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Google Cloud Lands Partnership with Air France-KLM to Transform its Data and Generative AI Strategy

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The global airline group will upgrade the value of its data and get its AI & generative AI ready for take off with Google Cloud’s data, analytics and AI tools and expertise.

SUNNYVALE, Calif. and PARIS, Dec. 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Google Cloud today announced a strategic collaboration with Air France-KLM (AFKL), a leading global airline group, to help the airline leverage the power of its data, analytics, and generative AI (gen AI) technology to accelerate its data-centric and multicloud strategy, drive innovation, and reimagine the future of the travel industry.

Through the enhancement and growing value of its data, and its AI and gen AI strategy, Air France-KLM intends to boost the travel experience and satisfaction of its customers with more personalized offerings; optimize its operations on the ground and in the air; simplify the internal use of data and gen AI technology; and foster overall business and employee innovation.

Unlocking the power and value of Air France-KLM’s data
With three major airline companies, 551 operating aircraft, and 93 million passengers carried in 2023, Air France-KLM operates commercial and cargo flights and provides engineering and maintenance services to other air carriers, all generating massive amounts of data.

Air France-KLM has engaged in a major transformation of its three legacy data centers toward a multi-cloud strategy. Moving applications to the cloud and accelerating data value and insights, Air France-KLM will leverage Google Cloud’s data and analytics tools, including BigQuery. With Google Cloud’s commitment to security and privacy, Air France-KLM will maintain full ownership and control of its data, while improving time-to-market, innovation, and less data processing latency to better serve its business units in their digital journeys.

Through this work, the group will gain a deeper understanding of passenger preferences, travel patterns, and behaviors to offer newly tailored travel options and services, and be able to enhance flight, airport, and business operations, with the time needed for data analysis in predictive plane maintenance already dropping from hours to minutes, improving efficiency and reducing environmental impact.

Exploring the benefits of generative AI
Early gen AI use cases include customer agent support with automatic documentation for a facilitated customer management; easier and more efficient aircraft maintenance; and many others in development for internal and external-facing purposes.

Building a common, joint, and unique data lakehouse, the group will also tap into Google Cloud’s gen AI expertise and tools to accelerate its pioneering gen AI strategy in an Air France-KLM dedicated and secured gen AI cloud instance. The gen AI instance will benefit from the multimodal capabilities, a flexible multicloud approach, and ultra-low latency.

“Our collaboration with Google Cloud is a significant step forward in our data strategy,” said Air France-KLM Group EVP and group CIO Pierre-Olivier Bandet. “By leveraging Google Cloud’s advanced data technology with a real partnership approach, we intend to accelerate our innovation capacities with security in mind, and with generative AI, build the future of travel.”

Transform organization and grow cloud based innovation
In addition to technology, Google Cloud will provide training and support sessions to Air France-KLM’s teams, fostering a culture of data democratization. Covering data science and engineering, security, infrastructure and gen AI, the sessions will include hackathon-like events, on-site, and online dedicated training. Air France-KLM product teams, which are already recognized for their expertise, will then reach the new stage of competency and capability to handle cloud and data technologies to better leverage data for informed decision-making and innovation.

“Airlines generate massive amounts of data, much of which can be incredibly valuable in helping drive operational insights, build better customer experiences, and – with the power of gen AI – create entirely new services and offerings. We’re proud to support Air France-KLM in its innovation journey and to help the group define the future of the airline industry,” said Matt Renner, President, Global Revenue at Google Cloud.

About Google Cloud
Google Cloud is the new way to the cloud, providing AI, infrastructure, developer, data, security, and collaboration tools built for today and tomorrow. Google Cloud offers a powerful, fully integrated and optimized AI stack with its own planet-scale infrastructure, custom-built chips, generative AI models and development platform, as well as AI-powered applications, to help organizations transform. 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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Minister Hodgson promotes Canadian energy and mining in London

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

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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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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/ 

 

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SOURCE Crest Data

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