports around 2.8 million patient interactions each week in 110 languages from 190 countries.

Founded in Melbourne, Australia, Heidi has raised US$436.6M from global investors including Blackbird, General Catalyst, LocalGlobe, Point72 Private Investments, Headline, Phoenix Court's growth fund Latitude, Possible Ventures, Glitch Capital and Archangel. Heidi aligns with leading international healthcare and privacy frameworks, including NHS requirements, GDPR, HIPAA, and the Australian Privacy Principles, and maintains enterprise-grade security certifications including ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II, Cyber Essentials Plus, and AI Governance certification ISO 42001.

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ISC2 Appoints Brionne Dawson as Executive Vice President for Advocacy

New advocacy leader will ensure cybersecurity professionals have a strong voice in policy discussions shaping AI adoption, cyber resilience and workforce development

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- ISC2 – the world's leading nonprofit member organization for cybersecurity professionals – today announced the appointment of Brionne Dawson as Executive Vice President for Advocacy. Dawson will lead ISC2's global advocacy efforts, strengthening engagement with policymakers, industry leaders, members and partners. She also will guide ISC2 strategy to advance the cybersecurity profession by helping to shape the policy environment for a safe, resilient and inclusive digital economy.

"Cybersecurity professionals are on the front lines of protecting our economies, communities and daily lives, yet their perspectives are not always reflected in the policies that shape their work," said Scott Beale, CEO, ISC2. "Brionne understands how to bring people together across government, industry and partner ecosystems, and her leadership will help ISC2 advocate for the policies and partnerships needed to grow, support and strengthen the global cybersecurity workforce."

This position is particularly important as government, industry and the workforce debate how to keep society safe from the cyber risks of AI.

Beale added, "AI safety promises are only as strong as our ability to put them into practice. Cybersecurity professionals are essential to testing, securing and monitoring these systems, and they need a stronger voice in the decisions shaping how AI is built and deployed."

Dawson brings more than two decades of experience across technology policy, government affairs, international relations and commercial diplomacy at a time when policymakers are increasingly focused on strengthening cyber resilience, addressing the cybersecurity skills gap and ensuring the profession has a voice in decisions shaping AI, digital trust and the future of secure innovation. She joins ISC2 from Google, where she led international government affairs for emerging markets across more than 120 countries and later served as Head of Middle East and Africa. Her work included artificial intelligence policy and adoption, cybersecurity, cloud computing, digital trade, cross-border data flows and digital infrastructure.

"As AI reshapes our economies and societies, the professionals responsible for securing these systems must have a seat at the table when the rules governing them are written," said Dawson. "I'm excited to help bring the cybersecurity workforce's expertise into closer dialogue with government and industry—and to build the skills, institutional capacity and trust needed to ensure technological progress creates opportunity and security for all."

At ISC2, Dawson will serve on the Executive Leadership Team and report directly to the CEO. Her work will focus on advancing practical pathways into cybersecurity, promoting globally recognized skills-based credentials, supporting continuous professional growth and ensuring policy reflects the realities of the people doing the work to build a safe and secure world. She will be an advocate for the workforce to governments worldwide and cybersecurity employers. Dawson will bring cybersecurity practitioners' perspectives into policy discussions on securing AI systems, defending against AI-enabled threats and equipping cybersecurity professionals to turn AI governance principles into everyday practice.

Earlier in her career, Dawson served as a Senior Advisor in the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs and as Senior Director at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's U.S.-Africa Business Center. She also held leadership roles at USAID and the National Democratic Institute, building partnerships across government, industry, international institutions and civil society.

Dawson serves on the Advisory Board of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. She is a Fellow of the International Career Advancement Program, and she was named by New America among 35 Black American experts in U.S. national security and foreign policy.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a Master of Arts in International Business from the Fletcher School at Tufts University. Dawson also holds certifications in AI governance and agentic AI, including from Harvard University and the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

About ISC2

ISC2 is the world's leading member organisation for cybersecurity professionals, driven by our vision of a safe and secure cyber world. Our more than 270,000 certified members, and associates, are a force for good, safeguarding the way we live. Our award-winning certifications – including cybersecurity's premier certification, the CISSP® – enable professionals to demonstrate their knowledge, skills and abilities at every stage of their careers. ISC2 strengthens the influence, diversity and vitality of the cybersecurity profession through advocacy, expertise and workforce empowerment that accelerates cyber safety and security in an interconnected world. Our charitable foundation, the Center for Cyber Safety and Education, helps create more access to cyber careers and educates those most vulnerable. Learn more, get involved or become an ISC2 Candidate to build your cyber career at ISC2.org. Connect with us on X, Facebook and LinkedIn.

© 2026 ISC2 Inc., ISC2, CISSP, SSCP, CCSP, CGRC, CSSLP, HCISPP, ISSAP, ISSEP, ISSMP, CC, and CBK are registered marks of ISC2, Inc.

Media Contact:

Jarred LeFebvre

Senior Director, Global Communications

ISC2

[email protected]

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New Global Survey from Kiva by The Harris Poll Finds an Affordability Crisis Is Putting Everyday Giving to the Test

U.S. and UK respondents overwhelmingly identify today's financial pressures as preventing philanthropic giving, leading to an increasing demand for accessible, small-dollar contributions

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Kiva, the global nonprofit expanding financial access and economic opportunity, today announced the results of a new Harris Poll survey of over 3,000 adults across the United States and the United Kingdom. The study found that persistent cost-of-living pressures have created an affordability crisis, with more than 4 in 5 adults in both the U.S. (85%) and UK (86%) identifying at least one factor that has prevented them from donating, or donating more, over the past six months. Yet despite these constraints, people are still finding a way to give, with 77% of U.S. and 80% of UK adults donating money in some way during the past six months.

These findings reflect broader headwinds tracked by Giving USA, which found that even as total charitable giving reached a record $617.20 billion, giving by individuals has fallen from roughly 80% of total contributions in past decades to just 64% today, as everyday households face mounting cost-of-living pressures.

"I'm not surprised that given the increasing cost-of-living, donors today are concerned about how their contributions are being used." said Vishal Ghotge, CEO of Kiva. "The findings show that despite tight budgets, the desire to give remains strong. People are choosing to give where they see clear impact while being realistic about how much they can contribute. To be effective, nonprofits must provide that transparency while welcoming participation at any level — be it $25 or whatever feels sustainable for a given individual"

This demand for intentionality is driving a fundamental shift in what donors expect from the organizations they support. Roughly three-quarters of adults in the U.S. (74%) and UK (76%) believe focusing on giving that produces a measurable, long-term impact is more important than focusing on immediate, short-term impact. Furthermore, about 7 in 10 adults in the U.S. (71%) and UK (69%) agree that simply writing a check to a charity does not solve an issue; donating time and connections to address the issue does.

This heightened demand for accountability comes alongside growing donor frustration with traditional fundraising models. Nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults (72%) and two-thirds of UK adults (67%) agree that most charities focus too much on requesting donations and not enough on proving measurable, long-term impact. At the same time, global donors are identifying clear priorities for their giving, with more than two-thirds of adults in the U.S. (70%) and UK (69%) agreeing that donating to climate-impacted communities is more critical today than ever before.

As donors seek realistic alternatives to traditional check writing, the path forward is centering on accessibility, smaller-dollar contributions, and collective action. Nearly three-quarters of adults in the U.S. (74%) and UK (73%) say making smaller dollar ($25 or less) recurring donations feels more sustainable than making one large donation. In addition, roughly 3 in 5 adults in the U.S. (58%) and UK (60%) say contributing through a group donation feels more impactful than giving alone.

"The real secret to Kiva's model is the powerful interplay between small-dollar givers and larger philanthropic efforts," added Ghotge. "Everyday lenders provide the grassroots momentum, but larger institutional partners and major donors act as the catalyst for impact at scale. When larger capital matches and compounds those crowdfunded dollars, it creates true collective action, turning these investments into permanent economic independence."

For more details on the global survey findings or to learn more about Kiva's model, visit kiva.org.

Survey Methodology

The survey was conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of Kiva from August 28 to September 1, 2026, among 2,019 U.S. adults ages 18 and older and 1,001 UK adults ages 18 and older. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For the U.S. study, the sample data is accurate to within +/- 2.7 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. For the UK study, the sample data is accurate to within +/- 3.4 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. These credible intervals will be wider among subsets of the surveyed population of interest.

About Kiva

Kiva is a global nonprofit founded in 2005 with a mission to expand financial access and help underserved communities thrive. Kiva unlocks capital for borrowers through crowdfunded loans supported by individuals worldwide. Kiva partners with businesses and organizations to make an even greater impact on communities around the world, one loan at a time. Join Kiva to create a financially inclusive world, where all people hold the power to improve their lives. Over two million people have invested $2.6 billion in real dreams and real opportunities, spanning more than 90 countries and over 6 million borrowers.

Press Contact:

Julia Tisdal, The Sway Effect

Email: [email protected]

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Former Johnson Controls executive Martin Renkis appointed CEO

HOUSTON, Sept. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Submer Group, the full-stack AI infrastructure company, today announced the launch of Corenix, a modular data center infrastructure company serving neoclouds, hyperscalers, and AI operators. Corenix delivers custom-engineered modular data center platforms based on NVIDIA reference designs, industrialized for AI at scale, and delivered from factory build and testing to on-site commissioning. Martin Renkis has been appointed CEO.

Corenix designs, builds, integrates, and factory tests complete functional (IT, power, cooling, and networking) data center modules at production facilities before delivering them to project locations. Installation, connection to site infrastructure, site acceptance testing, commissioning, and operational readiness then take place at the client site. Corenix manages the agreed project scope across both stages, bringing engineering, manufacturing, supply chain coordination, and on-site deployment together into one delivery model.

Traditional data center builds cannot keep pace with the power, networking, cooling, and serviceability demands of accelerated computing, or with the need to support successive generations of high-density compute. Corenix was built to close that gap. Its modular approach gives customers a repeatable path from an approved technical architecture to operational capacity at the required location, with each Corenix platform based on an NVIDIA reference design and custom-engineered to the client's own requirements.

Corenix draws on Submer Group's experience in high-density thermal engineering, global infrastructure deployment, and operations - proven at scale by a campus with hundreds of megawatts of capacity delivered as a fully modular compute buildout in nine months from order to delivery, and over a decade of liquid cooling engineering. Corenix works alongside two other Submer Group companies where their capabilities support a customer's full stack AI infrastructure deployment requirements: Rubix Data Centers, which develops and operates AI data center campuses, and Radian Arc, which provides GPU-as-a-Service and AI-as-a-Service.

"AI factories are driving unprecedented demand for new data center capacity, and the market needs a faster, more predictable way to build it," said Patrick Smets, CEO of Submer Group. "Corenix builds on Submer's history in modular data center delivery and the engineering, thermal, and infrastructure expertise we have developed solving high-density compute challenges for years. We are bringing that experience into a dedicated business built to deliver AI infrastructure at scale."

"Customers need clarity before they commit: what needs to be built, how it will be tested, who is accountable, and when it will become operational," said Renkis. "That's the foundation I'm building Corenix on from day one. Corenix puts a dated program and a go-live date on the table before a contract exists. One team stays accountable from factory integration and testing through on-site commissioning and operational readiness, with the same team offering the flexibility to support current and future accelerated computing systems."

Renkis joins Corenix from Johnson Controls, where he served as executive director of Data Center Infrastructure Services and developed AI infrastructure offerings covering power, cooling, heat recovery, operations, and financing. He was founder and CEO of Smartvue, an IoT hardware and software platform company acquired by Johnson Controls, and Trainersoft, an enterprise e-learning software company acquired by OutStart, now IBM.

About Corenix

Corenix, a Submer Group company, designs and delivers industrialized, customizable modular data center platforms based on NVIDIA reference designs. Corenix is focused on the deployment layer of AI infrastructure, delivering rack power, cooling, networking, and IT integrated and factory tested as one system, to bring AI capacity online against a fixed date. Corenix is headquartered in Houston, Texas, U.S.A.

About Submer Group

Submer Group brings together specialist operating companies across the AI infrastructure stack to close the gap between AI ambition and AI reality. Built on a decade of infrastructure engineering, the group now spans from land and power to cloud and edge. The group is built to address the structural constraints of AI infrastructure, namely power availability, thermal density, deployment speed and data sovereignty, enabling AI to be deployed efficiently and at scale. The group has deployed 500 MW+ of liquid-cooled infrastructure and holds 8 GW+ of powered land across the Americas, EMEA and APAC. Founded in Barcelona in 2015, the group operates globally, with hubs in Houston and Taipei.

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Partnership Unites Suns with the Arizona Roots of Early Warning, the Company Behind

Zelle® – Which Has Become a Vital Part of Everyday Financial Life for Millions of

Americans

PHOENIX, Sept. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Phoenix Suns and Early Warning Services, LLC, the Arizona-based employer behind Paze® and Zelle®, today announced that Paze will succeed PayPal as the team's Official Jersey Patch Partner. Beginning with the 2026-27 NBA season, the multi-year partnership will bring the Paze logo to the upper left side of all Suns uniforms.

"We had a lot of interest in our patch; it was a very competitive process," said Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury CEO Josh Bartelstein. "Early Warning stood out because of its long history of innovation in payments, from Zelle to Paze, its deep roots in Arizona and the opportunity to build an innovative partnership that goes well beyond the jersey. Paze will have a meaningful presence across our business and with our fans and members, from ticketing and online checkout to opportunities to enhance the fan experience at our arena. It's an honor to have a hometown partner on our jerseys."

For nearly four decades, Early Warning has helped power payments innovation across the United States banking sector from its home in Arizona, where it employs more than 900 people. The company enables financial access, advances reliable and fast payments for consumers and small businesses, and helps banks and credit unions protect the people and businesses they serve. Through its broader portfolio of products, the company supports many Arizona-based banks and credit unions.

The partnership connects that national role and longstanding Arizona presence with the cultural and economic reach of the Suns, whose games and downtown arena generate activity for workers and businesses throughout Phoenix and the broader region.

Bringing Paze to Suns Fans

Paze is an online checkout solution offered by participating financial institutions. Consumers can use eligible cards from financial institutions they already know and use, without creating another payment account. And because actual card numbers are not shared with merchants during transactions, Paze provides a streamlined checkout experience with added security.

"The Paze patch will be seen wherever the Suns play, but this partnership begins at home in Arizona," said Serge Elkiner, general manager of Paze. "Early Warning has grown here for nearly four decades, and more than 900 of our employees live and work in the state. Having Paze succeed PayPal in one of the most visible positions in sports is an important marker of our momentum, and we're proud to introduce Paze to one of sports' most passionate fan bases while supporting the team and communities they call home."

The partnership extends beyond the jersey. Paze will serve as the Suns' Official Online Checkout Partner and Official Digital Wallet and become the entitlement partner of the team's season ticket membership program. Through these platforms, Paze and the Suns will create new opportunities to connect with fans, local businesses, and communities throughout the Valley.

To celebrate the partnership, the Suns and Paze will host promotional activations throughout the season. From Sept. 29 through Oct. 1, fans can get 50% off merchandise at the Suns online team shop at shop.suns.com when they checkout with Paze using promo code PAZE50.

In New York City, where Early Warning is rapidly growing and employs nearly 250 people, the company is the first Founding Partner of Etihad Park, the future home of New York City FC. Etihad Park anchors the broader Willets Point redevelopment in Queens, which is expected to generate $6.1 billion in economic activity over 30 years, create thousands of jobs and deliver 2,500 affordable homes, a public school, hotel, retail and open space.

Together, the Phoenix and New York relationships demonstrate how sports can generate impact far beyond the court or field. For Early Warning, these partnerships create a national platform to connect with fans while supporting places that bring people together, expand economic opportunity, and contribute to the long-term vitality of their communities.

The Suns long-term partnership builds on Early Warning's growing presence in professional basketball, joining the Atlanta Hawks as one of two NBA teams to feature Paze on team uniforms.

Fans can learn more about Paze and how to activate their credit and debit cards in the Paze wallet by visiting www.paze.com.

About Paze

Paze is a reimagined online checkout solution that banks and credit unions offer to consumers and participating merchants, combining eligible U.S. debit and credit cards into a single wallet and eliminating manual card entry. Designed to help solve long-standing challenges in e-commerce, Paze delivers a streamlined experience for both consumers and businesses. More than 220 million credit and debit cards have been added to the Paze checkout solution. To learn more, visit www.paze.com.

– Suns.com –

SOURCE Early Warning Services, LLC

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ID.me Expands Executive Team, Names Susannah Stroud Wright New Chief Legal Officer and Darragh Whelan EVP of Engineering

MCLEAN, Va., Sept. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- ID.me, the market-leading digital identity wallet, today announced two major additions to its executive management team. Susannah Stroud Wright has joined as Chief Legal Officer to lead ID.me's legal, compliance, and government affairs functions as the company scales its use of AI. Darragh Whelan has simultaneously joined as Executive Vice President of Engineering to lead all product and platform engineering.

"Susannah and Darragh both bring decades of expertise at a time when product, user, and legal questions are increasingly interconnected," said Blake Hall, Founder and CEO of ID.me. "As AI raises the stakes for digital verification, it's imperative that legal and engineering are inseparable, not just aligned. When you serve federal agencies and the millions of people relying on them, compliance isn't a constraint on the product—it's a feature of it. Susannah and Darragh both build that way, and that's exactly what ID.me's next stage of growth requires."

Susannah Stroud Wright, Chief Legal Officer

Wright joins ID.me after eight years as Chief Legal Officer & Secretary of Credit Karma, where she built and led a 60-person legal, compliance, and government affairs organization as the company scaled from $500 million to nearly $2 billion in revenue and over 140 million members.

Wright has deep experience with building legal and compliance frameworks for the responsible use of AI and has been a speaker on Responsible AI at TEDAI and at Fortune's Most Powerful Women conferences. Prior to joining Credit Karma, Wright led the compliance functions at Tesla and SolarCity. She was also a prosecutor in Atlanta, Georgia, earlier in her career, where she handled all manner of felony cases and worked with local political representatives and community leaders on preventing and reducing crime. Among her many accolades, Wright was named "General Counsel of the Year" by Women, Influence & Power in Law in 2020 and one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Business in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Business Times in 2022.

"Identity verification sits at the intersection of some of the most consequential legal and technical questions in tech today, including trust, fraud, and how millions of people access the services they need most. I'm looking forward to helping ID.me navigate those questions in the age of AI and better serve our users, at a moment when getting this right matters more than ever."

Darragh Whelan, Executive Vice President of Engineering

Whelan joins ID.me having most recently served as Senior Vice President of Engineering at Mastercard, where he led a 350-plus-person team of product managers, engineers, and data engineers building AI and decisioning systems that make real-time decisions at massive scale. He spent the three years before that as Vice President of Engineering at Chime, leading a 200-person engineering organization across risk, member services, identity management, data engineering and science, and the company's decisioning platform.

"What drew me to ID.me is rare: a platform operating at true national scale that still moves like a much smaller company. Fraud and identity threats evolve by the day, and staying ahead of them without slowing down the people who depend on our system is exactly the kind of problem I want to spend my time solving."

About ID.me

ID.me is the next-generation digital identity wallet that simplifies how individuals securely prove their identity online. Consumers can verify their identity with ID.me once and seamlessly sign in across websites without having to create a new sign-in and verify their identity again. Over 170 million users experience streamlined sign-in and identity verification with ID.me at 22 federal agencies, 50 state government agencies, and more than 70 healthcare organizations. More than 600 consumer brands use ID.me to verify communities and user segments to honor service and build more authentic relationships. ID.me's technology meets the federal standards for consumer authentication set by the Commerce Department and is approved as a NIST 800-63-3 IAL2 / AAL2 credential service provider by the Kantara Initiative. ID.me is committed to 'No Identity Left Behind' to enable all people to have a secure digital identity. Learn more at https://network.id.me/.

SOURCE ID.me, Inc.

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CIP becomes one of the first open source projects to achieve this level of compliance, providing a stronger security foundation for industrial and critical infrastructure systems

- The Civil Infrastructure Platform (CIP) has achieved compliance with IEC 62443-4-1 and IEC 62443-4-2, internationally recognized cybersecurity standards for industrial automation and control systems.

- The milestone provides CIP adopters with security processes, technical capabilities and reusable artifacts designed to reduce the effort required to develop IEC 62443-compliant products.

- The achievement coincides with CIP's tenth anniversary and builds on a decade of community investment in secure, reliable and sustainable open source infrastructure.

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Civil Infrastructure Platform (CIP), a collaborative, open source project hosted by the Linux Foundation, today announced that it has achieved compliance with IEC 62443-4-1 and IEC 62443-4-2. This milestone strengthens the security foundation available to manufacturers and operators building long-lived industrial and critical infrastructure systems. With this achievement, CIP became one of the first open source initiatives to achieve this level of IEC 62443 alignment, demonstrating that open collaboration can deliver enterprise-grade cybersecurity.

As industrial systems become more connected and cybersecurity requirements continue to evolve, manufacturers face growing pressure to demonstrate that security is addressed throughout both product development and operation. IEC 62443 provides an internationally recognized framework for cybersecurity in industrial automation and control systems. CIP's work addresses two important parts of that framework: IEC 62443-4-1, which defines secure product development lifecycle requirements, and IEC 62443-4-2, which defines technical security requirements for industrial components.

"Industrial and civil infrastructure systems can remain in operation for decades, making long-term security and maintainability fundamental requirements," said Urs Gleim, Chief Scientist at Siemens and Chair of the CIP Governing Board. "CIP was created to address those challenges collaboratively. This milestone gives manufacturers another way to build on shared, open source infrastructure while supporting the rigorous cybersecurity requirements their products must meet."

For organizations building on CIP, the work is intended to reduce the amount of foundational compliance activity that must be repeated for each individual product. CIP estimates that adopters can reduce their IEC 62443 compliance effort by up to 70% by building on the project's security processes, technical capabilities and reusable artifacts, while retaining responsibility for the requirements specific to their own products and deployments.

The achievement comes as CIP celebrates its 10th anniversary. Since its launch, the project has worked to provide a secure, reliable and maintainable open source software foundation for systems with long product lifecycles, bringing together organizations across the industrial and critical infrastructure ecosystem.

A comprehensive look at CIP's first decade and its ongoing work is available in the CIP blog. To learn more about CIP, contribute to the project or explore membership, visit the CIP website and GitLab community.

About the Civil Infrastructure Platform

The Civil Infrastructure Platform ("CIP") is a collaborative, open source project hosted by the Linux Foundation. The CIP project is focused on establishing an open source "base layer" of industrial grade software to enable the use and implementation of software building blocks in civil infrastructure projects across energy, transportation, smart city, manufacturing, healthcare, and communication infrastructure applications. CIP is supported by key members including Renesas Electronics, Siemens, Toshiba, Texas Instruments, Aronetics, CyberTrust, Hitachi, and MOXA. Visit https://cip-project.org/ to learn more.

About the Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is the world's leading home for collaboration on open source software, hardware, standards, and data. Linux Foundation projects, including Linux, Kubernetes, Model Context Protocol (MCP), OpenChain, OpenSearch, OpenSSF, OpenStack, PyTorch, Ray, RISC-V, SPDX and Zephyr, provide the foundation for global infrastructure. The Linux Foundation is focused on leveraging best practices and addressing the needs of contributors, users, and solution providers to create sustainable models for open collaboration. For more information, please visit us at linuxfoundation.org.

For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see its trademark usage page: linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

Media Contact

The Linux Foundation

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SOURCE The Linux Foundation

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