CHICAGO, Oct. 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Setara Financial Corp., a financial infrastructure company developing benchmark and reference-data infrastructure for the global compute economy, today announced the next stage in the development of its Reference Layer for compute markets. As artificial intelligence drives investment in GPUs, data centers, power and connectivity, compute is becoming an increasingly important economic input. Yet the market remains fragmented across hardware, providers, geographies, contracts and data sources. Setara is developing a Reference Layer to organize, standardize and evaluate information across this ecosystem, creating governed infrastructure that can make compute more measurable, comparable and financially usable.

“Compute is becoming too important to the global economy to be measured through disconnected proprietary data sets,” said Jack Bouroudjian, Chief Executive Officer of Setara Financial Corp. “The development of a financial market around compute requires a transparent and credible reference layer. Setara is building that infrastructure so market participants can understand what is being measured, where the information comes from, how it is evaluated and how reference values are constructed.” Setara’s architecture begins with a governed data model designed to standardize heterogeneous compute-market information before eligible evidence enters the benchmark calculation process. Its Benchmark Calculation Engine (BCE) provides the developing framework for evidence classification, eligibility review, normalization, calculation, quality control, provenance and controlled release.

Together, these components create a controlled path from compute-market information through standardized data and benchmark calculation to, where applicable requirements and authorization are satisfied, benchmark determinations. Setara is also developing the methodology, Rulebook, publication, correction, change-control and governance structures supporting its benchmark activities. Evaluation and methodology-development outputs are not Official Setara Benchmark determinations or live settlement references unless expressly identified as such. “Benchmark credibility begins with the integrity of the underlying data and the transparency of the methodology,” said Robert Alberghine, President and Chief Operating Officer of Setara Financial Corp. “Our objective is to build infrastructure where the relationship between evidence, methodology, calculation and benchmark determination can be understood and governed while protecting confidential source information.”

“Building a compute market is ultimately a data architecture and governance challenge as much as it is a financial one,” said Jeejo Pallayi, Chief Technology Officer. “The market needs a common framework that allows heterogeneous information to be brought together, evaluated and understood consistently.” Setara’s current methodology architecture organizes potential benchmarks across four principal families: Trade / Spot, Cost / Breakeven, Pipeline / Supply Risk, and Utilization. These represent the company’s current product and methodology framework and do not mean that every benchmark within these families is currently available or authorized as an Official Setara Benchmark determination. Setara is also developing reporting, data-feed and API capabilities to support future distribution of authorized benchmark and reference information. As it enters its next stage of development, the company is establishing a public methodology-disclosure framework covering evidence classification, calculation and release controls, source confidentiality, corrections, methodology changes and governance.

About Setara Financial Corp.

Setara Financial Corp. is a Chicago-based financial infrastructure company developing benchmark and reference-data infrastructure for the global compute economy. Setara is building technology, methodology and governance infrastructure intended to improve transparency, comparability and integrity across rapidly evolving compute markets.

For additional information, visit Setara Financial Corp. at setarafinancial.com
Follow Setara Financial Corp. on LinkedIn.

Media Contact:
Robert Alberghine
President & Chief Operating Officer
Setara Financial Corp.
robert@setarafinancial.com
630-464-9472

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SOURCE Setara Financial Corp.

Lemons, who served 11 years as the IRS Chief of Communications and Liaison, will advise Verito on turning complex security work into plain, actionable steps for tax preparers who never signed up to manage technology.

ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 2, 2026/PRNewswire/ — Verito, a cloud hosting and managed IT provider built exclusively for tax and accounting firms, announced that long-time IRS executive Terry Lemons joined the company as a strategic advisor on October 1, the first day of Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

At the IRS, Lemons oversaw national communications and worked closely with the tax professional community, including speaking extensively on data security and working on the Security Summit, a joint effort between the IRS, state tax agencies and the tax community to battle tax-related identity theft.

The Accidental IT Department

People go into tax and accounting to work with numbers and clients, not to manage technology. But as hackers and security rules have both evolved, many preparers have become part-time IT staff by default: researching regulations, navigating increasingly complex software, and writing security plans between client meetings. Verito calls this the Accidental IT Department.

Tax professionals know the rules they answer to, from IRS Publication 4557 to the FTC’s Safeguards Rule. What helps practitioners navigate this complex IT landscape is plain direction what to do, in what order, and what they can hand off.

After the October 15 extension deadline, firms have a critical stretch before filing season to review their security plan, retrain staff, and close gaps.

“Our clients went into this work to serve their own clients, not to manage technology,” said Jatin Narang, CEO and founder of Verito Inc. “Every new threat and every new rule still lands on their desk. Our job is to take that work off their plate. Terry spent his IRS career explaining complicated topics in terms tax professionals could act on, and he’ll help us do the same.”

What Lemons Will Do With Verito

Make security guidance plain. Advise Verito on how it explains security to firm owners and staff, in plain terms they can act on.Join Verito webinars and panels. Appear as a speaker and moderator in sessions for tax and accounting firms and the associations that serve them.

“At the IRS, I spent more than a decade focused on data security through the Security Summit and related efforts,” Lemons said. “I’ve been impressed by Verito’s commitment to client service and their product. Working with the Verito team aligns with two of my long-term passions – highlighting the importance of protecting taxpayer data as well as working with the tax and accounting community.”

How Verito Protects Firm Data

Firms run Drake, UltraTax CS, Lacerte, ProSeries, QuickBooks, and their other applications on their own private cloud server. Verito also offers Managed IT through its VeritGuard service, built specifically for tax and accounting firms. Every plan is built with the IRS and FTC regulations in mind: enterprise antivirus and firewall, MFA on every login, encryption in-transit and at rest, backups multiple times a day with regular testing, and a 24/7 support team monitoring everything.

Learn more at verito.com

About Terry Lemons

Terry Lemons spent more than 26 years at the IRS, including 11 as Communications and Liaison Chief, where he advised six IRS Commissioners, led a 325-person team, and created the agency’s annual “Dirty Dozen” tax scams list. He retired in February 2025 and is Public Relations Director at Frost Law in metropolitan Washington. He’s also written a new Arcadia Publishing book, “The Year St. Louis Became A Baseball Town: The Cardinals, Babe Ruth & The 1926 World Series.”

About Verito

Work from anywhere on your firm’s own private cloud server. Verito manages IT for tax and accounting firms: secure, monitored 24/7, support in under 60 seconds. Founded in 2016, Verito serves 1,000+ tax and accounting firms with 100% uptime and a 95 Net Promoter Score. Its promise: It just works. Securely. Learn more at verito.com.

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SOURCE Verito

Collaboration aims to bring real-time operational intelligence closer to transportation, manufacturing and other mission-critical environments

PLAINSBORO TOWNSHIP, N.J., Oct. 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — ConnX, a provider of AI-powered operational intelligence software for mission-critical industries, today announced it is integrating Intel edge computing technology into its MaestroIQ™ Shared Intelligence Layer. The initiative is designed to help transportation, manufacturing and other distributed operations correlate fragmented data sources and respond to developing issues faster. For cities and transportation operators, this real-time intelligence can improve situational awareness, enable faster response to safety or service disruptions, and support safer, more resilient operations.

The pairing of the Intel Core Ultra Series 3 platform with ConnX’s MaestroIQ™ platform ingests and correlates signals from networks, applications, cybersecurity systems, vehicles and industrial assets. ConnX selected the technology because it complements ConnX’s orchestration and industry application layer, letting the two platforms turn distributed infrastructure data into actionable intelligence. The combined architecture is designed to process data closer to the point of operation rather than in a centralized data center.

“Intelligence increasingly needs to operate where the physical business happens, across vehicles, factories, stores and critical infrastructure, not just in the data center,” said Indrajit Ghosh, CEO of ConnX. “Working with Intel’s edge technology helps us move customers from isolated AI pilots toward operational AI they can act on in real time.”

Unlike point solutions that address only compute or only software orchestration, the combined solution is designed to pair Intel’s Edge AI foundation with ConnX’s shared intelligence layer, helping operators detect and respond to issues faster across transportation, asset and infrastructure operations. ConnX and Intel plan to begin joint proof of value demonstrations within the initial 90 days of the collaboration, with additional details to follow as the work progresses. It builds on ConnX’s existing MaestroIQ™ deployments across transportation, manufacturing, retail and other mission-critical sectors.

ConnX will share additional details about the collaboration, including customer outcomes, as they become available. To learn more about ConnX’s operational intelligence solutions, visit connxai.com.

About ConnX

ConnX provides AI-powered connectivity, communications, cybersecurity and operational-intelligence solutions for mission-critical enterprises and public-sector organizations. Through its MaestroIQ™ Shared Intelligence Layer and portfolio of industry-specific solutions, ConnX helps organizations connect fragmented IT, OT, communications, security and operational systems to improve visibility, resilience and decision-making. ConnX serves organizations across transportation, retail, manufacturing, critical infrastructure and other distributed enterprise environments.

This release references a technical collaboration involving Intel and is subject to Intel review prior to publication. Any statements regarding future collaboration activities, product development, or solution availability should be reviewed and approved by Intel and ConnX legal and communications teams before publication.

©Intel, the Intel logo and other Intel marks are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries. ConnX, MaestroIQ and associated ConnX solution names are trademarks of ConnX or its affiliates.

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SOURCE ConnX, Inc.