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The A.M.E. Zion Church Adopts New Common Measurement for the Health of its Churches and Congregations

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Announcement is the first from a major U.S. denomination, leveraging Gloo technology and research from Barna and Harvard

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Dec. 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — The African Methodist Episcopal Zion (A.M.E. Zion) Church denomination announced the broad adoption of the State of Your Church metrics for all of its 1,600 churches in the United States. The A.M.E. Zion Church will now have a common way to track the health of its congregations, along with the holistic well-being of its 1.5 million congregants.

“Our churches have always tracked traditional things such as church membership growth and decline, attendance and monetary giving,” said Rev. Dr. J. Elvin Sadler, General-Secretary Auditor of the A.M.E. Zion Church. “Until now, we’ve lacked the insight to understand how church culture, people and congregations are truly doing. The State of Your Church dashboards will give us a better sense of the spirit and language of the culture (ethos), and powerful new tools to put in the hands of every pastor.”

Formed through the work of The Barna Group and Gloo, the State of Your Church includes an open-sourced framework designed to give every church, denomination, and Christian organization a common way to measure what matters in ministry. Composed of the seven dimensions of flourishing people and the 15 dimensions of church thriving, the metrics are the foundation of a kit available to every church.

Churches measure their people along the seven flourishing dimensions, and also track the thriving of their churches along 15 dimensions grouped into the categories of nurturing, sending and leading. The complete set of metrics is gathered through a free assessment, the Barna ChurchPulse. It can be deployed and used by any church, for free, using Gloo.

“We are encouraging every one of our U.S. churches to better understand and interpret the condition of their congregations and communities,” said Rev. Dr. Eleazar Merriweather, Director of the Department of Church Growth and Development. “Having this information will allow our pastors and leaders to better know and care for their people. It will also give District and Annual Conferences the data needed to better equip each church.”

Bishop Darryl B. Starnes Sr., Senior Bishop of The A.M.E. Zion Church and Administrative Board Chair of the Department of Church Growth and Development said, “The world is changing. How we did church in the 20th century and even the last 10 years of this century has shifted dramatically. Serving and meeting the needs of an ever-changing culture can only happen with having the proper tools and resources to impact our communities. The A.M.E. Zion Church fully supports the 15 dimensions of thriving congregations and seven dimensions of human flourishing and looks forward to partnering with Gloo and Barna to positively and effectively impact our churches and communities.”

Gloo provides tools to enable the new measures, as part of a State of Your Church kit. The kit leverages free texting tools, online assessment technology, promotional materials, and dashboards so that church leaders can give every congregation member a personal report on how they are flourishing. Each congregant has the option to share their results back to the church in an identified or anonymized form. Church leaders then get a church-wide report to better see the overall levels of flourishing in their people and the thriving scores for their church, which helps them to better serve their congregation as a whole.

“Church leaders realize that something has changed when it comes to growing their attendance, giving, and other conventional measures,” said Brad Hill, chief solutions officer at Gloo. “We’re thrilled that A.M.E. Zion will be equipping all of its pastors with tools to navigate ministry in today’s world. The State of Your Church was built to help pastors not only know their people better but also to more effectively disciple them with the resources and next steps so that every person can grow.”

The A.M.E. Zion Church Department of Church Growth and Development will be promoting the State of Your Church kit throughout its various denominational conferences and events in 2025.

Gloo is the platform company for the Christian ecosystem. As a leading technology innovator, Gloo connects ministry leaders to resources, people, data and insights and funding so their people and communities flourish and their organizations thrive. Gloo is based in Boulder, Colorado.

The A.M.E. Zion Church, founded in 1796, has more than 1.5 million members, providing education through one of the largest school systems in partnership with the Nation of Ghana, as well as through colleges and seminaries, in addition to hospitals and other outreach and humanitarian activities in many areas around the world. Known as “The Freedom Church,” with such notable figures as its founding Bishop James Varick, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Paul Robeson, and Coretta Scott King, the denomination has 6,000+ churches in 27 countries and five continents around the world.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-ame-zion-church-adopts-new-common-measurement-for-the-health-of-its-churches-and-congregations-302323075.html

SOURCE Gloo

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Cambium Networks Introduces High Density Wi-Fi 7 Solution for the Enterprise

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New tri-band, software-definable Wi-Fi 7 solution delivers precision directive coverage with AI optimization for exhibition halls, auditoriums, warehouses, and other high-density environments.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill., July 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Cambium Networks, a leading global provider of networking solutions, today announced a new Wi-Fi 7 high-density access point – the X7-56X – engineered to deliver high-performance wireless connectivity in the most demanding environments. Designed to meet the needs of large public venues, exhibition halls, busy public spaces, and educational campuses, the solution combines focused RF coverage, AI-driven optimization, and cloud-managed simplicity in a high-capacity platform.

The X7-56X extends Cambium Networks’ Wi-Fi 7 portfolio with a software-definable tri-band architecture featuring 60° x 60° directive antennas designed for precision coverage and reduced co-channel interference in congested RF environments. The platform supports up to 1,280 clients per access point and up to 17.9 Gbps aggregate wireless capacity across the three Wi-Fi spectrum bands.

“The X7-56X performed very well in our ticket scanning points that have high ceilings and see significant foot traffic volume,” said Jonathan West from the National Ice Centre in Nottingham, UK. “What makes this AP practical for a venue like ours is the integrated 60×60 degree antennas that eliminate separate antennas and cabling and can add significant cost, complexity, and footprint to every mount. Engineering all of that into one unit expedites installation and improves aesthetics as well. This form factor will extend to applications in our seating bowl as well.” 

“What excites me about the X7-56X is how well its directional approach works for some of our toughest spaces, such as auditoriums at capacity or the basketball arena on game night,” said Jeremy Petticrew, Network Engineer at University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. “Precisely controlling Wi-Fi coverage has always been the hard part, and having an AP designed specifically for that, inside a platform we already trust, is a real advantage as device counts keep climbing.”

The X7-56X integrates with Cambium’s ONE Network architecture comprised of Wi-Fi, switching, security, SD-WAN, wireless backhaul, and fiber – all managed through the cloud via cnMaestro™ X. This unified approach provides centralized visibility and control across the entire network infrastructure from a single source of truth.

The new solution provides a compelling Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) proposition by reducing the amount of equipment required in typical installations. These advantages are enabled by:

Directive antennas that focus Wi-Fi coverage only where needed – a spotlight approach vs. the floodlight type of inefficiencies of omni-directional antennas

Integrated Wi-Fi controller in every AP, eliminating the need for separate appliance or VM-based controller solutions

Software-defined radios that enable flexible deployment of the 5GHz and 6GHz Wi-Fi bands matched to environment needs, reducing the number of APs required

Key capabilities of the X7-56X include:

Tri-radio, tri-band Wi-Fi 7 architecture

4×4 MU-MIMO support with ten total spatial streams

60° x 60° directive antenna for precision coverage

Air Cleaner technology for high-density RF optimization

AI-based Assurance for improved operational efficiency and problem resolution

Software-definable radios supporting flexible 5 GHz and 6 GHz migration

Built-in IoT radio supporting BLE 5.1, Zigbee, Matter, and Thread

Simplified installation with the MarketApps Installer mobile-based app and flexible mounting options

Cloud-based management through cnMaestro™

“High-performance Wi-Fi requires more than just raw throughput,” said Bruce Miller, VP Enterprise Product Management at Cambium Networks. “Intelligent RF management, flexible deployment options, and simplified operations are key to support growing device counts, IoT proliferation, and AI-powered applications. The X7-56X was purpose-built for these challenges while at the same time delivering compelling economics for enterprise IT and managed service providers.”

“The X7-56X brings together several technologies that are particularly valuable in high-density environments,” said Kevin Tolly, Founder of The Tolly Group. “The directive antenna design, Wi-Fi 7 architecture, integrated IoT capabilities, and cloud-managed operation provide organizations with a practical approach to supporting growing connectivity requirements while maintaining operational simplicity.”

View the Tolly Group preview video of the X7-56X, showcasing the access point’s ultra-high-density design, Wi-Fi 7 capabilities, deployment flexibility, and performance advantages for demanding enterprise environments.

Cambium Networks’ directional Wi-Fi 7 innovation was recently highlighted by Wi-Fi NOW in an Expert Insights article by CEO and Chairman Claus Hetting.

Watch our webinar replay, “High-Performance Wi-Fi with New Wi-Fi 7 and 6 GHz Solutions.”

About Cambium Networks

Cambium Networks enables service providers, enterprises, industrial organizations, and governments to deliver exceptional digital experiences, and device connectivity, with compelling economics. Our ONE Network platform simplifies management of Cambium Networks’ wired and wireless broadband and network edge technologies. Our customers can focus more resources on managing their business rather than the network. We make connectivity that just works.

Media Contact

pr@cambiumnetworks.com

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cambium-networks-introduces-high-density-wi-fi-7-solution-for-the-enterprise-302832358.html

SOURCE Cambium Networks

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OCEAN Launches Portal, the First End-to-End Encrypted Pool Dashboard for Bitcoin Miners

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New customizable dashboard gives miners operation-wide tools without surrendering privacy or identity

MIAMI, July 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Today OCEAN announced the launch of OCEAN Portal, a customizable, end-to-end encrypted dashboard that gives Bitcoin miners a complete view of their operation. PORTAL was unveiled on stage at Mining Disrupt 2026, the world’s largest Bitcoin mining expo and conference, held July 21-23 at the Miami Airport Convention Center, by OCEAN President Mark Artymko. PORTAL is available now, for free, to all miners on OCEAN at portal.ocean.xyz.

OCEAN was built permissionless from the ground up, a deliberate design choice that, like Bitcoin itself, gives miners unhindered access to their own information. Traditional pools organize miner data by storing it on their own servers. OCEAN Portal delivers that same organized, polished experience while keeping miners fully in control: a permissionless, encrypted view of your mining addresses with the look and feel of an enterprise-style dashboard. Miners can combine multiple Bitcoin addresses into a single view, organize addresses by site, and assign human-readable names to sites, workers, and teams. Portal includes site-specific statistics, worker insights, payout information in Bitcoin and fiat, robust reporting tools, and access controls that let operators share full dashboards with their teams or generate expiring read-only links for clients. No account or email is required. Miners sign in with a Bitcoin address and a password they create. The convenience of enterprise dashboards, with the security of OCEAN.

“PORTAL was built in direct response to miner feedback,” said Mark Artymko, President of OCEAN. “Some of our miners told us that a customizable dashboard was the only thing standing between their full stack of hashrate and the pool. OCEAN heard them, and built it.”

PORTAL is powered by Sub-space Locker, an application-independent encrypted storage and access-control system developed by OCEAN. Built on public-key cryptography, Sub-space Locker authenticates users, stores encrypted application data, and controls what each user can access. Encryption and decryption happen locally in the user’s browser, leaving OCEAN and other intermediaries unable to read the underlying data.

“Every mining pool dashboard on earth makes the same trade: your tooling for your identity,” said Jason Hughes, VP of Engineering at OCEAN. “PORTAL refuses that trade. Miners get pool-grade information in the most sovereign way possible. We couldn’t read their data even if we tried.”

Since launching in 2023, OCEAN has focused on returning sovereignty to Bitcoin miners through permissionless, non-custodial pooled mining, fully transparent and auditable TIDES payouts, and DATUM, which puts block template construction back in miners’ hands. PORTAL extends that mission from the pool to the mining operation itself.

OCEAN Portal is available now at portal.ocean.xyz.

About OCEAN

OCEAN is a Bitcoin mining pool built on miner sovereignty. Operated by Mummolin, Inc., OCEAN offers non-custodial payouts, transparent reward accounting, and DATUM, the only pool technology that lets individual miners construct their own block templates.

Media Contact Ian Northon media@ocean.xyz

 

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ocean-launches-portal-the-first-end-to-end-encrypted-pool-dashboard-for-bitcoin-miners-302831868.html

SOURCE Mummolin Inc

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PlayVS and Scouting America Announce Gaming Activation at the 2026 National Jamboree

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New immersive gaming hub will bring structured esports competition, casual play, and digital citizenship programming to Scouts at Summit Bechtel Reserve

LOS ANGELES, July 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — PlayVS, North America’s leading scholastic gaming platform, today announced a partnership with Scouting America to bring a state-of-the-art gaming activation to the 2026 National Jamboree, taking place July 22–31, 2026. One of Scouting America’s premier youth gatherings, the National Jamboree at Summit Bechtel Reserve in West Virginia, brings Scouts together from across the country for adventure, fellowship, skill-building, and shared experiences.

Running throughout the National Jamboree, the PlayVS Arena will offer a rotating schedule of competitive tournaments, leaderboard challenges, casual gaming, and hands-on technology experiences. Designed for Scouts of all experience levels, the activation promotes teamwork, digital citizenship, sportsmanship, and healthy competition while creating a welcoming space for Scouts to connect over a shared passion for gaming. The arena gives Scouts the opportunity to connect with friends, test their skills, and experience organized esports in an environment designed for participation, sportsmanship, and fun.

“At PlayVS, we believe gaming can be a powerful way for young people to build confidence, practice teamwork, and develop meaningful connections,” said Andrew Barnett, Partnership Lead. “Partnering with Scouting America allows us to bring that experience to one of the country’s most iconic youth gatherings and show how structured gaming can complement the values of leadership, fellowship, and skill-building that Scouting has championed for generations.”

The gaming activation will feature a high-tech mobile gaming trailer outfitted with gaming stations, virtual reality experiences, and a professional racing simulator. A dedicated event tent located alongside the trailer will expand the experience with additional console stations for free play, spectating, and community engagement throughout the Jamboree.

PlayVS aims to deliver a memorable gaming experience that brings together the excitement of play with the values of leadership, teamwork, and community.

About PlayVS

PlayVS is North America’s leading scholastic and collegiate gaming platform, helping students unlock the educational, social, and personal benefits of competitive gaming. The company brings together students, coaches, educators, and schools through structured, education-aligned competition across K–12 and college. PlayVS is the official esports partner of the NFHS Network, the Special Olympics, and state and regional organizations across the U.S. and Canada. To learn more, visit playvs.com.

Media Contact:
press@playvs.com

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/playvs-and-scouting-america-announce-gaming-activation-at-the-2026-national-jamboree-302831072.html

SOURCE PlayVS

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