North’s platform-wide v3 release adds Microsoft Azure, completing full coverage across all three major cloud providers, alongside a third-party integrations library, autonomous optimization, and a redesigned user experience.

NEW YORK, Aug. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — North.cloud today launched North v3, a platform-wide release that brings cloud, AI, and data spend into a single system. The release adds Microsoft Azure, completing North’s coverage across all three major hyperscalers. It also introduces native integrations with OpenAI, Anthropic, and Snowflake, and an upgraded autonomous commitment management engine that purchases and adjusts cloud commitments automatically.

As companies expand across multiple cloud providers while adopting AI services and modern data platforms, managing infrastructure spend has become increasingly complex. Cloud, AI model, and data platform costs are now deeply intertwined, yet most teams still track them in separate tools.

North v3 expands North’s multi-cloud capabilities with the general availability of Microsoft Azure, joining Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) to support all three major hyperscale cloud providers. Azure is available following a successful beta program with early customers. Native integrations with OpenAI, Anthropic, and Snowflake are now live in North’s growing integrations library, bringing AI and data platform spend into the same system as cloud infrastructure. These integrations establish the foundation for broader optimization capabilities across modern infrastructure as North continues to expand support for additional platforms.

North v3 also introduces Autobot, an autonomous commitment management engine powered by Noros, North’s AI FinOps copilot, that models usage daily and automatically purchases and renews cloud commitments across every provider. Using machine learning to evaluate usage patterns, renewal windows, and projected demand, Autobot balances a mix of one- and three-year commitments and automatically purchases, renews, scales, or reduces customer-owned commitments as infrastructure needs evolve.

“The infrastructure our customers manage today looks very different than it did even a few years ago,” said Matt Biringer, CEO of North. “Cloud spend no longer stops at compute and storage. It includes AI models, data platforms, GPUs, and multiple cloud providers. North v3 reflects that shift by bringing those systems together in one place and automating more of the work required to manage them.”

North v3 also includes:

Generative dashboards in beta that allow users to build dashboards and surface insights using natural language within Noros AI, North’s FinOps LLMA redesigned commitment management experience, including more granular visibility, interactive simulations, and planning tools that help teams evaluate different savings strategies before making purchasing decisionsA redesigned user experience with simplified navigation and an updated interface for engineering and finance teamsA cross-cloud usage optimization feature, Rightsize, now extends to GCP alongside AWS, with plans to expand to additional cloud providersTokenFlow, a feature for governing token usage, spend, budgeting, and model health, available in early betaA refreshed brand experience, including an updated website and visual identity

Availability

North v3 is available beginning August 20, 2026, with additional integrations and capabilities planned in future releases.

About North

North.cloud is the financial operating system for cloud, AI, and data. The platform helps companies understand, optimize, and automate spending across Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, AI platforms, and modern data infrastructure. North is approaching $2 billion in managed cloud spend and has helped customers save more than $400 million through intelligent optimization and automation.

Media Contact

Sara Gharnit
VP of Marketing
North
press@north.cloud 
516-508-8611

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SOURCE North.Cloud

As Enterprises Scale AI Agent Deployments Across Data and AI Workloads, Growing Infrastructure Demand Fuels Redpanda’s Record Performance

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Redpanda, the leading provider of mission-critical data and agent governance infrastructure, today announced record second quarter fiscal 2027 results, with new ARR growing more than 100% year over year on strong new customer growth and expanded adoption among existing customers. The company’s growth is fueled by increased global demand for infrastructure that supports mission critical real-time data and AI workloads across the enterprise.

Redpanda is a leading AI and data platform built to handle the real-time data that moves markets, settles trades, and powers global manufacturing. Hundreds of organizations, including Global 2000 enterprises, already trust Redpanda with their mission critical data and AI workloads. Now, as agents begin acting on that data, Redpanda provides the governance enterprises require in order to see and control what agents can access and do, and to enforce policy across agents, data, and systems.

“The next phase of AI is not about building better models. It’s about connecting those models to the private data and systems that run the enterprise, while maintaining control over the data that matters most,” said Alex Gallego, CEO and Co-founder, Redpanda. “The infrastructure that was built for applications was designed for humans, not machines. Agents can make decisions, take actions, work across domains, and generate code on the fly and often inherit permissions far greater than what they need. Agents need real-time data, governance, and control across models and systems. That’s the layer Redpanda provides, and it’s becoming fundamental to how enterprises put AI into production.”

Financial highlights and company momentum:

Grew new ARR more than 100% year-over-yearClosed a record number of expansion deals, driven by enterprises making Redpanda strategic to their data and agentic workloadsLaunched Redpanda Frontier, a new partner program already spanning 30 partners across 14 countries. Partners are helping customers use Redpanda across their data and AI initiatives, accelerating the path from technology investment to business outcome.Opened a new R&D office in Warsaw, Poland, adding engineering capacity to keep pace with customer demand as more of the world’s most consequential companies run their mission-critical data and AI workloads on Redpanda

Product highlights:

Expanded the capabilities of the industry-first agentic governance platform for AI agents, introducing an industry first Out-of-Band Policy Engine (OBPE) that enforces data and action policies at the MCP boundary, where agents cannot read, modify, or circumvent those policies, alongside a live network graph of every agent, model, and tool in the enterpriseExtended Redpanda SQL, the PostgreSQL API-compatible analytical engine purpose-built for agentic governance, to general availability on Google Cloud in addition to AWS, deployed inside customers’ own cloud accounts so agent transcripts never leave their networkAdded additional performance results for real-time analytics, demonstrating consistent query latency across a 10x increase in data volume and a 7x speedup on heavy analytical queries when scaling from one node to eightAdded additional data integration capabilities to a platform with 300+ connectors used by companies moving billions of events a day, including a visual pipeline composer, SAP HANA and BigQuery Write API connectors, and full CDC semantics in the Iceberg output

Industry accolades and awards:

Featured in NVIDIA’s data processing ecosystem for agentic AI, alongside AWS, Google Cloud, IBM, Oracle, Dell, and HPENamed a Leader in the ISG Real-Time Data Emerging Providers Buyers Guide 2026

The shift from AI experimentation to production is creating a new infrastructure requirement. Agents need real-time access to enterprise data to act, while companies need visibility and control over what agents can access and do across systems and models. Open source has made AI easier to build and frontier AI labs provide the models, but neither solves the infrastructure challenge of connecting those models to private enterprise data and governing their actions. Redpanda brings together real-time data, governance, and control across models, giving enterprises the infrastructure to put agents to work at scale—without giving up control.

About Redpanda
Redpanda builds the data infrastructure that many businesses already run on, and because your agents need the same governed, real-time access to that data as your applications do, it is also the platform that connects, governs, and audits your agents. It’s all built on a battle-tested data platform that unifies data streaming, intelligent connectivity, and SQL analytics into a single system, delivering high throughput at low latency and unmatched value. Available as Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC), self-managed, or fully managed cloud, Redpanda is trusted by hundreds of organizations, including Global 2000 enterprises across industries, and a thriving global community of tens of thousands of developers. Learn more: redpanda.com

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SOURCE Redpanda

RENO, Nev., Aug. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Shield AI, the defense-tech company building the world’s best AI pilots and next-generation aircraft, today announced its X-BAT has been named the Official Autonomous Aircraft of the Army-Navy Game presented by USAA, one of the most storied rivalries in American sports. Shield AI also joins as an Associate Sponsor of America’s Game. The 127th meeting of the United States Military Academy at West Point’s Army Black Knights and the United States Naval Academy’s Navy Midshipmen will take place Dec. 12, 2026, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

X-BAT will serve as Shield AI’s flagship aircraft for the sponsorship. X-BAT is an AI-piloted, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) fighter jet designed for expeditionary and maritime operations in contested environments, powered by Shield AI’s Hivemind autonomy software. It combines VTOL with a range of more than 2,000 nautical miles at full mission payload, letting it operate from ships, remote islands, or austere sites with no runway required.

“There’s no game like Army-Navy,” said Brandon Tseng, Shield AI’s president, co-founder and Naval Academy Class of 2008 graduate. “I started Shield AI because I deeply believed in the mission of our Armed Forces and that technology could be better leveraged to help accomplish that mission. With 15% of our workforce made up of veterans and dozens of service academy graduates on our team, supporting this game and Army and Navy athletics is a natural extension of who we are. Being part of America’s Game is an honor.”

“Shield AI’s support with X-BAT as the Official Autonomous Aircraft of the game highlights the growing role that advanced technology plays in keeping our future forces safe. As future Army and Navy leaders take the field for the 127th meeting of this historic rivalry, we’re excited to welcome a partner whose mission is to equip tomorrow’s warfighters with the capabilities they’ll need to succeed,” said Tom Theodorakis, Director of Athletics at Army West Point.

“We are proud to welcome Shield AI and X-BAT to America’s Game. Founded by one of our own, Shield AI embodies the exact same values the Army-Navy Game has celebrated for generations. This partnership brings together organizations united by a shared mission to support those who defend our nation, and we look forward to celebrating the next generation of military leaders who will carry that mission forward,” said Michael Kelly, Director of Athletics at the U.S. Naval Academy.

Shield AI joins presenting sponsor USAA, participating partners Chevrolet, Exchange, Duke Cannon Supply Co. and Palantir, and associate sponsor The American Legion in supporting Army-Navy. Shield AI will have a prominent presence throughout Army-Navy Game week, with additional fan experiences and programming to be announced ahead of kickoff. The announcement comes as Shield AI sponsors Tailhook’s Hook ’26, the naval aviation symposium held annually in Reno.

About Shield AI

Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube. 

Media Contact: Lily Hinz; media@shield.ai

About the Army-Navy Game

The Army-Navy Game presented by USAA is an annual football game between the nation’s two oldest service academies. The event dates back to 1890 and is executed jointly by the Army West Point Athletic Association and the Naval Academy Athletic Association. The 2026 Army-Navy Game will be televised on CBS on Saturday, Dec. 12 at 3 pm ET and broadcast nationally on Westwood One Radio. America’s Game is the greatest rivalry in all of sports. The Army-Navy Game has an in-house sponsorship model represented exclusively by Army West Point Athletics and Navy Athletics. Learn more at ArmyNavyGame.com.

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SOURCE Shield AI