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SOUTHWEST AIRLINES LAUNCHES FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND U.S. AIRLINE PLUGIN IN CHATGPT

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Customers can discover Southwest destinations and plan flights in an experience powered by OpenAI and Amazon Web Services 

DALLAS, Oct. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) today launched a first-of-its-kind U.S. airline plugin in ChatGPT, marking the first step in a phased AI-powered booking approach with OpenAI and Amazon Web Services (AWS) that allows travelers to discover and shop for Southwest flights in ChatGPT.

By launching the Southwest® plugin in ChatGPT, the airline can appear earlier in the Customer journey and offer a simpler, more direct path from inspiration and discovery to booking options with Southwest.

“Customers are evolving how they plan their travel, and Southwest is helping to shape what comes next,” said Sabrina Callahan, Chief Digital and Marketing Officer at Southwest Airlines®. “It is a meaningful example of how we test and learn with AI innovation to continue the Customer-first approach that defines our brand.”

“We’re putting the right technology in place to support what our Customers need today with flexibility to build what they’ll need tomorrow,” said Lauren Woods, Executive Vice President & Chief Information Officer at Southwest Airlines. “By creating a secure, scalable foundation for AI, we can add new capabilities more quickly and thoughtfully, making it easier to serve Customers across their journey.”

Southwest is working with OpenAI and AWS to combine leading AI and cloud technologies with Southwest’s deep understanding of its Customers. With OpenAI and AWS, Southwest is creating more intuitive travel planning while thoughtfully expanding AI-powered capabilities over time.

Learn more about the Southwest plugin in ChatGPT at Southwest.com/chatgpt.

ABOUT SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO.
Southwest Airlines Co. operates one of the world’s most admired and awarded airlines, offering its one-of-a-kind value and Hospitality at 120 airports across 12 countries. Southwest took flight in 1971 to democratize the sky through friendly, reliable, and low-cost air travel and now carries more air travelers flying nonstop within the United States than any other airline¹. By empowering its more than 73,000². People to deliver unparalleled Hospitality, the maverick airline cherishes a passionate loyalty among more than 134 million Customers carried in 2025. Southwest leverages a unique legacy and mission to serve communities around the world including harnessing the power of its People and Purpose to put communities at the Heart of its success. Learn more by visiting Southwest.com/citizenship. 

1. Based on U.S. Dept. of Transportation quarterly Airline Origin & Destination Survey as of Q4 2025.
2. Fulltime-equivalent active Employees as of June 30, 2026.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Specific forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements related to the Company’s expectations with respect to its digital evolution, technology capabilities, including artificial intelligence capabilities, and Customer needs and expectations. These forward-looking statements are based on the Company’s current estimates, intentions, beliefs, expectations, goals, strategies, and projections for the future and are not guarantees of future performance. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that are difficult to predict and that could cause actual results to vary materially from those expressed in or indicated by them. Factors include, among others, (i) the impact of geopolitical conflicts, fears or actual outbreaks of diseases, extreme or severe weather and natural disasters, actions of competitors (including, without limitation, pricing, scheduling, capacity, and network decisions, and consolidation and alliance activities), governmental actions, consumer perception, consumer uncertainties with respect to trade policies, tariffs, or government shutdowns, economic conditions, fears or actual acts of terrorism or war, sociodemographic trends, and other factors beyond the Company’s control, on consumer behavior and the Company’s results of operations and business decisions, plans, strategies, and results; (ii) the Company’s ability to timely and effectively implement, transition, operate, maintain, and protect the technology systems, cybersecurity measures, artificial intelligence and other emerging technology capabilities, and infrastructure necessary to support its operations and initiatives; (iii) the Company’s ability to effectively execute and evolve its strategic plans, initiatives, product offerings, and policies, including related consumer behavior and response; (iv) the impact of fuel price changes, fuel price volatility, and fuel availability on the Company’s business plans and results of operations; (v) the impact of the Federal Aviation Administration and other governmental regulations and actions, including with respect to government shutdowns and Air Traffic Control staffing shortages and inefficiencies, as well as the Company’s ability to obtain any required governmental approvals, on the Company’s business plans, results, and operations; (vi) the Company’s dependence on The Boeing Company (“Boeing”) and Boeing suppliers with respect to the Company’s aircraft deliveries, fleet and capacity plans, operations, maintenance, strategies, and goals; (vii) the Company’s dependence on other third parties, including with respect to technology, revenue management, distribution channels, operational reliability, fuel supply, maintenance, and the impact on the Company’s operations and results of operations of any third-party delays or nonperformance; (viii) the impact of labor matters on the Company’s business decisions, plans, strategies, and results; (ix) the Company’s ability to obtain and maintain adequate infrastructure and equipment to support its operations and initiatives; (x) the Company’s dependence on its workforce, including its ability to employ and retain sufficient numbers of qualified Employees with appropriate skills and expertise to effectively and efficiently maintain its operations and execute the Company’s plans; (xi) the cost and effects of the actions of activist shareholders; and (xii) other factors, as described in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the detailed factors discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025.

 

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SOURCE Southwest Airlines Co.

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Industrial AI, Saudi Scale: OrbitronAI and Aramco Digital Partner to Unlock Billions

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Partnership signed at LEAP 2026 will develop and commercialize industrial-grade AI agents targeting capital productivity, supply chain performance and operational execution

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — OrbitronAI and Aramco Digital have formed a strategic commercial partnership to develop, deploy and commercialize industrial-grade agentic AI solutions focused on industrial value recovery across asset-intensive industries. The agreement was signed in early September at LEAP 2026 in Riyadh.

The partnership combines OrbitronAI’s industrial-grade agentic AI technology and domain-led delivery model with Aramco Digital’s industrial knowledge, operating scale and market reach. The companies will target multibillion-dollar value pools in areas including capital productivity, supply chain performance and operational execution, where fragmented information, complex workflows and delayed decisions can materially affect financial performance.

In capital-intensive environments, delays in reviews, reconciliation and decision-making can affect schedule, cost and returns on invested capital. In supply chains, limited visibility across materials, suppliers and logistics can increase cost, tie up working capital and disrupt operations. OrbitronAI’s technology is built for these environments. It works across structured and unstructured industrial information, connects with enterprise systems and combines agentic reasoning with deterministic execution, while critical calculations, controls and approvals remain governed and subject to human oversight.

“Together with Aramco Digital, we are building a repeatable model for industrial value recovery: take a high-value industrial process, embed industrial-grade agents into the workflow, recover the value and turn what works into a product that can scale across the industry.”

— Saulius Adomaitis, Co-Founder and CEO, OrbitronAI

“Aramco Digital is focused on areas where our industrial knowledge, scale and data create a clear advantage. Capital projects, supply chain and other asset-intensive processes represent major opportunities to improve execution and create economic value. Through our partnership with OrbitronAI, we intend to convert that industrial advantage into scalable AI products for Aramco, our affiliates and the wider industrial market.”

— Ashraf Tahini, CEO, Aramco Digital

Successful capabilities developed through the partnership will be designed for reuse across similar industrial processes, creating a path to commercialization across Saudi Arabia and selected international markets.

OrbitronAI’s founding team combines industrial operating and technology experience. Luvy Singh, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer, previously led supply chain at Shell and was a partner at EY. Ashu Gupta, Co-Founder and Chief AI Officer, was a founding CTO at a leading fintech company, while Poonam Gupta, Co-Founder and CTO, leads the engineering of OrbitronAI’s industrial-grade agentic AI platform.

###

About OrbitronAI

OrbitronAI builds secure, industry-specific AI systems for enterprises running complex operations. At its core is NovaOS, a proprietary agentic operating layer that connects existing enterprise systems, orchestrates AI workflows and provides the governance, oversight and auditability needed to deploy AI agents safely at scale. OrbitronAI works mainly with aviation, transport, energy and infrastructure organizations. It supports critical functions including supply chain, compliance, asset maintenance, sales and marketing, and helps clients reduce manual work, make better decisions and manage operational risk. With more than 50 people across five global offices, the company combines deep industry expertise with advanced AI engineering. OrbitronAI is ISO 27001 certified and SOC 2 compliant.

Learn more at www.orbitronai.com

Media Contact

Vilma Vaitiekunaite
GM, OrbitronAI KSA
E  vilma.vaitiekunaite@orbitronai.com
T  +966 56 778 9790

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SOURCE OrbitronAI

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Rose Brand Acquires IWEISS, Bringing Together Complementary Expertise for the Future of Live Entertainment

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Rose Brand today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire IWEISS, bringing together two highly respected companies with decades of experience serving the entertainment, performing arts, event, and architectural markets.

SECAUCUS, N.J., Oct. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — For generations, Rose Brand and IWEISS have earned the trust of customers through craftsmanship, technical expertise, and responsive service. While the two organizations have often competed, they have always shared a deep respect for one another and a common commitment to helping customers solve increasingly complex production challenges.

“Our focus has always been on helping customers bring their ideas to life”

The combination brings together complementary expertise across custom theatrical fabrics, sewing and fabrication, rigging systems, curtain track solutions, automation, installation services, and the broader capabilities already offered through ADC. Together, the organizations are better positioned to support customers as productions, venues, and projects continue to evolve.

“Our focus has always been on helping customers bring their ideas to life,” said Josh Jacobstein, President of Rose Brand. “By bringing together the strengths of Rose Brand and IWEISS, we’re better positioned to support our customers with broader expertise while preserving the craftsmanship, responsiveness, and trusted relationships that have defined both organizations for decades.”

Jennifer Tankleff, President of IWEISS, added:

“For more than a century, IWEISS has built its reputation on craftsmanship, technical expertise, and taking on complex and unique projects. I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve built and the relationships we’ve developed along the way. Joining Rose Brand gives us the opportunity to build on that legacy, expand what we can offer, and continue serving our customers with even greater resources and capabilities.”

Together, all of our customers will have access to a combined range of products and technical expertise, and more importantly, experienced, talented people who understand how those pieces work together. Existing projects, commitments, and day-to-day operations will continue as usual while the organizations plan for the future together.

The combination reflects a shared commitment to the future of the live entertainment industry by bringing together complementary expertise that helps customers confidently take on increasingly complex productions and projects.

Additional updates will be shared as planning progresses. Throughout the transition, both organizations remain committed to open communication and to providing the same quality, service, and support customers expect today.

For more information, please visit:

https://www.rosebrand.com/blog/post/rose-brand-acquires-iweiss

About Rose Brand Rose Brand is a leading provider of custom theatrical fabrics, stage curtains, event products, and specialty solutions serving the entertainment, performing arts, event, and architectural industries. For more than a century, the company has been recognized for its craftsmanship, technical expertise, innovation, and commitment to customer service. www.rosebrand.com

About IWEISS IWEISS is a leading provider of theatrical fabrics, custom sewing and fabrication, rigging systems, and production solutions for the performing arts, entertainment, event, and architectural markets. For decades, the company has been recognized for its craftsmanship, technical expertise, and commitment to helping customers bring creative visions to life. www.iweiss.com

Media Contact

Joshua Alemany, Rose Brand, 1 (201) 809-1730 274, joshua.alemany@rosebrand.com, www.rosebrand.com

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SOURCE Rose Brand

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Data Center Virtualization Market to Reach $60.90 Billion by 2035 as Multi-Hypervisor and Kubernetes-Native Adoption Reshape Enterprise Infrastructure

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DC Market Insights forecasts 7.43% CAGR through 2035; Kubernetes-native virtualization grows 21.29% annually while North America holds 40.6% of 2025 market value

LONDON, Oct. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The global Data Center Virtualization Market was valued at $29.75 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $60.90 billion by 2035, expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 7.43%, according to a new study from DC Market Insights. The market is moving into a new phase in which platform diversification, licensing economics, Kubernetes-native infrastructure and higher demand for migration and managed services are reshaping how enterprises and data center operators deploy virtualized compute.

View the full report:  https://www.dcmarketinsights.com/report/data-center-virtualization-market 

$29.75B

$60.90B

7.43 %

40.6 %

2025 market size

2035 forecast

CAGR, 2025-2035

North America share

“The next decade of data center virtualization will be defined less by whether workloads are virtualized and more by how operators manage platform choice, licensing economics and mixed VM-container estates. Proprietary Type 1 hypervisors remain the largest segment today, but KVM-based and Kubernetes-native platforms together are projected to rise from 28.2% of market value in 2025 to 46.5% by 2035. That transition is creating a larger opportunity for migration, orchestration and managed services across enterprise, colocation and cloud environments.”

— Amit Jain, Senior Consultant, ICT & Emerging Technologies, DC Market Insights, and lead analyst of the report

Virtualized Core Growth and Licensing Changes Drive Market Expansion

DC Market Insights identifies three forces behind most of the market’s growth: expansion of the virtualized physical core base, higher software spend per core following licensing changes and a sustained wave of upgrade and migration projects. The firm models the installed virtualized core base rising from about 92.0 million in 2025 to 155.75 million by 2035. Server virtualization software alone is forecast to increase from $14.90 billion to $28.45 billion over the same period.

The report also finds that average server virtualization software spend increased from about $136 per core in 2023 to $162 per core in 2025. That price reset contributed significantly to the market’s 2025 value expansion. Looking ahead, growth becomes more volume- and service-driven as enterprises add cores, automate mixed infrastructure and outsource a larger share of ongoing operations.

Multi-Hypervisor Strategies Move Into the Mainstream

The competitive structure of virtualization is broadening. Proprietary Type 1 hypervisors accounted for 71.8% of market value in 2025, but their share is projected to decline to 53.5% by 2035. Open-source and KVM-based hypervisors are forecast to grow from $6.72 billion in 2025 to $16.83 billion by 2035, a 9.61% CAGR, while Kubernetes-native virtualization is the fastest-growing hypervisor category at 21.29% annually, increasing from $1.67 billion to $11.48 billion.

This shift does not imply the disappearance of established proprietary platforms. Instead, the report points to a more diversified operating model in which large buyers maintain core estates on established platforms while deploying new or less critical workloads on KVM-based, hyperconverged or Kubernetes-native alternatives. That architecture raises demand for cross-platform management, policy automation, skills, migration tooling and services.

Server Virtualization Software Retains the Largest Component Share

Server virtualization software represented 50.1% of global market revenue in 2025 at $14.90 billion. Professional services accounted for $4.15 billion, desktop and application virtualization for $4.66 billion, virtualization management and orchestration for $3.50 billion and managed services for $2.54 billion.

Managed services are projected to record the strongest growth among components, advancing at 11.70% annually to $7.67 billion by 2035. Virtualization management and orchestration also grows faster than the overall market, reaching $8.03 billion by 2035 as operators automate patching, policy enforcement, lifecycle management and capacity planning across several hypervisors.

On-Premises Enterprise Data Centers Lead, but Hosted and Edge Models Gain Share

On-premises enterprise data centers were the largest deployment segment in 2025 at $15.59 billion, or 52.4% of global spending. Colocation and hosted private cloud represented 23.6%, cloud service provider data centers 17.4% and edge and remote sites 6.6%. Edge and remote deployments are forecast to grow fastest at 11.90% annually, reaching $6.05 billion by 2035.

Large enterprises accounted for 69.3% of market value in 2025, while small and medium enterprises are projected to grow faster through hosted, managed and subscription-based offerings. Banking, financial services and insurance was the largest end-user vertical at 22.6% of spending, followed by IT and telecom. Healthcare is forecast to be the fastest-growing major vertical as hospitals virtualize clinical applications, shared workstations and data-intensive workloads.

North America Leads; Asia Pacific Gains the Most Share

North America led the market with $12.08 billion in 2025, representing 40.6% of global value, and is forecast to reach $22.42 billion by 2035. The region has the largest installed base of proprietary hypervisors and is therefore seeing a significant volume of licensing reviews, platform renewals and migration projects.

Europe held 27.8% of the market in 2025 at $8.27 billion, while Asia Pacific accounted for 23.4% at $6.96 billion. Asia Pacific is projected to reach $16.92 billion by 2035 at a 9.29% CAGR, gaining 4.4 percentage points of global share. The Middle East and Africa is the fastest-growing region at 9.79% annually, supported by new government, financial services and telecom infrastructure.

The United States was the largest country market at $10.77 billion in 2025, equal to 36.2% of global spending. China ranked second at $2.21 billion, followed by Germany at $1.75 billion. India is forecast to grow fastest among the major country markets at 13.49% annually through 2035.

Competitive Landscape Shifts Toward Platform Choice and Migration Economics

The report profiles 16 companies across server virtualization, desktop and application virtualization, management software and services. Broadcom (VMware) is estimated to lead the market with about 39% of 2025 value, while Broadcom, Microsoft and Citrix together account for approximately 58%. Other profiled competitors include Nutanix, Red Hat, Omnissa, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Oracle, Proxmox Server Solutions, SUSE, Huawei, Scale Computing, Dell Technologies, IBM, Parallels and Canonical.

Recent developments reinforce the move toward broader platform choice. HPE made Morpheus VM Essentials generally available in May 2025, Omnissa announced Horizon support for Nutanix AHV, Broadcom made VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 generally available in June 2025 and Proxmox released Proxmox VE 9.0 in August 2025. Nutanix reported fiscal 2026 revenue of $2.85 billion and more than 3,000 new customers, reflecting growing interest in alternative virtualization stacks.

Forecast Scenarios Put 2035 Market Between $51.28 Billion and $70.22 Billion

DC Market Insights’ base case places the market at $60.90 billion by 2035. A lower-growth scenario, built around faster switching to lower-cost platforms, flat spend per core after 2026 and slower core expansion, produces a $51.28 billion market. A high case, in which bundle pricing remains firm and managed services and edge deployments expand faster, places the market at $70.22 billion.

Kubernetes-native virtualization is a central structural variable in the forecast because it shifts value from the traditional hypervisor license toward container-platform subscriptions and integrated management. For buyers, that makes total cost of ownership, workload portability, governance and operational tooling increasingly important in platform selection.

Research Methodology

DC Market Insights built the market model bottom-up from annual cohorts of virtualized physical cores and concurrent hosted desktop users, with separate pricing curves for hypervisor and management software. Professional and managed services were then added as ratios of software spending. The model was split across five components, three hypervisor types, four deployment models, two organization sizes, seven verticals and five regions. Results were cross-checked against supplier disclosures, published licensing terms and country-level installed server and data center capacity estimates.

Get Free Report Sample – https://www.dcmarketinsights.com/report/data-center-virtualization-market 

Report author: Amit Jain, Senior Consultant, ICT & Emerging Technologies. Reviewed by: Deepti Agrawal, Senior Editor, Research.

Related Reports from DC Market Insights

Software-Defined Data Center MarketData Center Automation MarketData Center Orchestration MarketSoftware-Defined Networking (SDN) in the Data Center MarketAIOps for Data Center Management Market

Data Tools by DCMI – 

Data Center Map – Deal Tracker – PUE Calculator

About DC Market Insights

DC Market Insights is the data center research and consulting practice of Credence Research, founded in 2015. The firm sizes data center markets, develops forecasts to 2035 and advises investors, operators, vendors and governments on commercial due diligence, site selection, market entry, power strategy, market sizing and competitive intelligence. Its research spans the data center value chain across facilities, power, cooling, racks, cloud, AI compute, interconnection, software, services, storage, networking and energy.

Media and Research Contact

DC Market Insights
Email: sales@dcmarketinsights.com
United States: +1 628 262 7656
United Kingdom: +44 7453 598 606
Office: Tower C-1105, S 25, Akash Tower, Vishal Nagar, Pimple Nilakh, Pune, MH 411027, India
Web: www.dcmarketinsights.com

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