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Cybersecurity Veteran Kevin Mandia Named General Partner of Ballistic Ventures

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Mandia moves from Strategic Partner to GP to fund and incubate the next generation of cybersecurity innovation

SAN FRANCISCO, June 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Ballistic Ventures, the venture capital firm dedicated exclusively to funding and incubating entrepreneurs and innovations in cybersecurity, is pleased to announce that co-founder Kevin Mandia is now General Partner.

Mandia is one of the world’s most recognized experts in cybersecurity, known for his relentless efforts to fight cyber threats for more than 30 years. In 2004, he founded renowned cybersecurity firm Mandiant, serving as CEO from 2004 to 2013, when Mandiant Corporation was acquired by FireEye. Mandia took the helm as CEO of FireEye in 2016, guiding the company through a divestiture and corporate name change to Mandiant, Inc. in 2021, and through a successful acquisition by Google in 2022. Mandia recently transitioned to an advisory role within Google Cloud, and he continues to sit on the Google Public Sector board.

In 2023, Mandia was appointed by President Biden to serve as a member of the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC). He is also a member of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Cybersecurity Advisory Committee. Previously, he held senior positions in the security consulting divisions of Sytex, acquired by Lockheed Martin, and Foundstone, acquired by McAfee. He also served in the United States Air Force as a computer security officer at the Pentagon, and later as a special agent in the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

“I am very excited to dedicate more of my energy to Ballistic Ventures, and I especially look forward to working with the entrepreneurs who are shaping the future of cybersecurity,” said Mandia.

Ballistic Ventures was co-founded in 2021 by Mandia and General Partners Barmak Meftah, Ted Schlein, Jake Seid and Roger Thornton. While CEO of Mandiant (now part of Google Cloud), Mandia jointly served as Co-founder and Strategic Partner at Ballistic, leading the firm’s investment in SpecterOps, the Attack Path Management company, where he is an Observer to the company’s Board of Directors. Mandia also served as the second investing partner for five of the VC firm’s 18 investments to date, and is a Board Observer to portfolio company Alethea, the disinformation detection and mitigation company.

“We’re excited to have Kevin as a General Partner at Ballistic,” said Schlein. “Kevin’s expertise in the cybersecurity industry is unparalleled, and his knowledge of the market and customer set is unmatched.”

As General Partner, Mandia will draw from his extensive knowledge of the threat landscape and expertise as a successful founder and CEO to expand his investments within the firm and continue to mentor entrepreneurs and scale companies across the Ballistic portfolio.

Mandia’s move to General Partner comes on the heels of Ballistic Ventures announcing the close of its $360 million oversubscribed second fund. The firm is actively looking to deploy the new capital in novel innovations led by passionate cybersecurity entrepreneurs.

About Ballistic Ventures
Ballistic Ventures is a venture capital firm solely dedicated to early-stage cybersecurity and cyber-related companies. The partners have spent their entire careers defending against every cyber threat conceivable. Members of the firm have founded, operated, and funded over 100 successful cybersecurity firms – including Abnormal Security, AlienVault, ArcSight, Fortify, Mandiant, and Shape Security – led over 10,000 security professionals globally, and have 40+ years of experience in venture capital. The Ballistic portfolio includes Aembit, Alethea, ArmorCode, AuthMind, Codezero, Concentric AI, Mimic, Nudge Security, Oligo, Pangea, Perygee, Reach Security, SpecterOps, Talon (PANW), Veza and WitnessAI. Our experience provides entrepreneurs impactful support from people focused on the same mission. Our networks and relationships open doors for our founders. Learn more at ballisticventures.com.

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SOURCE Ballistic Ventures

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Ineffable Intelligence Selects Google Cloud To Power Its Superintelligence Mission

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Following a rigorous evaluation of the infrastructure market and a historic $1.1 billion seed round, Ineffable Intelligence enters agreement with Google Cloud to develop the world’s first “superlearner”

LONDON, June 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Google Cloud Summit London ’26 — Google Cloud and Ineffable Intelligence today announced a strategic partnership in which Google will provide the specialized infrastructure for Ineffable’s new frontier AI lab. Under the agreement, Ineffable Intelligence, the London-based startup founded by AlphaGo visionary David Silver, has selected Google Cloud as its preferred cloud partner, utilizing Google’s world-class AI-optimized technology to advance the next frontier of artificial intelligence: systems that learn continuously from their own experience.

The partnership follows Ineffable Intelligence’s historic $1.1 billion seed round, the largest of its kind in European history. Ineffable Intelligence will utilize Google Cloud’s high-performance computing capabilities to accelerate its mission of developing a “superlearner.” This partnership will also see Ineffable Intelligence deploy one of the largest clusters of A5X, powered by NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72 GPUs on Google Cloud, delivering massive computational scale.

Experience-based learning places fundamentally different demands on computing infrastructure than training on static datasets. Rather than learning from static datasets, these systems generate, evaluate, and learn from vast amounts of experience in real time, requiring enormous computational scale, high-performance networking, and tightly integrated training and inference systems. Google Cloud’s infrastructure will provide the foundation for this next generation of AI development.

Powering frontier AI with Google Cloud’s AI stack

While the industry has seen a surge in simple GPU-renting agreements, Ineffable Intelligence chose Google Cloud for its integrated AI Hypercomputer architecture. Unlike a standard “box of chips” approach, Google Cloud provides a systems-level optimization that combines performance-engineered GPUs with high-efficiency AI networking and storage.

“Training frontier models requires more than just raw compute; it requires a sophisticated orchestration of hardware and software,” said David Silver, CEO and Founder of Ineffable Intelligence. “We evaluated the space and chose Google Cloud as the best fit for our reinforcement learning infrastructure. We aren’t just looking for processors; we are building a resilient and scalable environment to make ‘first contact’ with superintelligence, AI that transcends human limitations in science, mathematics, and technology.”

Europe’s new frontier in AI

The collaboration signals a shift in the global AI landscape, positioning Ineffable Intelligence as a cornerstone of Europe’s growing AI ecosystem. By basing operations in London and leveraging Google Cloud’s secure infrastructure, Ineffable is poised to attract the continent’s premier engineering talent to solve the world’s most complex technical challenges.

“We are honored that the Ineffable Intelligence team has chosen Google Cloud to power its mission,” said Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud. “Ineffable is leveraging our full-stack AI Hypercomputer, from Jupiter networking to our optimized storage, to ensure its researchers can focus on breakthroughs, not bottlenecks. This partnership reflects how leading AI innovators are choosing Google Cloud to move faster and focus on revolutionary research and real-world impact.”

About Ineffable Intelligence
Ineffable Intelligence is the frontier AI company on a mission to make first contact with superintelligence. Founded by David Silver in London, it aims to create a superlearner that discovers all knowledge from its own experience, from elementary motor skills through to profound intellectual breakthroughs. This superlearning capability – the ability to endlessly discover knowledge and skills, without relying on human data – will be driven by the world’s most powerful reinforcement learning algorithms. The superlearner is expected to rediscover and then transcend the greatest inventions in human history, such as language, science, mathematics and technology – a scientific breakthrough of comparable magnitude to Darwin.

About Google Cloud
Google Cloud offers a powerful, optimized AI stack — including AI infrastructure, leading models like Gemini, data management capabilities, multicloud security solutions, developer tools and platform, as well as agents and applications — that enables organizations to transform their business for the Agentic Era. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted technology partner.

 

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SOURCE Google Cloud

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Univers Unveils Next Generation Platform for Physical AI at VivaTech 2026

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One Univers. One Intelligence Fabric. One Platform for the Physical World.

PARIS, June 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — At VivaTech 2026, Univers unveiled the next generation of its industry-leading platform suite: a Platform for Physical AI that enables enterprises to transform energy, infrastructure and industrial operations into a source of enduring competitive advantage.

As Europe seeks to strengthen industrial competitiveness, energy resilience and technological leadership, organizations face a growing challenge: applying AI reliably across the physical systems that power economies. While generative AI is transforming information work, the next frontier is enabling assets, facilities, energy systems and operations to sense, decide and act in real time.

Built on years of experience managing complex physical infrastructure, the Univers Platform for Physical AI brings together AI, energy and operational intelligence through a unified Intelligence Fabric. The platform continuously learns from operational outcomes, creating what Univers calls Compounding Intelligence—a growing intelligence advantage that enables organizations to deploy generative, agentic and autonomous AI in mission-critical environments with confidence.

Today, Univers connects over 400 million devices and manages more than 1,000 GW of energy assets and globally, orchestrating complex operational workflows across energy, building, transportation, logistics and industrial sectors.

“Europe’s next competitive advantage will be built not only on AI, but on the ability to apply AI to the physical world,” said Valerio Dilda, Senior Vice President, Europe, Univers. “The organizations that move first to build compounding intelligence across their operations will create a lasting advantage in productivity, resilience and innovation. Our Platform for Physical AI provides the foundation to make that possible.”

With four Centers of Excellence focused on Solar, Wind, Mobility and Energy and Resources across Europe alone, Univers helps enterprises unlock greater value from existing infrastructure while accelerating the transition from digital intelligence to autonomous operations.

About Univers

Univers operates one of the world’s largest real-time intelligence platforms for physical infrastructure, managing more than 1,000 GW of energy assets and connecting over 400 million devices globally. Through its Platform for Physical AI, Univers helps organizations orchestrate complex energy, infrastructure and operational systems with intelligence that continuously learns and improves over time.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/univers-unveils-next-generation-platform-for-physical-ai-at-vivatech-2026-302798852.html

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DXC Expands Relationship with Norske Skog to Modernize Network and Technology Operations

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Multi-year partnership delivers a modern, secure network solution while broadening DXC’s role across Norske Skog’s technology environment

OSLO, Norway, June 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC), a leading enterprise technology and innovation partner today announced an expansion of its long-standing relationship with Norske Skog, a leading producer of publication paper and recycled containerboard in Norway. DXC will design, implement and operate a new software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN)—a modern, software-driven network that securely connects sites and —over the next four years, while also serving as its primary technology partner and trusted advisor across its broader technology estate.

Norske Skog’s network is the critical backbone connecting the company’s physical locations including offices and mills. Because the infrastructure plays a central role in ensuring availability and security, reliable service delivery is paramount. In selecting DXC to support the transformation of its network services, Norske Skog sought a more robust and responsive solution to improve service quality. DXC’s new network solution is designed to deliver stronger security, improved performance, greater scalability, and simplified management across Norske Skog’s locations.

“We are pleased to expand our long-standing partnership with DXC Technology as we modernize our network infrastructure. With a new software-defined wide area network, we will benefit from secure, scalable connectivity across our sites, improving performance and supporting our continued digital development. We also value DXC as a trusted advisor across our broader technology landscape.” Says Børge Teigland, CIO Norske Skog

“Expanding our relationship with Norske Skog reflects the trust we’ve built over time and DXC’s ability to deliver in critical environments,” said Espen Olsen, Managing Director DXC Norway. “By modernizing Norske Skog’s network infrastructure and taking on a broader role across their technology operations, we’re helping build a stronger, more secure foundation that supports the business today and as it evolves.”

DXC Technology is a long-standing partner to Norske Skog with more than 20 years of experience delivering end-to-end business and IT services. Today, DXC manages a significant part of Norske Skog’s IT estate, reflecting a deep and strategic partnership built on trust, reliability, and consistent delivery. As a trusted advisor, DXC continues to support Norske Skog across infrastructure, applications, and operational services, helping to modernize and optimize its technology landscape.

About DXC Technology
DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC) is a leading enterprise technology and innovation partner delivering software, services, and solutions to global enterprises and public sector organizations — helping them harness AI to drive outcomes at a time of exponential change with speed. With deep expertise in Managed Infrastructure Services, Application Modernization, and Industry-Specific Software Solutions, DXC modernizes, secures, and operates some of the world’s most complex technology estates. Learn more on dxc.com.

About Norske Skog
Norske Skog is a producer of packaging paper and publication paper across four mills in Europe. Packaging paper includes testliner and fluting and publication paper includes newsprint and magazine paper. The annual production capacity of packaging paper is 0.8 million tonnes, and the annual production capacity of publication paper is 1.2 million tonnes. Packaging paper and publication paper are sold through sales offices and agents. Norske Skog has approximately 1 650 employees and the parent company, Norske Skog ASA, a public limited liability company, is incorporated in Norway and has its head office in Oslo. The company is listed on Oslo Stock Exchange with the ticker NSKOG.

MEDIA CONTACT: Ashley Houk-Temple, Media Relations, ashley.houktemple@dxc.com 

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