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JASON MOMOA LAUNCHES MANANALU POWERED BY BOOMERANG WATER IN HAWAII

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The Hawaiian Company Turns to New Technology to Eliminate Single-Use Waste, Reduce Carbon Impact, and Help Hawaii to Continue Liberating from Mainland Shipments of Drinking Water

HONOLULU, Jan. 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Jason Momoa’s Hawaiian water company Mananalu relaunches as Mananalu Powered By Boomerang Water, now a fully back-of-house, progressive on-site bottling system that provides healthy water to all people without single-use waste that is damaging to the environment. Using Boomerang Water technology that won the 2024 SXSW Product Innovation Award, Mananalu Powered by Boomerang Water bottling systems are roughly the size of a hotel ice maker and can sanitize, rinse, fill, and cap 400 to 500 aluminum or glass bottles per hour with ultra-purified water that are then returned to the same machine for reuse after consumption, making it fully sustainable. Relaunching in Hawaii first, this marks the completion of the zero single-use plastic company’s transition into a technology-forward, on-site bottling system that is fully circular and reduces the brand’s carbon emissions by 95%. This relaunch is an early case of a company shifting away from a single-use waste model and adopting new technology to better serve people and the planet.

“I originally launched Mananalu to challenge the drinking water industry to shift away from single-use plastic bottles that are destroying the health of people and the planet,” says Momoa. “We pushed the drinking water industry to change with our aluminum bottles, and now it’s time to push again by partnering Mananalu with Boomerang Water and do what we can to eliminate any waste and impact on the environment in pursuit of healthy water. This technology is a game changer, and I am honored to be able to bring it to Hawaii first, under Mananalu, to help restore the local Ecosystem.”

The rollout of Mananalu Powered by Boomerang Water also boosts Hawaii’s independence from energy-consuming shipments of drinking water from the mainland. Each bottling system is hooked to any local source of municipal water where it is ultra-purified with a proprietary filtration process and bottled back-of-house.

“Access to healthy water is a human right,” says Boomerang Water co-founders Jason Dibble and Jerrod Freund. “We designed this highly cost-effective system to go virtually anywhere and hook up to a local water source to provide clean, sustainable drinking water with minimal waste and carbon footprint. We are honored to stand next to Jason Momoa in Hawaii and reintroduce Mananalu Powered by Boomerang Water.”

Mananalu Powered by Boomerang Water bottling systems has anchored its breakthrough technology on Oahu with its first partners, The Twin Fin Hotel, Romer House Waikiki, Kaimana Beach Hotel, and Alohilani Resort Waikiki Beach and is bringing a renewed commitment to its guests and shareholders to prioritize environmental stewardship in pursuit of service excellence.

“Twin Fin Hotel is committed to celebrating Hawaii’s valued natural resources and stewarding the land in which we share aloha daily,” said Stephen Hinck, Area Managing Director and General Manager of Twin Fin. “We are honored to be the first Oahu hospitality partner to implement the sustainable bottling technology of Mananalu Powered by Boomerang Water. We look forward to inviting our guests, staff and community to embrace this mindful approach of water consumption.”

Mananalu Powered by Boomerang Water leads with Hawaiian values by promoting human connectivity through honoring and respecting the Earth and the elements. It is bringing circular sustainability (zero-waste) water systems to Hawaii with an eye on new global markets. This collaboration supports ecological preservation and represents a transformative step towards a circular economy, where sustainability and innovation drive economic growth and environmental health.

For more information about Mananalu Powered by Boomerang Water, please visit mananalu.com

ABOUT MANANALU POWERED BY BOOMERANG WATER:
Launched in 2019, Mananalu is a Hawaiian water brand founded by Jason Momoa. Translating into the “Sacred Spirit of Life,” Mananalu was created by Momoa to pay homage to his Hawaiian heritage and serve as an extension of his deep commitment to creating pathways for the Earth to heal from decades of environmental mistreatment and misuse (Mālama Honua, to care for the Earth**). Mananalu launched as a consumer-facing brand across Whole Foods, Costco, and other major retailers. It immediately inspired an industry-wide shift towards aluminum bottles instead of single-use plastic. Mananalu launched a “buy-one, remove-one” (plastic bottle from the ocean) program, resulting in over 6 million plastic bottles extracted from the ocean. In 2024, Mananalu entered into an exclusive alliance with Boomerang Water, an award-winning technology company behind the world’s most efficient closed-loop, circular water bottling system. This patented hardware sits back-of-house where it’s hooked to a local water source and can sanitize, rinse, fill, cap, and seal up to 4,000 bottles of ultra-clean bottled water per day in reusable aluminum or glass containers that are returned to the same machine once consumed for repeated runs. Mananalu is now Mananalu Powered by Boomerang Water, scaling faster with global corporate partners, reducing its carbon footprint by 95%, and eliminating all single-use water bottles. The company is currently working in Hawaii with leading hospitality brands, local businesses, and schools to help the state eliminate single-use water bottles and regain its independence from mainland shipments of bottled water for the local community and reduce the waste the state has to export.

**Mālama Honua (to care for the Earth) – The Hawaiian concept of mālama is based on the idea that all living things are connected and that caring for the earth and community will provide resources and enrich the cycle of life.

ABOUT THE TWIN FIN WAIKIKI
Located steps from the glistening waters of Waikiki Beach, The Twin Fin Hotel features 645 vibrant and spacious guest rooms, authentic experiences rooted in Hawaiian culture and towering ocean views overlooking the spectacular south shore of Oahu. The Twin Fin was lovingly named after a surfboard with two fins; ideal for mellow, playful and cruisy surfing, the most beloved sport of the isles. Surfboard rentals are included in each stay, and the property is home to the acclaimed experiential surf school, Jamie O’Brien School of Surf Waikiki, helmed by nine-time Pipeline champion and Hall-of-Famer Jamie O’Brien. The resort embraces Hawaii’s laid back yet lively spirit with an oceanfront backdrop, tropical ambiance, expansive casual eateries, an open air pool deck with private cabanas, and experiences that delight with endless summer vibes. www.twinfinwaikiki.com | @thetwinfinwaikiki

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SOURCE Mananalu Powered By Boomerang Water

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commercetools Named a Leader in 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Digital Commerce as AI Reshapes the Market

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commercetools is a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Digital Commerce for the seventh consecutive year.commercetools has been driving AI innovation on how enterprises build, operate and sell, including capabilities like Sphere, Commerce MCP and commercetools for Builders.commercetools is helping global enterprises modernize complex commerce operations and prepare for a future where both people and AI agents discover, shop and transact.

BOSTON, Oct. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — commercetools, the digital commerce AI company, today announced it has been positioned as a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Digital Commerce. This marks the seventh consecutive year commercetools has been recognized as a Leader in the report.

As AI reshapes commerce, commercetools is expanding how it supports the enterprises who build and operate commerce experiences, and the shoppers who use them. Global enterprises including JD Sports, Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Chemist Warehouse and Mirion Technologies are using commercetools to modernize complex digital commerce, accelerate growth and adopt new AI-powered ways of operating and selling.

“Commerce is moving from systems that simply respond to human instructions toward systems that can increasingly understand, decide and act,” said Doug McNary, Chief Executive Officer at commercetools. “We’re proud to be named a Leader for the seventh consecutive year. Enterprises shouldn’t have to choose between the flexibility they need today and the autonomy they’ll need tomorrow. Our focus is giving them the technology to support both.”

Over the past year, commercetools has introduced new products and capabilities designed to bring AI across the commerce lifecycle:

Sphere: Brings together commercetools’ AI-native infrastructure and agent governance through Commerce MCP into a unified platform for enterprises to build, operate and sell with AI.commercetools for Builders: Helps anyone build, extend and evolve enterprise commerce faster with AI.AgentSphere: Lets enterprises build and manage AI agents to run commerce operations and agentic shopping, with appropriate guardrails to do so safely and at scale.Modular commerce offerings: Gives enterprises the flexibility to start with the capabilities they need and expand over time, accelerating time to value without requiring a full commerce transformation upfront.Commerce Integration Layer: Centralizes integration logic behind customer-facing experiences. Storefronts, mobile apps and AI agents connect through a unified layer hosted and maintained by commercetools.Smart Data Modeler: Uses AI to accelerate product data modeling, helping teams build the right foundation faster and reduce time-to-launch.

commercetools’ customers include large enterprises across retail, manufacturing, life sciences, healthcare and telecommunications in markets around the world.

To learn more about commercetools’ position as a Leader, download your complimentary copy of the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant report today.

About the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce

Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce Platforms, Aditya Vasudevan, Penny Gillespie, Sandy Shen, Jason Daigler, Mike Lowndes, 19 October 2026

Gartner and Magic Quadrant are trademarks of Gartner, Inc., and/or its affiliates.

Gartner does not endorse any company, vendor, product or service depicted in its publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s business and technology insights organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this publication, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About commercetools

commercetools, the global digital commerce AI company, helps enterprises transform commerce for the AI era. Built API-native from the start and AI-first by design, our technology enables agentic shopping experiences, automates commerce operations and gives businesses the agility to modernize faster, innovate continuously and operate more intelligently.

More than 500 global brands, retailers and enterprise companies rely on commercetools to power their digital commerce. Together, they process more than $100 billion in annualized GMV, over 700 million orders and more than one billion customer records on our platform.

Media Contact: comms@commercetools.com 

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SOURCE commercetools

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Phylo’s Biomni Lab to expand the use of AI agents in scientific research at Bayer

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SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Oct. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Phylo, Inc. announced today a partnership with Bayer to deploy Biomni Lab, Phylo’s agentic AI platform to accelerate scientific research and evaluation. 

Under the agreement, Phylo will provide Bayer with full access to its agentic platform that helps Bayer scientists bring together scientific literature, biomedical data, and analytical methods in one environment, reducing the manual effort required to assemble and assess evidence. The platform’s inspectable workflows preserve the context behind each result, allowing researchers to review the underlying sources, methods, and execution and apply their own scientific judgment. Bayer scientists will gain access to Biomni Lab for workflows focused on assembling literature and omics evidence for drug discovery.

“This partnership reflects our belief that AI should expand scientific curiosity, not just speed up routine work. Giving our scientists an AI partner that brings rigor to every step lets them explore more ideas, ask bolder questions, and find the insights that move drug discovery forward, ultimately accelerating the pace at which we can bring new medicines to patients,” said Sai Jasti, Senior Vice President, Head of Data Science & Artificial Intelligence, Bayer Pharmaceuticals R&D.

“For agentic AI to matter in research, it has to earn the trust of the scientists doing the work. Bayer’s selection of Biomni Lab is a strong endorsement of the scientific rigor and AI capabilities we’ve built into the platform,” said Kexin Huang, Ph.D., Co-Founder and CEO of Phylo. “Our vision is an AI-native operating system for biopharma, where every scientist can direct a team of AI agents to pursue complex research questions. With Bayer, we aim to show what becomes possible when AI capabilities meet deep scientific expertise: more hypotheses explored, more discoveries made, and new possibilities for medicine.”

About Phylo

Phylo’s mission is to bring the best agentic intelligence to every biomedical scientist. Its enterprise-grade AI platform, Biomni Lab, is the first Integrated Biology Environment—a unified workspace where scientists collaborate with AI agents across literature research, experimental design, biological data analysis, and scientific decision-making.

Biomni Lab is now used by leading global biopharma, including Bayer, Chugai Pharmaceutical and Ono Pharmaceutical. Phylo is based in South San Francisco, backed by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Menlo Ventures.

For more information, visit phylo.bio. To learn more about Biomni Lab, visit biomni.phylo.bio.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/phylos-biomni-lab-to-expand-the-use-of-ai-agents-in-scientific-research-at-bayer-302917080.html

SOURCE Phylo, Inc.

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Sandler Partners Welcomes Bryan Rias as Director, Sales Engineer, West Region

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New Hire Announcement | Independent Technology Distributor Sandler Partners grows its Sales Engineering team, adding Bryan Rias as Director, Sales Engineer, West Region.

REDONDO BEACH, Calif., Oct. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Sandler Partners, the leading independent Technology Solutions Distributor, announces the addition of Bryan Rias as Director, Sales Engineer, West Region, further strengthening its dedicated sales engineering team and the technical support available to Partners in the West Region.

Bryan brings more than two decades of experience designing and delivering complex technology solutions, including enterprise and Cloud architecture roles at Lumen/Savvis and IBM focused on infrastructure modernization and customer success. His expertise spans automation, edge computing, disaster recovery, application performance monitoring (APM), and DevSecOps. In his role, Bryan will support Partners across the West Region, aligning early with them on strategy and leading thoughtful discovery to help them find the right fit for each client.

For Bryan, strong relationships and solid values guide his life and form the foundation of his professional success, a perspective that fits naturally within the Sandler Partners community. When he is not working, Bryan spends time with his family, including his wife, three sons, and a grandson, RVing, boating, and biking, along with pursuing his passion for freediving.

“Bryan brings the kind of hands-on experience our Partners value: he’s been in the room on complex deals and knows how to turn a customer’s needs into the right solution,” says Justin Marano, Chief Revenue Officer, Sandler Partners. “He came to Sandler for the freedom to work across best-of-breed Providers, and our Partners in the West will feel that right away. He’s collaborative, grounded, and focused on helping Partners win. I’m excited to have him on the team.”

“I’m excited to get to work alongside our Partners, helping them navigate complex opportunities and bring clarity to technical decisions,” says Bryan. “For me, it all comes back to relationships. When you build them on trust and shared values, the results follow for our Partners and their clients. That’s something that the Sandler community really embodies, and I look forward to getting to work with our Partners!”

About Sandler Partners
Sandler Partners helps empower its network of leading independent Sales Partners to deliver a comprehensive range of technology solutions to organizations worldwide, including Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Connectivity, Cloud, Colocation, Mobility, Internet of Things (IoT), and Continuity. Its community-focused approach enables Partners to identify the right solutions for customers quickly and objectively from a diverse portfolio of 220+ Providers. Partner sales agents, VARs, and MSPs gain access to an innovative suite of sales tools within the Sandler Portal—including SCOUT, Solutions Finder, Scout for Solutions, and the Marketing Center—several of which are AI-powered, all backed by a robust support network, dedicated Sales Engineering expertise, and rich marketing resources. Together, these tools and resources empower Partners to focus on what they do best: delivering quality, value, performance, innovative solutions, unmatched expertise, and exceptional service to their clients. Members of the Sandler Partners community also benefit from the industry’s strongest negotiated agreements and a dedicated team committed to ensuring commissions are accurately identified, tracked, and paid. For more information, visit www.sandlerpartners.com.

Sandler Partners – Media Contact
Tina S. Dyksterhouse
tina@sandlerpartners.com
310-861-2295

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sandler-partners-welcomes-bryan-rias-as-director-sales-engineer-west-region-302916413.html

SOURCE Sandler Partners

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