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MCSnet’s Newest Service Brings Fiber-like Speeds to Rural Communities

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ST. PAUL, AB, Oct. 18, 2022 /CNW/ – MCSnet brings reliable, high-speed internet service to rural Albertans, and their latest product, GigAir, will deliver fiber-like speeds without the cable or cost.

 

Rhonda Lafrance, Communications Manager, explains, “GigAir creates a mesh network throughout your community so that we are able to offer fiber-like speeds through the air. This service requires a short distance between radios and an unobstructed view of the surrounding neighbourhood, which makes it ideal for towns, villages, and hamlets. GigAir is currently available in a few of our communities such as St. Paul, Glendon, and Elk Point, but the plan is to offer this service to the majority of small towns, villages and hamlets throughout our service area within the near future.”

Click here to sign up for GigAir and see the coverage map as this new internet service continues to expand.

Heather Starosielski, Business Development Manager, adds, “One of the technologies that allows MCSnet to offer services, such as GigAir, is our transit fiber network. MCSnet started installing fiber optic cables between its towers in 2015 in order to increase bandwidth and operate independently of other larger broadband providers. Fiber optic technology harnesses the power of light. Pulses of light transmit data through thin, transparent fibers of glass.”

Over the past year, MCSnet has partnered with local non-profits and municipalities to grow their free Wi-FI hotspots. According to Lafrance, “This creates affordable and accessible internet for everyone. We’re committed to delivering the best network experience possible, which means creating a community where there is no digital divide. We believe in providing accessible and affordable internet across rural Alberta.”

Starosielski adds, “MCSnet’s greatest challenge is the terrain of rural Alberta, but it is also one of our greatest successes. By building a network of over 500 fixed wireless towers, our reachability across our service area is 99.9 per cent. Just because you live in rural Alberta doesn’t mean you should have to contend with unexpected internet interruptions and limited service. We continually seek out the latest innovations to bring more reliable service to our customers.”

In addition to innovative services, MCSnet is proud to be a community leader.

“We invest in our local communities because we are part of them,” says Lafrance. “With every subscription, a portion is provided back to local nonprofit organizations and charities in our service area by way of free internet, donations, and sponsorships. We assist sports teams, agricultural societies, seniors clubs, rodeos, concerts and more. We also have a scholarship program that provides four student scholarships annually to grade 12 students pursuing a post-secondary education in the field of computer science or related studies.”

MCSnet has come a long way since this family owned and operated business started in 1995 with a father and his three sons. By 1998, MCSnet added a DSL line in their town and in 2002 were the first and only provider of high-speed rural internet in their region. Growth continued in 2015 with the expansion to include Buried Glass Inc., enabling fiber optic solutions in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Today, the family-owned business services more than 25,000 customers.

Starosielski says about MCSnet’s future, “MCSnet will be growing its GigAir service throughout eligible communities within our service area. We are continually upgrading our equipment, installing additional access points, replacing towers with taller ones and constructing transit fiber between our towers to increase our bandwidth capabilities.”

Learn more online and by following @mcsnet.ca on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok.

SOURCE MCSnet

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Minister Hodgson promotes Canadian energy and mining in London

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October 21, 2026

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LONDON, Oct. 21, 2026 /CNW/ — Canada has what the world wants. Our resources, expertise and institutions can support global energy security and affordability today while laying the foundation for a more prosperous, secure lower-carbon future. We have renewed ambition to engage with the world, diversify our trade and back our partnerships with investment that builds a stronger Canada and supports our allies.

Today, the Honourable Tim Hodgson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, concluded a successful visit to London, United Kingdom, for the London Metal Exchange (LME) Week.

While in London, Minister Hodgson met with his ministerial counterparts in the U.K., including Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Miatta Fahnbulleh; Minister of State (Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry), Luke Pollard; and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Reindustrialisation), Blair McDougall. He discussed closer collaboration, increased trade and enhanced bilateral investment between Canada and the U.K. on energy and natural resources.

The Minister also met with industry representatives, including from Anglo American, Masdar and Teck Resources, to discuss commercial opportunities with a focus on diversifying and securing mineral supply chains. Building on Canada’s 2025 G7 Presidency and the establishment of the Critical Minerals Resilience and Production Alliance, which has already catalyzed 69 new deals that have unlocked $19.2 billion in capital investment, discussions highlighted opportunities for further investment in and sourcing from Canadian mining projects.

Minister Hodgson also took part in a fireside conversation on the margins of LME with Jonathan Price, President and CEO of Teck Resources, on critical minerals supply chains and the global need to diversify sources of supply, and he spoke at the Financial Times Energy Transition Summit about Canada’s ambitious energy and mining policy agenda.

Canada is working with trusted partners in the U.K. and beyond to strengthen global energy and critical minerals security, diversify our trade and attract investment into Canadian projects so we can build a stronger, more resilient Canadian economy.

Quote

“Canada is blessed with abundant energy and minerals, world-class expertise and financial institutions, and stability and dependability that the world is looking for now more than ever. I look forward to building on this trip to the United Kingdom to deepen our international co-operation and catalyze investments that will diversify our trade and create economic opportunities for Canadians.”

The Honourable Tim Hodgson
Minister of Energy and Natural Resources

Quick Facts

The U.K. is Canada’s largest European trade and investment partner and third-largest individual trading partner, with bilateral goods and services trade totaling $85 billion in 2025.In July 2026, Canada ratified the Protocol on the Accession of the United Kingdom to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). It entered into force on September 1, 2026, furthering opportunities for Canadian businesses through integrated supply chains and the single set of rules applied across CPTPP markets.The Canada–U.K. trading relationship is underpinned by our comprehensive bilateral Trade Continuity Agreement (TCA). The agreement does not expire and provides extensive market access for Canadian businesses, exporters and investors, including tariff-free access for 99 percent of tariff lines.In 2025, Canadian energy trade with the U.K. reached $1.8 billion, representing a 24.8 percent increase compared with 2024.In 2025, Canadian exports in mineral, metals and related products reached $40.8 billion, an increase of nearly 77 percent compared with 2024.Through the Canada–U.K. Critical Minerals Dialogue, both countries will continue working together to identify projects for investment and collaboration, strengthen secure and sustainable supply chains, and support growth in the mining and manufacturing sectors.

Associated Links

Canada–United Kingdom relationsOur critical minerals strategic partnerships: International partnerships

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SOURCE Natural Resources Canada

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NineTenths Joins ISASecure to Advance Adoption of ISA/IEC 62443 Cybersecurity Standards

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October 21, 2026

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DURHAM, N.C., Oct. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The International Society of Automation (ISA) — the leading professional society for automation — announced that NineTenths Company has officially joined ISASecure®, the globally recognized certification program that validates conformance to the ISA/IEC 62443 series of standards for industrial automation and control systems (IACS) cybersecurity.

NineTenths is a Saudi Arabia-based technology company specializing in advanced industrial solutions, including unmanned aerial systems (drones), robotics, infrastructure inspection, surveying, and operational technology (OT) cybersecurity. Serving industries including oil and gas, petrochemicals, energy, water and wastewater, manufacturing, and other critical infrastructure sectors, the company combines emerging technologies with engineering expertise to improve operational efficiency, security, and resilience. NineTenths uses ISA/IEC 62443 as a framework supporting its OT cybersecurity services, with capabilities aligned to cybersecurity management systems, risk-based assessments, zones and conduits, industrial system security requirements, and secure product development practices.

This new partnership with ISASecure will provide NineTenths with the opportunity to further strengthen its commitment to advancing operational technology (OT) cybersecurity across Saudi Arabia and the broader Gulf region. Building on its existing alignment with the internationally recognized ISA/IEC 62443 standards, ISASecure membership offers NineTenths opportunities to engage with global cybersecurity experts, industrial automation suppliers, and certification bodies while expanding its capabilities and enhancing operational resilience and cybersecurity readiness for clients.

“Serving government, public safety, construction, infrastructure, and energy sectors, our commitment to quality and safety is backed by internationally recognized certifications and manufacturer accreditations,” said Naif AlZahrani, NineTenths vice president of operation. “Our continued focus on OT cybersecurity from mission to maintenance ensures protection for the full OT security lifecycle. We look forward to being part of ISASecure as we continue to support organizations across Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in adopting cutting-edge technologies aligned with Saudi Vision 2030.”

“It is an honor to welcome NineTenths into the ISASecure program,” said Mark DeAngelo, ISASecure program manager. “We look forward to collaborating with NineTenths as we advance our mission of partnership, certification, and standards-based product development to help achieve a more secure world.”

About ISASecure®

Founded in 2007 by the International Society of Automation (ISA), ISASecure® is a globally recognized certification program that provides assurance for the cybersecurity of industrial automation control systems (IACS). Through rigorous conformance to the ISA/IEC 62443 series of standards, ISASecure certifications validate that products and supplier practices meet internationally recognized benchmarks for OT security. ISASecure is a wholly owned subsidiary of ISA. 

ISASecure’s global ecosystem includes leaders such as Chevron, ExxonMobil, GSK, Saudi Aramco, Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Schneider Electric, Trane Technologies, and Yokogawa, among others.

For more information, visit isasecure.org.

About NineTenths

Founded in 2019, NineTenths is a Saudi Arabia-based technology company that helps organizations improve operational efficiency, reduce costs, and make accurate data-driven decisions across industrial sectors. NineTenths is powered by a team of skilled Saudi engineers, programmers, and research and development specialists. Their expertise enables the company to design, customize, and deploy advanced unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) solutions aligned with real-world operational requirements. NineTenths supports organizations in adopting cutting-edge technologies aligned with Saudi Vision 2030.

About ISA

The International Society of Automation (ISA) is a nonprofit professional association founded in 1945 to create a better world through automation. ISA’s mission is to empower the global automation community through standards and knowledge sharing. ISA develops widely used global standards and conformity assessment programs, certifies professionals, provides education and training, publishes books and technical articles, hosts conferences and exhibits, and provides networking and career development programs for its members and customers around the world. Learn more at www.isa.org.

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SOURCE The International Society of Automation

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Crest Data More Than Doubles Its Grafana Plugin Portfolio as the Marketplace Reaches General Availability at ObservabilityCON 2026

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October 21, 2026

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SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Crest Data, an AI-first product engineering provider specializing in Observability and Cybersecurity for enterprises and technology innovators, today announced 15 new commercial plugins for Grafana, more than doubling its portfolio in the Grafana Marketplace to 25. The release coincides with Grafana Labs moving the Marketplace to general availability at ObservabilityCON 2026. The new plugins span cloud security, virtualization and data protection platforms, so IT, platform and security teams can monitor those systems in Grafana alongside the telemetry they already have, instead of switching between separate vendor consoles.

The Grafana Marketplace gives enterprises a trusted, commercial channel to discover, license and install production-grade plugins directly from the Grafana catalog.

As a founding Marketplace partner, Crest Data arrives at general availability with a broad portfolio of 25 native, agentless data source plugins that query their source systems through their APIs, with no exporters, no extra collection layer and no data ingestion costs. Built in partnership with Grafana Labs, every plugin ships with pre-built dashboards, so teams can unify security, network, virtualization, SaaS and storage monitoring in a single view.

“Crest Data has been developing integrations used by Fortune 100 customers for years, giving us a deep understanding of what enterprises need to meet their operational, security and compliance requirements,” said Malhar Shah, co-founder and CEO at Crest Data. “Our plugins bring this experience to the community by unifying IT, platform and security monitoring in Grafana with coverage across the security, network, virtualization, SaaS and storage domains.”

“Crest Data brings extensive experience across observability, security and compliance integrations, and we’re delighted to have them as part of the Grafana Marketplace,” said Ash Mazhari, VP of Corporate Development, Grafana Labs. “Crest Data is a leading contributor to the ecosystem, and we’re already seeing strong traction for their plugins from organizations around the world. We look forward to seeing how Crest Data continues to expand what enterprises can achieve with Grafana.”

Crest Data’s full Grafana plugin portfolio includes:

Security: FortiGate, Proofpoint Email Security, Zscaler ZIA, Zscaler ZPA, Cisco ASA, Cisco ISE, Tanium, Wiz, Qualys, Prisma Cloud, TenableNetwork: Cisco Meraki, Akamai, Zscaler ZDX, Infoblox Universal DDIVirtualization: VMware vSphere, Citrix Cloud, Citrix DaaSSaaS: Tableau, Zoom, SharePoint, ConvivaStorage and Data Protection: NetApp ONTAP, Dell PowerScale, Rubrik

To learn more about Crest Data’s Grafana services, including Marketplace plugins, migrations, implementations, customizations and managed services, visit https://www.crestdata.ai/solutions/grafana/

About ObservabilityCON 2026

ObservabilityCON is Grafana Labs’ flagship observability event, bringing together practitioners, experts and leaders to explore the latest innovations in observability and the fast-moving AI era. ObservabilityCON 2026 takes place at Pier 27 in San Francisco from Oct. 19–21, featuring three days of technical sessions, hands-on workshops, live demos, user success stories and opportunities to connect with the Grafana observability community.

About Crest Data

Crest Data is an AI-first product engineering provider specializing in Observability and Cybersecurity for enterprises and technology innovators. We design, build and operate intelligent platforms across security, observability, AI, cloud and data. Through deep engineering expertise and AI-led integrations and migrations, Crest Data helps organizations improve visibility, modernize technology platforms and build resilient, future-ready operations. Learn more at https://www.crestdata.ai/ 

 

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/crest-data-more-than-doubles-its-grafana-plugin-portfolio-as-the-marketplace-reaches-general-availability-at-observabilitycon-2026-302915598.html

SOURCE Crest Data

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