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The Utilities Sector Can Enhance Cybersecurity and Operational Efficiency Through IT/OT Convergence, Says Info-Tech Research Group in New Resource

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2 years ago

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With the utilities sector facing complex challenges in integrating IT and OT efforts, Info-Tech Research Group has published a comprehensive blueprint designed to help IT leaders overcome these hurdles. By addressing cybersecurity threats, operational silos, and conflicting priorities, this resource offers actionable strategies to achieve effective IT/OT convergence. This resource helps IT leaders in the industry transform their operations with strategic guidance for a more secure, efficient, and future-ready infrastructure.

TORONTO, Oct. 2, 2024 /CNW/ – The utilities sector is currently facing significant challenges in integrating IT and OT (operational technology) efforts as teams navigate complex cybersecurity threats, operational silos, and conflicting priorities. In response, Info-Tech Research Group has published its latest blueprint, Drive a Fit-for-Purpose IT/OT Convergence Improvement Plan for Your Utility, to provide utilities CIOs with the tools required to develop a strategic IT/OT convergence plan. The firm’s recently published resource offers research insights and a maturity assessment along with actionable next steps to help utilities achieve improved collaboration, efficiency, and security for sustainable success.

“The worlds of IT and OT have been operating separately for decades. Driven by both technology advancement and business transformation, IT/OT convergence originates at the technological level and evolves across both practices,” says Jing Wu, executive counselor at Info-Tech Research Group. “Recognizing the advantages of this trend, utilities are increasingly investing in integrations and collaborations between the two groups. However, many utilities fail in their endeavors, and the reasons are complex. Building trust is a gradual process, requiring intentional efforts to improve both rational initiatives and emotional connections between IT and OT teams.” 

Info-Tech highlights in the blueprint the pressing challenges faced by technology leaders in the utilities sector, where the integration of digital technology and rising cybersecurity threats call for greater collaboration between IT and OT teams. The utilities industry’s reliance on legacy systems, coupled with the critical nature of its operations, makes it particularly vulnerable to cyber risks. The diversity in technological landscapes, from cloud computing to operational machinery, intensifies these challenges, often resulting in conflicting priorities between IT and OT teams. The firm advises that as these teams navigate complex systems and operational needs, building trust and aligning efforts are key to advancing security and operational efficiency within the utilities sector.

Drive a Fit-for-Purpose IT/OT Convergence Improvement Plan for Your Utility provides valuable insights into overcoming these barriers, with a focus on fostering a unified approach that aligns IT and OT strategies. Successful integration is reliant on trust-building and leadership support, which help establish a cohesive culture. By pinpointing key areas for enhanced collaboration, the blueprint combines rational best practices with emotional connections, promoting a growth mindset, breaking down traditional silos, and aligning priorities.

To further guide IT leaders in this transformation, Info-Tech recommends that IT assess IT/OT convergence maturity through the following steps, ensuring that improvement plans are tailored to the specific needs of their utility operations:

Establish common goals and objectives despite the differences in IT and OT practices.

Identify candidate opportunities across the business capability map for IT/OT convergence to enhance value.

Conduct a holistic IT/OT maturity assessment to focus improvement plan efforts effectively.

Info-Tech’s insights emphasize that overcoming IT/OT convergence challenges requires fostering collaboration and addressing cybersecurity vulnerabilities. By implementing the blueprint’s recommendations, IT leaders in the utilities sector will be better equipped with the essential tools needed to drive secure, efficient, and resilient operations. Adopting these strategies not only enhances competitiveness but also ensures a successful long-term transformation.

For exclusive and timely commentary from Jing Wu, an expert in the utilities industry, and access to the complete Drive a Fit-for-Purpose IT/OT Convergence Improvement Plan for Your Utility blueprint, please contact pr@infotech.com.

About Info-Tech Research Group
Info-Tech Research Group is one of the world’s leading research and advisory firms, proudly serving over 30,000 IT and HR professionals. The company produces unbiased, highly relevant research and provides advisory services to help leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. For nearly 30 years, Info-Tech has partnered closely with teams to provide them with everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.

To learn more about Info-Tech’s divisions, visit McLean & Company for HR research and advisory services and SoftwareReviews for software buying insights.

Media professionals can register for unrestricted access to research across IT, HR, and software and hundreds of industry analysts through the firm’s Media Insiders program. To gain access, contact pr@infotech.com.

For information about Info-Tech Research Group or to access the latest research, visit infotech.com and connect via LinkedIn and X.

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SOURCE Info-Tech Research Group

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Changan Group Unveils Its In-house Developed ADAS — SDA Pilot

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June 14, 2026

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CHONGQING, China, June 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — At the 28th Chongqing International Auto Exhibition, Changan Group showcased its full brand lineup including CHANGAN NEVO, CHANGAN DEEPAL and AVATR at Hall N8, and officially launched its self-developed Advanced Driver-Assistance System, SDA Pilot.

At the press conference, Zhu Huarong, Chairman of Changan Group, stated: “Changan will work together with partners and users worldwide to make ADAS better, more practical, and more accessible, protecting every journey with smart technology.” It is announced that the CHANGAN NEVO Q06 will come standard with SDA Pilot across all trim levels and hit its domestic market in the second half of 2026.

SDA Pilot Takes the Spotlight: Three-tier Safety Defenses Upgrade the ADAS Experience

As Changan’s latest technological achievement in smart mobility, SDA Pilot breaks the boundaries of traditional physical safety and establishes three comprehensive safety defense systems covering physical well-being, mental comfort and emotional interaction.

The entry-level SDA Pilot Pro comes standard with LiDAR, capable of identifying obstacles in low-light conditions such as at night or in tunnels two seconds faster than the human eye. Supported by the globally leading SDA Central Ring Network Architecture, the system cuts response time by an additional 150 milliseconds. SDA Pilot Max, leverages over 20 million high-quality real-world driving data segments for training, delivering exceptional perception and predictive capabilities to confidently navigate complex, high-frequency commuting scenarios. The top-tier SDA Pilot Ultra is integrated with the VLM (Vision Language Model), which greatly enhances the vehicle’s environmental perception and enables interactive advanced driver-assistance functions, turning the vehicle into an intuitive travel companion. In the future, an active driver incapacitation protection function will also be introduced to safeguard driving safety at the first moment.

While continuously evolving its ADAS user experience, Changan remains committed to its safety bottom line, clearly reminding: “Driver assistance is not autonomous driving. Drivers are still required to take on the core responsibilities of real-time monitoring and taking over control at any time.”

Advancing the “1445” Global Strategy: 17 Years of Intelligent R&D Build Solid Safety Foundations

Changan Group lives by the tenet of “Intelligence defines Changan.” As a core component of the “1445” Global Strategy that underpins four transformation priorities (The four priorities refer to: intelligent mobility, electrification, a unified ecosystem, and globalization), intelligent mobility stands as the primary driving force for Changan’s upgrading. The company is committed to building a world-class auto group with global competitiveness and independent core technologies, aiming to rank among the world’s top 10 automobile brands by 2030. The launch of SDA Pilot marks a landmark achievement of this strategy in the advanced driving-assistance sector.

Behind this technological breakthrough lies a solid intelligent foundation built by Changan over 17 years. Since establishing its intelligent R&D team in 2009, Changan has forged ahead in uncharted technological territories and built the China’s only national key laboratory dedicated to intelligent vehicle safety technology — CHANGAN SDA LAB. The lab supports round-the-clock global collaborative testing with more than 400,000 virtual simulation scenarios.

Over the past five years, more than 2,000 Changan engineers have completed over 5 million kilometers of real-road tests across Chongqing’s notoriously complex road conditions, covering 185 typical driving scenarios. Rich field experience has been embedded into the system, which keeps evolving based on user feedback and forms the unshakable safety strength of SDA Pilot.

Empowered by intelligent technologies, Changan continues to accelerate its global footprint. To date, the group has established 22 overseas manufacturing bases with an annual capacity of 350,000 vehicles, and 1,124 overseas sales outlets, covering 118 countries and regions, with 41 global models launched. In 2025, Changan’s overseas sales reached 637,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 18.9%.

Since the start of 2026, Changan has made successive moves in its globalization strategy: launching the Vast Ocean Plan 2.0 during the AutoChina 2026 in Beijing, establishing four core principles: long-term development, localization, systematization, and responsible ESG practices; and more recently, partnering with the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) to become the Official Global Partner of the Portugal National Football Team, using sports as a bond to deepen global user connections and brand engagement.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/changan-group-unveils-its-in-house-developed-adas–sda-pilot-302799729.html

SOURCE Changan Group

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Kakunin Announces Cryptographic Compliance Shield for Google Gemini and OpenAI Agent Ecosystems

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7 hours ago

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June 14, 2026

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SaaS Compliance Leader Launches First-Class SDK Integrations for Google Antigravity, OpenAI Swarm, and OpenAI Assistants API to Meet Strict MiCA and EU AI Act Standards.

LONDON, June 13, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Kakunin, the leading compliance infrastructure platform for autonomous AI agents, today announced the release of first-class SDK integrations for Google Antigravity SDK, OpenAI Swarm, and the OpenAI Assistants API.

Autonomous agents are executing high-value, real-world tasks—but without strict boundaries, they represent a massive security risk,” said Palash Bagchi, Founder, at Kakunin.

As organizations move autonomous AI agents from sandboxes to production, securing the tools they run has become a critical operational hurdle. The new integrations allow developers to cryptographically secure and audit agent actions in real time, meeting the strict requirements of upcoming regulations like the EU AI Act and MiCA.

Preventing Agent Drift at the Tool Layer

Instead of relying on prompt engineering or system instructions—which are susceptible to jailbreaks—Kakunin secures agent tool execution at the cryptographic layer:

Pre-Flight Scope Verification: Validates that an agent possesses the required permission scope (e.g., trade.execute, file.write) before executing local code.Active-Agent Enforcement: Dynamically halts execution if the agent’s underlying X.509 certificate has been revoked or suspended.Tamper-Evident Auditing: Automatically logs session starts, prompts, responses, tool successes, and error anomalies.

Ecosystem Compatibility out of the Box

The new releases bring seamless, code-first integrations to the industry’s leading agent frameworks:

Google Antigravity SDK: Hook-based runtime protection that automatically secures Gemini-powered tool workflows.OpenAI Swarm: A lightweight class wrapper (KakuninSwarm) that dynamically gates multi-agent handoffs and task executions.OpenAI Assistants API: A polling-loop helper (handle_assistants_requires_action) that streamlines safety checks and tool output formatting in a single call.

Beyond these core OpenAI and Google environments, the new releases also extend Kakunin’s cryptographic shield to the broader agent development community. Out-of-the-box templates and shims are now available for LangChain (KakuninToolGuard), LlamaIndex (KakuninFunctionToolGuard), CrewAI (KakuninCrewAgent), and AutoGen (KakuninConversableAgent), alongside native middlewares for Next.js API routes and raw client libraries for Go, TypeScript, and Python.

“Autonomous agents are executing high-value, real-world tasks—but without strict boundaries, they represent a massive security risk,” said Palash Bagchi, Founder, at Kakunin. “By bringing cryptographic X.509 validation directly to Google’s and OpenAI’s agent loops, we are giving developers the peace of mind to deploy agents in highly regulated environments like fintech and healthcare.”

Availability

The new SDK integrations are available immediately:

Python Package: Available on PyPI via pip install kakunin.Playground Notebooks: Developers can test the integrations in 1-click via the official OpenAI Cookbook and Google Gemini Cookbook.Reference Samples: Available on the public Kakunin Samples Repository.

To learn more about securing your autonomous agent workflows, visit kakunin.ai/docs. or visit Conversational GTM for more enquiries.

Media Contact
Palash Bagchi, Immortal Reality PA LLC, 1 4125437290, ai@kakunin.ai, https://www.kakunin.ai/

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SOURCE Kakunin

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District Taco Kicks Off The Summer’s Biggest Soccer Event with Free Delivery Offer

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14 hours ago

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June 13, 2026

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App Users can enjoy District Taco at home with free delivery during the world’s biggest soccer tournament.

WASHINGTON, June 13, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — District Taco is bringing the excitement of the world’s biggest soccer tournament straight to fans’ homes with a special promotion designed to make game-day meals even more convenient.

This promotion makes it easier and more affordable to enjoy District Taco delivered right to your door so you don’t miss a moment of the action!

From June 11 through July 19, guests who order delivery through the District Taco app can use promo code ‘SOCCER26’ to receive $5 off their order, effectively offsetting the standard delivery fee and creating a free delivery experience.

Whether cheering on a favorite team, hosting a watch party, or enjoying the match from the couch, fans can enjoy District Taco’s fresh, made-to-order menu without leaving home or the extra delivery cost. “We know fans will be gathering throughout the tournament to watch some of the most exciting matches in the world,” said Osiris Hoil, CEO of District Taco. “This promotion makes it easier and more affordable to enjoy District Taco delivered right to your door so you don’t miss a moment of the action!”

The promotion is part of District Taco’s broader effort to drive digital engagement and app use. Here are the campaign details:

Enter Promo Code: ‘SOCCER26’ when placing the order in-appOffer: $5 off delivery ordersAvailable: June 11 through July 19Valid on: District Taco app delivery orders only (not third-party platforms)

Guests can download the District Taco app here for Apple users and here for Android users!

About District Taco

In 2009, two neighbors got together over some homemade chips, salsa and guacamole and decided to launch District Taco as a food cart. Since then, District Taco has opened multiple locations in Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Washington, DC. Their mission is to serve quality – Yucatán style – Mexican food that is fresh, simple, and healthful, with a fully customizable menu that includes vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options. At District Taco, food is made fresh daily from the highest quality ingredients. They strive to limit their impact on the environment by serving in environmentally friendly packaging where possible. For more information about District Taco or their menu, and to download the app, visit districttaco.com or follow @districttaco across socials.

Media Contact

Raquel Robinson, District Taco, 1 5712657573, raquel.robinson@districttaco.com, districttaco.com

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prweb.com/releases/district-taco-kicks-off-the-summers-biggest-soccer-event-with-free-delivery-offer-302799507.html

SOURCE District Taco

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