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Shaping A Circular Future: Covestro’s High-Performance Polycarbonate Solutions For Sustainable Innovation In The Electronics Industry

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SHANGHAI, Sept. 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — The global plastic waste crisis is intensifying, with approximately 400 million tons of plastic waste generated annually. Among this, electronic waste contributes around 2-3%, significantly impacting our environment (Source: Nature; World Economic Forum). Addressing this challenge requires solutions such as extending the lifecycle of products, recycling materials, and developing alternatives to traditional fossil-based plastics.

High-performance polycarbonate (PC) has become essential in various devices, including consumer electronics, industrial automation, and house appliances. Each application presents unique challenges that demand exceptional material performance.

Covestro, a global leader in high-quality polymer materials and components, has a rich history of innovation. As the inventor of polycarbonate, Covestro has been at the forefront of advancing industries with its pioneering and high-impact PC solutions.

Outdoor Applications: Facing the Elements 

The outdoor environment poses numerous challenges due to climate, location, and the specific functions of devices. For instance, electric vehicle (EV) charging stations endure prolonged UV exposure and heat during the day, while high-latitude regions face extremely low temperatures in winter, increasing the risk of material cracking. Additionally, housing for base stations must ensure not only excellent signal transparency but also strong dimensional stability to protect internal components from humidity, pressure, or impact.

APEC® XT grades are the ideal solution for these demanding conditions. They remain resilient even in the harshest conditions. The new copolymer technology enables the production of products that exhibit high impact strength even at temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius. These copolymers have improved chemical and ageing resistance, ensuring long-lasting durability in outdoor applications.

*Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02252-x; https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/12/e-waste-electronic-climate-recycling/

The Makrolon® series also performs strongly outdoors, with specific grades like FR6020 and 6040 series tailored to meet various performance requirements, such as excellent impact resistance, heat resistance with high RTI, flame retardancy, and signal transparency, while maintaining cost efficiency.

Portable Devices: Durability and Lightweight Design 

Portable or wearable electronic devices, such as laptop, headphones, AR/VR headsets, mobile phone, require materials that withstand impacts from falls and pressure while remaining lightweight. Additionally, exposure to chemicals from sweat or lotion can weaken housing strength. Modern aesthetics demand compact, durable designs.

Covestro Thin-wall solutions meet these demands by using less material to achieve lightweight yet reliable performance in crack resistance and flame retardancy. Aging tests with cosmetics, such as sun cream, perfume, and face scream, demonstrate their strong chemical resistance, which ensures higher durability of devices.

Sustainable Solutions: Meeting Regulatory and Market Demands

Proper material selection and application can significantly extend the lifecycle of electronic devices, reducing plastic waste. While waste is inevitable, the end of a product’s life does not mean the end of its material. Covestro’s post-consumer recycled (PCR) PC, Makrolon® R series, uses advanced recipes and high-quality feedstocks to reintroduce PC waste into the next lifecycle. Recent advancements have achieved up to 90% recycled content with performance comparable to virgin materials, greatly reducing reliance on fossil-based resources.

In addition to the R series, Covestro recently introduced a range of polycarbonates based on chemically recycled attributed material from post-consumer waste via mass balance: Makrolon® RP. The aim is to manufacture high-quality and durable products with chemically recycled attributed feedstocks. At the end of a long usage phase, the plastics can still achieve a “third product life” through mechanical recycling and the further development of chemical recycling technologies.

Covestro also explores alternative materials from bio-waste and bio-residues: certified mass-balanced grades of the Makrolon® RE series. The RE series is now also available with 25 percent renewable attributed sustainable share.

All three series belong to the Covestro CQ* family, a holistic portfolio of solutions that enables the electronic industry to move away from a linear approach and to materialize the Circular Economy.

Note: CQ is derived from “Circular Intelligence,” a smart approach to more sustainable materials, technologies, and services. Covestro solutions with the “CQ” label are living proof of its CE vision becoming reality. By using alternative raw materials and developing unique new recycling technologies and services, Covestro showcases their Circular Intelligence, transforming the industry to achieve climate neutrality. Learn more at Covestro Solution Center.

The demand for products with recycled raw materials is growing, driven by regulatory requirements and voluntary programs, such as the European End-of-Life Vehicle Directive under review (ELV) and the U.S. Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) for electronics. High-performance recycled and alternative materials support OEMs in meeting these regulations, enhancing sustainability efforts, and opening new business opportunities.

Aesthetics and Consumer Appeal

Aesthetics play a crucial role in consumer electronics, influencing purchasing decisions. Eye-catching designs and colors set trends in the market. Covestro’s high-flow and de-molding capabilities offer design flexibility for creative ideas. Moreover, colorability, color stability, along with rich surface options including glossy, brushed, matte, transparent, translucent finishes, ensure premium user experiences and perceptions.

Interaction among all smart devices is a key factor for user experience, which highly depends on accurate signals. Covestro provides specific polycarbonate with outstanding signal transmittance, ensuring minimal signal attenuation. Meanwhile, visible lights are shielded, even in light color aligning with modern aesthetics needs.

Each year, Covestro launches a CMF (Color, Material, Finish) report, offering design insights based on market observations and customer collaboration. This guides OEMs and brand designers with design and material trends which enable winning consumer attention and gaining market opportunities.

High-performance polycarbonate is increasingly applied in across industries, driven by trends such as the circular economy, Internet of Things (ioT), AI empowerment, and future-oriented compliance. Covestro is committed to being a valued partner for industry players, driving toward a fully circular future with its extensive experience, knowledge, technical networks, and global expertise.

About Covestro:

Covestro is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high-quality polymer materials and their components. With its innovative products, processes and methods, the company helps enhance sustainability and the quality of life in many areas. Covestro supplies customers around the world in key industries such as mobility, building and living, as well as the electrical and electronics sector. In addition, polymers from Covestro are also used in sectors such as sports and leisure, telecommunications and health, as well as in the chemical industry itself.

The company is committed to becoming fully circular. In addition, Covestro aims to achieve climate neutrality for its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2035, and the Group’s Scope 3 emissions are also set to be climate neutral by 2050. Covestro generated sales of EUR 14.4 billion in fiscal 2023. At the end of 2023, the company had 48 production sites worldwide and employed approximately 17,500 people (calculated as full-time equivalents). Learn more at the Covestro Solution Center.

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11:11 Systems Announces Strategic Partnership with Cato Networks to Deliver SASE Solution for Distributed Enterprises

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New Managed Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solution combines SD-WAN, cloud-native networking and security capabilities with 11:11’s connectivity, cyber resilience and cloud expertise

SYDNEY, July 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — 11:11 Systems, a leading managed infrastructure solutions provider, today announced the global availability of its 11:11 Managed Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solution and a new strategic partnership with Cato Networks.

11:11 Managed SASE is a fully managed secure connectivity solution leveraging Cato Networks AI-native network security platform. This solution brings together intelligent SD-WAN, cloud-delivered security and global connectivity into a single offering. It enables organisations to simplify and secure access across branch offices, data centres, users and cloud environments, reducing complexity without sacrificing performance or control.

Built on the Cato Networks cloud-native SASE platform, 11:11 Managed SASE combines zero trust network access (ZTNA), firewall as a service (FWaaS), secure web gateway (SWG), cloud access security broker (CASB), advanced threat protection and centralised visibility into a unified managed experience. 11:11 also delivers 24x7x365 monitoring and support, incident management integration and operational accountability to help customers limit vendor sprawl, increase agility and free internal teams to focus on higher-value priorities.

The offering is backed by 11:11’s broader networking, cloud and cyber resilience capabilities. Through its global backbone, carrier-agnostic connectivity options and integrated portfolio spanning cloud, backup, disaster recovery and security services, 11:11 gives customers a practical path to modernise network and security architecture while strengthening resilience across the business.

“Enterprises are under pressure to support users, applications and locations that are more distributed than ever, while limiting complexity and improving security,” said Justin Giardina, CTO, 11:11 Systems. “Our Managed SASE solution provides customers with a unified approach to modernising networking and security, along with the visibility, support and flexibility they need to thrive in a rapidly changing environment.”

According to Karl Soderlund, global channel chief, Cato Networks, “As enterprises move beyond fragmented legacy networking and security stacks, they need a simpler way to gain visibility, context and control across hybrid work environments and reduce the operational burden on IT. Through our partnership, we can address these challenges head on and deliver end-to-end visibility and protection in a single service built for the reality of modern work.”

The joint offering is well suited for distributed enterprises, multi-site organisations, hybrid workforce initiatives, SD-WAN refreshes, security modernisation efforts and businesses with limited IT resources. 11:11 meets customers where they are by supporting existing environments, simplifying multi-vendor operations and serving as a single provider accountable for network, security, cloud and data integration.

This partnership expands 11:11’s Network as a Service portfolio and follows Forrester’s inclusion of 11:11 Systems in its report, “The Secure Access Service Edge Services Landscape, Q1 2026.”

About 11:11 Systems

11:11 Systems is a managed infrastructure solutions provider that empowers customers to modernise, protect and manage mission-critical applications and data, leveraging 11:11’s resilient cloud platform. Learn more at www.1111Systems.com and follow 11:11 on LinkedIn.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/1111-systems-announces-strategic-partnership-with-cato-networks-to-deliver-sase-solution-for-distributed-enterprises-302830322.html

SOURCE 11:11 Systems

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Crowell & Moring Expands Financial Services Group with Former UBS Bank USA General Counsel Cristina Diaz

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NEW YORK, July 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Crowell & Moring has added Cristina Diaz, former executive director and general counsel of UBS Bank USA, and most recently head of legal for UBS’s U.S. Remediation Management Office, to the firm’s Financial Services Group as senior counsel in New York. Diaz brings more than two decades of in-house counsel and law firm experience in bank regulation, compliance, and risk management.

At Crowell, Diaz will counsel banks, fintechs, and digital assets companies on a broad range of bank regulatory matters, including charters and licensing, permissible activities, capital requirements, regulatory enforcement, M&A, and corporate governance. She will also counsel clients navigating the intersection of traditional banking and emerging financial services, including digital assets companies seeking to acquire or establish national banks, and banks exploring partnerships with fintechs and digital assets firms.

At UBS, Diaz advised on the firm’s most pressing regulatory matters, including most recently UBS Bank USA’s charter conversion from a Utah industrial bank to an OCC national bank and key compliance remediations. This work gave Diaz extensive experience navigating relationships with state and federal financial regulators. Earlier in her career, Diaz spent eight years at Davis Polk & Wardwell advising U.S. and foreign banks on bank regulatory matters, M&A, and capital markets transactions.

“Cristina is a highly experienced, solution-oriented attorney who brings deep knowledge in the bank regulatory space. She will be an enormous asset to the firm’s growing regulatory and transactional offerings to banks, digital assets businesses, and fintechs,” said Carlton Greene, Co-Chair of Crowell’s Financial Services Group.

“I am delighted to join Crowell & Moring and integrate my bank regulatory experience with the firm’s nationally-recognized digital assets practice. As traditional banking and emerging financial technologies continue to evolve, clients need actionable and sophisticated legal counsel. Crowell offers the collaborative platform to help institutions successfully execute their growth and compliance strategies,” said Diaz.

Diaz received her J.D. from New York University School of Law, where she was a member of the New York University Law Review, and received her B.A., summa cum laude, from New York University. She is fluent in Spanish.

About Crowell & Moring LLP
Crowell & Moring is an international law firm with operations in the United States, Europe, and MENA. Drawing on significant government, business, industry, and legal experience, the firm helps clients capitalize on opportunities and provides creative solutions to complex regulatory and policy, litigation, transactional, and intellectual property issues. The firm is consistently recognized for its commitment to pro bono service, as well as its comprehensive programs and initiatives to advance the professional and personal development of all members of the Crowell community.

Media Contact:
Email: prteam@crowell.com

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SOURCE Crowell & Moring LLP

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Quantinuum and SoftBank Corp. Publish Joint White Paper on Scaling Practical Quantum Computing Use Cases Toward the Fault-Tolerant Era

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The companies have published a joint white paper mapping commercially relevant quantum computing use cases in quantum chemistry and graph analytics to Quantinuum’s hardware roadmap.The paper provides a framework for assessing how advances in quantum hardware and algorithms, could affect when practical industrial applications become feasible.SoftBank Corp. and Quantinuum will use the roadmap to inform their exploration of future quantum AI data center services and related business models.

TOKYO and BROOMFIELD, Colo., July 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Quantinuum (NASDAQ: QNT) and SoftBank Corp. (“SoftBank”) today announced the publication of “Quantum Computing Frontiers,” a joint white paper that maps two commercially-relevant quantum computing application areas against Quantinuum’s hardware roadmap. The analysis examines how advances in quantum hardware and algorithms could affect when these applications become practical for industrial use.

The paper focuses on two representative application domains that SoftBank is actively using Quantinuum’s systems to research: quantum chemistry for new materials discovery and energy research, and topological data analysis for large-scale graph analytics, including for telecommunications fraud detection. The authors anchor their assessment of the scalability of these two application areas against Quantinuum’s published hardware roadmap, examining how projected advances in hardware capabilities and algorithms may enable the commercial readiness of future industrial applications.

Building on this use-case roadmap, the paper also examines how quantum computing, AI, and high-performance computing could be integrated into future computing infrastructure. It considers how progress across successive hardware generations could inform future quantum AI data center services and related business models, a key focus of the Quantinuum and SoftBank partnership announced last year.

“The key takeaway of this study is that organizations do not need to wait for large-scale, fault-tolerant systems to explore where quantum computing can begin creating value,” said Duncan Jones, General Manager, Applications Group at Quantinuum. “By using today’s systems to develop, benchmark and refine applications in areas such as quantum chemistry and graph analytics, enterprises can build the technical and operational readiness needed for the next era of quantum-enabled computing.”

“The question is no longer whether quantum computing may deliver value, but rather which problem classes become executable at which stage of hardware maturity,” said Ryuji Wakikawa, Senior Vice President & CTO at SoftBank Corp. “However, we believe progress in hardware must be complemented by equally strong developments in quantum algorithms and the integration of quantum systems with AI and high-performance computing.”

The white paper discusses illustrative scenarios describing how representative applications, technology maturity, and potential market opportunities may evolve over time under stated assumptions. The analysis provided in the paper is intended to provide a conceptual framework for understanding potential market evolution and does not represent financial guidance or forecasts. These analyses are intended to support discussion of future technology development and should not be interpreted as commitments regarding commercialization, infrastructure investment, products, services, or financial performance.

The full white paper is available to download on the SoftBank and Quantinuum websites.

About SoftBank Corp.

Guided by the SoftBank Group’s corporate philosophy, “Information Revolution – Happiness for everyone,” SoftBank Corp. (TOKYO: 9434) operates telecommunications and IT businesses in Japan and globally. Building on its strong business foundation, SoftBank Corp. is aiming to activate the potential of AI across its businesses and drive implementation in line with its “Activate AI for Society” growth strategy. While further growing its telecom business, SoftBank is expanding its AI computing infrastructure and AI and Cloud service businesses with the aim of becoming a provider of Next-generation Social Infrastructure. To learn more, please visit https://www.softbank.jp/en/corp/

About Quantinuum

Quantinuum (NASDAQ: QNT) is a leading quantum computing company offering a full-stack platform designed to make quantum computing deployable in real-world environments. The company has commercially deployed multiple generations of quantum systems built on the well-established QCCD architecture, which it has implemented with novel designs and capabilities to achieve the industry’s highest accuracy levels based on average two-qubit gate fidelity.[1] Quantinuum has active engagements with market leaders across pharmaceuticals, material science, financial services, and government and industrial markets. The company has a global workforce of approximately 700 employees, including top scientists and researchers. Over 70% of its technology team holds PhDs or Master’s degrees. Quantinuum’s headquarters is in Broomfield, Colorado, with additional facilities across the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Qatar, and Singapore.

For more information, please visit www.quantinuum.com.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain statements that may be deemed “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical facts. The words “anticipate,” “assume,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “future,” “will,” “seek,” “foreseeable,” the negative version of these words, or similar terms and phrases are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on certain assumptions and assessments made by our management in light of their experience and their perception of historical trends, current economic and industry conditions, expected future developments and other factors they believe to be appropriate. The forward-looking statements included in this release are also subject to a number of material risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to economic, competitive, governmental, and technological factors affecting our operations, markets, products, services and prices. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for Quantinuum to predict all such factors. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and, except as required by law, Quantinuum does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

 

[1] As of December 31, 2025.

SOURCE Quantinuum

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