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Sharon AI Collaborates with VAST Data on the Launch of DataEnclave, Bringing Leading AI Models to Customer Controlled Infrastructure

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NEW YORK, Sept. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — SharonAI Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SHAZ) (“Sharon AI” or the “Company”), a leading Australian Neocloud delivering trusted AI infrastructure, today announced a collaboration with VAST Data, the AI Operating System company, to bring VAST DataEnclave, the new confidential AI capability of the VAST DataEngine, to Sharon AI’s AI Factory platform across Australia and Asia-Pacific.

Under the collaboration, Sharon AI will offer VAST DataEnclave as part of its AI Factory platform, giving customers a hardware-isolated secure runtime and cryptographic attestation service for running leading AI models onshore which is not expected to expose data or model weights. VAST’s confidential AI capability is designed to let regulated organizations run advanced AI models onshore in Australia and across Asia-Pacific, including in fully air-gapped environments, without those models or the underlying customer data leaving customer-controlled infrastructure.

For organizations in highly regulated industries, some of the highest-value AI opportunities have remained out of reach because sensitive data cannot leave controlled environments, while model builders have been unable to distribute proprietary models into infrastructure they do not trust. VAST DataEnclave is designed to resolve that impasse: sensitive assets are decrypted and loaded into a secure enclave only after the runtime environment and its enforced policy have been cryptographically verified, and infrastructure operators, including Sharon AI, cannot access customer data or model weights while they are being processed.

The collaboration is expected to significantly expand the number of leading AI models available to Sharon AI customers for mission-critical work where cloud-hosted services are not an option. Customers can now run leading AI models onshore while maintaining control over cost, performance, policy management and security, addressing a longstanding barrier for banks, government agencies and other regulated organizations across the region.

“As a trusted AI infrastructure provider, Sharon AI exists to make secure, scalable and sovereign AI compute available to every organization that needs it,” said James Manning, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sharon AI.

“Our customers across Australia and Asia-Pacific need to run AI at full speed without compromising on data sovereignty, and increasingly they also want access to frontier models that were previously only available offshore. Building on our sovereign data foundation with VAST DataEnclave is expected to let us host those models onshore, inside attested environments where the model owner’s weights and the customer’s data are both protected from everyone, including us. That should give our customers the flexibility to operate on their own terms, backed by sovereignty they can demonstrate, not just declare.”

VAST DataEnclave establishes a secure container runtime and attestation service directly within the VAST AI Operating System. Proprietary models execute inside confidential virtual machines built on CPU-level trusted execution environments, with NVIDIA GPUs operating in Confidential Compute mode, so guest memory, GPU memory and interconnect traffic all remain encrypted throughout processing.

Sharon AI customers and model builders retain independent control over their respective encryption keys through Bring Your Own KMS integrations, so customer data keys stay within the customer’s trust domain and model keys remain within the model builder’s trust domain at all times. Deployments can run connected, through the DataEnclave attestation service built on the open CNCF Trustee stack, or fully air-gapped, with VAST and Fortanix enabling on-premises attestation and key brokering for customers who cannot connect to external services.

Every attestation event, key release and enclave lifecycle action is recorded in a tamper-proof, queryable audit trail, giving Sharon AI customers visibility into what ran, where and under what verified policy, and is designed to avoid exposing the underlying data or model weights.

“The next phase of sovereign AI requires infrastructure that both enterprises and model builders can trust without having to trust the infrastructure operator itself,” said Sunil Chavan, Vice President, APJ at VAST Data. “Sharon AI is building exactly the kind of regional AI infrastructure where VAST DataEnclave may be able to change what’s possible, giving customers across Australia and Asia-Pacific access to leading AI models while allowing both sides to retain control of their most valuable intellectual property.”

The collaboration should reinforce Sharon AI’s role as a trusted AI infrastructure partner for regulated industries, equipped to deliver gigawatt scale AI compute securely and with sovereignty at its core, and extending its sovereign AI Factory platform to support attested, confidential AI workloads alongside its existing security, governance and compliance capabilities.

ENDS

About Sharon AI

Sharon AI (NASDAQ: SHAZ) is a leading Australian Neocloud delivering trusted sovereign AI infrastructure. Through its AI Factory platform and world-class ecosystem of technology and co-location partners, Sharon AI expands access to the scalable capabilities that organizations need to build, train and run AI, from model training through to inference and agentic AI. Serving customers globally, Sharon AI helps organizations move faster from AI potential to measurable value. For more information, visit www.sharonai.com.

Media

media@sharonai.com

Investors

investors@sharonai.com

About VAST Data

VAST Data is the AI Operating System company – powering the next generation of intelligent systems with a unified software infrastructure stack that was purpose-built to unlock the full potential of AI. The VAST AI OS consolidates foundational data and compute services and agentic execution into one scalable platform, enabling organizations to deploy and facilitate communication between AI agents, reason over real-time data, and automate complex workflows at global scale. Built on VAST’s breakthrough DASE architecture – the world’s first true parallel distributed system architecture that eliminates tradeoffs between performance, scale, simplicity, and resilience – VAST has transformed its modern infrastructure into a global fabric for reasoning AI.

Learn more at vastdata.com and follow VAST Data on LinkedIn, YouTube and X.

VAST Media Contact
Austin Weedfall
press@vastdata.com
VAST Data

Disclosure Information

Sharon AI primarily uses its Investor Relations page (https://sharonai.com/investors/) to disclose material non-public information and to comply with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. The Company also notes that it may, at times, use other communication channels, including its X account (Sharon__ai) and LinkedIn account (Sharon-AI), to disseminate information about the Company. Accordingly, investors should monitor these accounts in addition to press releases, SEC filings and public conference calls, webcasts and investor days.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain, and our officers and representatives may from time to time make, “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which are not historical facts, and which are not assurances of future performance. Forward-looking statements are based only on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. In some cases you can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “could,” “should,” “would,” “project,” “strategy,” “plan,” “expect,” “goal,” “seek,” “future,” “likely” or the negative or plural of these words or similar expressions or references to future periods. Examples of such forward-looking statements include but are not limited to express or implied statements regarding Sharon AI’s management team’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future including, without limitation, statements regarding:

Service and product offerings;The deployment of assets and expansion of network procurement;Sharon AI’s ability to engage with additional potential customers;Expansion of Sharon AI’s data center footprint and capacity; andThe strengthening of Sharon AI’s partner network.

In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. You are cautioned that such statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual results or developments may differ materially from those set forth in these forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include, among others, all of the risks described in the “Risk Factors” section of the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC and other reports subsequently filed with the SEC. Additional assumptions, risks and uncertainties are described in detail in our registration statements, reports and other filings with the SEC, which are available at www.sec.gov.

The forward-looking statements and other information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and Sharon AI does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws.

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SOURCE SharonAI Holdings Inc.

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Blazeo Benchmark Finds 74% of Service Businesses Miss the Five-Minute Lead-Response Window

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Survey of 573 service-based companies finds most organizations are built for follow-up later, not response now.

SAN RAMON, Calif., Sept. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Blazeo today released further insights into its 2026 Speed-to-Lead Benchmark Report, finding that 74% of surveyed service-based businesses do not respond to new leads within five minutes – the period the report identifies as the window when buyer intent is at its highest

74% of surveyed businesses miss the five-minute speed-to-lead benchmark.

The study surveyed 573 service-based businesses across financial services, real estate, home services, professional services, legal services and healthcare. It examined reported response times, lead volume, after-hours processes, technology adoption and confidence in lead-management operations.

The research also exposed a gap between what business leaders believe and what their teams consistently deliver. Only 35.4% of respondents said a response within five minutes is essential. Among that group, 62.1% said their teams actually meet the standard. That means nearly 38% of the businesses that consider five-minute response critical still fail their own benchmark.

“Businesses do not have a motivation problem. They have a coverage, handoff and systems problem. Leads now arrive across more channels and at more hours than a person or disconnected set of tools can reliably manage. The companies winning on speed have designed immediate response into the way they operate.”

– [Ashhad Syed], CEO of Blazeo

Blazeo said the results point to a broader change in how service businesses should think about lead response. Traditional processes assume a staff member will see an inquiry, determine who owns it and respond when time becomes available. Modern buyers, however, may contact several providers in quick succession, making delayed routing or follow-up a competitive disadvantage.

The report characterizes the fastest 25% of respondents as “elite” responders because they report responding within five minutes. The remaining majority faces some combination of limited after-hours coverage, manual handoffs, fragmented inboxes and insufficient visibility into whether an inquiry received a meaningful response.

The central conclusion: speed is increasingly a systems task. Businesses that want to improve conversion should establish a clear response target, centralize lead capture, automate routing and create coverage for periods when internal employees are unavailable.

The flagship release begins a series of Blazeo analyses examining after-hours response, lead leakage, AI and automation adoption, and the point at which growing businesses encounter a speed-to-lead scaling cliff.

About the 2026 Speed-to-Lead Benchmark Report

The 2026 Speed-to-Lead Benchmark Report was prepared by the Blazeo Data & Insights Team. The study surveyed 573 service-based businesses across six industries and examined reported lead volume, response processes, technology use and speed-to-lead performance. The report uses response in under five minutes as an elite benchmark and response in under 15 minutes as a fast-response threshold in several segmented analyses. Findings are based on survey responses and show associations rather than proof of causation.

Read the report: Blazeo Speed-To-Lead Report 2026

About Blazeo

Blazeo helps service businesses respond faster and convert more opportunities by combining AI, live agents, automation and centralized lead management across calls, chat, SMS and web forms. Learn more at blazeo.com.

Media Contact:

Aarij M Khan

aarij@blazeo.com

sales@blazeo.com | (888) 510-0297

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SOURCE Blazeo Inc

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Akeneo Survey Finds Shoppers No Longer Take Prices at Face Value

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79% of consumers have delayed a purchase waiting for prices to drop, while 77% have spotted price differences for the same product across retailers or platforms

BOSTON, Sept. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Akeneo, the Product Experience (PX) leader, today released new PX Pulse survey findings revealing that as economic pressures continue to shape consumer behavior, shoppers are paying closer attention not only to how much products cost, but also to whether the prices they see are fair, consistent, and trustworthy.

Price is becoming increasingly important in purchase decisions, with 59% of consumers saying it matters more than it did six months ago. Yet only 32% completely or mostly trust retailers to offer a fair or competitive price. As a result, shoppers are becoming more deliberate about when they buy, where they compare, and which sources they trust to determine whether a product is worth the price.

“Consumers are paying closer attention to price, and that raises the stakes for retailers,” said Romain Fouache, CEO of Akeneo. “Pricing can no longer sit in a silo from the rest of the product experience. Consumers, and increasingly AI-powered shopping tools, are constantly comparing products, prices, and offers across channels. Brands need trusted product and pricing information working together so shoppers see a consistent, credible experience wherever discovery happens.”

Economic Pressure is Creating a More Deliberate Shopper
As price takes on greater importance, consumers are becoming more calculated about when they make a purchase. Seventy-nine percent say they have delayed a purchase because they believed the price would be lower later.

That same caution is showing up in how consumers research products before buying. Nearly half (46%) compare prices across multiple retailers when shopping online, while only 9% say they typically purchase without comparing prices.

For retailers, this means the competition for a sale is no longer limited to the product page in front of the shopper. Consumers are actively validating price and value across multiple sources before making a decision.

Pricing Consistency is Becoming a Trust Issue
More aggressive comparison shopping is also making price inconsistencies harder to miss. Seventy-seven percent of consumers say they have noticed the same product listed at different prices across retailers or shopping platforms in the past year.

Consumers are also looking for discrepancies between online and offline channels. Sixty-eight percent say they at least sometimes check a retailer’s website or app while shopping in-store to see whether the same product is available at a lower price online.

That increased scrutiny creates a broader trust challenge. Only 32% of consumers completely or mostly trust retailers to offer a fair or competitive price. Shoppers are particularly wary of pricing practices that feel opaque or overly personalized: 57% say they would trust a retailer less if they learned that the price of a product had changed based on their personal information or shopping behavior.

For retailers, the findings point to a growing need to pair sophisticated pricing strategies with transparency and consistency, particularly as consumers become more active in comparing prices across channels.

AI is Emerging as a New Price-Comparison Channel
AI is also becoming part of how consumers compare prices and assess whether they are getting a good deal. Nearly one-quarter (24%) already use tools such as ChatGPT or Google Gemini to compare prices or deals, while more than half (56%) trust AI tools to provide accurate pricing information when comparing products across retailers.

That behavior is set to continue into the holiday shopping season. Forty percent of consumers expect to compare prices across retailer websites to determine whether they are getting a good deal, while 37% plan to use search engines and 24% expect to turn to AI tools such as ChatGPT or Google Gemini.

For brands and retailers, AI introduces another discovery layer where product information and pricing can influence a purchase. As shoppers move between retailer websites, marketplaces, search engines, physical stores, and AI assistants, inconsistent or incomplete information becomes increasingly visible. When an LLM encounters conflicting prices across those sources, it may struggle to determine which information is most reliable, potentially affecting whether a product is recommended or creating a mismatch between discovery and checkout. Brands need trusted, governed product and pricing data that can travel consistently across every discovery surface.

To learn more about Akeneo or its products, please visit www.akeneo.com. To view the full data and infographic, click here.

Dynata Survey Methodology
The survey was commissioned by Akeneo and conducted by Dynata, the world’s largest first-party data company. The survey was conducted in August 2026 of 1,000 U.S. consumers 18 years and older to understand how economic conditions, evolving pricing practices, and new shopping tools are influencing consumer behavior and purchase decisions.

About Akeneo
Akeneo is the Product Experience (PX) company and global leader in agentic-first Product Cloud solutions, providing the foundational operating system for the AI-powered commerce era.

With its Product Cloud, Akeneo enables brands, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers to centralize, govern, and orchestrate their product information, transforming fragmented data into trusted, actionable assets. With the integration of PricingHUB, Akeneo extends its platform beyond product data to unify product data and pricing — the two signals that drive discovery, conversion, and business performance. Together, Akeneo helps organizations move from managing product information to making better business decisions, aligning what they sell and how they sell it to compete and win in a rapidly evolving, AI-driven market.

Leading global brands, including Chico’s, TaylorMade Golf, Rail Europe, and more, trust Akeneo to scale their commerce initiatives and deliver consistent, high-performing product experiences. For more information: https://www.akeneo.com

Media Contact:
Allison Knight
PAN for Akeneo
akeneo@pancomm.com 

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SOURCE Akeneo

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Perspecta to Sponsor the 2026 SIIA National Conference

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LANGHORNE, Pa., Sept. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Perspecta, the trusted leader in provider data management and provider search solutions, is pleased to announce its sponsorship of the 2026 SIIA National Conference, taking place October 11-13 in Phoenix, Arizona. The event brings together third-party administrators (TPAs), self-insured employers, and leaders from across the self-insurance and employee benefits industry.

As a conference sponsor, Perspecta will highlight how accurate actionable provider data can help TPAs and self-insured plans reduce administrative costs, minimize claims rework, and navigate evolving compliance requirements, including the No Surprises Act.

“Reliable provider data is foundational to helping people find the right care and helping organizations operate more efficiently,” said April Stiles, Chief Executive Officer of Perspecta. “We’re excited to join the conversations at SIIA and connect with TPAs and industry leaders who are working every day to control costs, reduce administrative friction, and improve the way healthcare and benefits are delivered.”

With a reach spanning 51 million members and 630 million provider records, Perspecta helps organizations bring greater accuracy, transparency, and usability to provider data. For TPAs and self-insured plans, this means helping reduce claim delays caused by outdated provider information, streamline network verification, and give members access to provider directories they can trust.

Perspecta’s solutions address critical needs across the healthcare ecosystem, including provider directories, provider data cleansing, and price transparency.

Connect with Perspecta at SIIA

Attendees will have the opportunity to connect with the Perspecta team and learn how better provider data can support more efficient operations, improve the member experience, and strengthen healthcare decision-making.

Schedule a meeting with:

April Stiles, Chief Executive OfficerErin Finn, Vice President of SalesBrian Roy, Vice President of SalesLiz MacFarland, Director of Sales

Perspecta will also host opportunities for conference attendees to connect with the team throughout the event. Reach out to the Perspecta team for details.

About Perspecta

Perspecta is reimagining provider data management. Through deep domain expertise and a commitment to innovation, we deliver intelligent solutions that improve efficiency, enhance experiences, and power better decision-making. Trusted by health plans, workers’ compensation, and provider organizations, our 95%+ data accuracy helps navigate complexity and optimize care. At Perspecta, we turn precision data into powerful perspectives and proven success. To learn more, visit www.goperspecta.com and follow Perspecta on LinkedIn.

Media Contact
Linda Thurman
Linda.Thurman@goperspecta.com

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SOURCE Perspecta

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