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Entertainment Software Association Unveils iicon, Game-Changing Thought Leader Summit to Harness the Power of Interactive Entertainment and Shape the Future of Business and Culture

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Taking place April 27–30, 2026 in Las Vegas, the Interactive Innovation Conference is set to be an essential convening for changemakers across industries

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) today announced the launch of the Interactive Innovation Conference (iicon), a first-of-its-kind event designed to connect visionaries, thought leaders and innovators from across industries to harness the power of interactive entertainment.

Taking place April 27-30, 2026 at the Fontainebleau Resort in Las Vegas, attendees will gain exclusive access to visionary keynotes, engaging discussions and workshops, and elite networking opportunities with executives shaping the future of entertainment, business and technology. iicon promises to bring together a broad spectrum of sectors that converge with interactive entertainment, including film, television and music, as well as sports, healthcare, education, finance and more.

“For decades, video games have been at the forefront of technological and cultural innovation,” said Stanley Pierre-Louis, president and CEO, ESA. “With iicon, we are creating a space for visionaries across industries to come together, connect and reimagine what’s possible through interactive entertainment.”

“The Entertainment Software Association and its member companies are among the innovators and leaders shaping the future of culture, business and human connection. It’s a natural role for ESA to host and support an event that fosters an open exchange of new ideas with our peer industry leaders,” said Doug Bowser, Chairman of the Board, ESA. “iicon is bringing together changemakers from across industries to envision how the strengths of the interactive entertainment industry can break entirely new ground.”

Attendees will learn from and engage with industry icons, including leaders from Amazon Games, Disney, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Microsoft, Nintendo of America, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Square Enix, Take-Two Interactive, Ubisoft and Warner Bros. Games. As the global video game industry is set to surpass $300 billion in projected revenue by 2027, iicon will be the premier summit for discovering new opportunities powered by the industry and its technology.

Executive leaders from some of the video game industry’s leading companies expressed enthusiasm for iicon as a key opportunity to drive innovation and foster collaboration across sectors.

“The games industry is constantly evolving, and the intersection with other disciplines is more pronounced than ever before,” said Christoph Hartmann, Vice President, Amazon Games. “iicon will bring together some of the brightest minds from the games industry to navigate present challenges and harness the opportunities ahead. Amazon Games is proud to contribute to this new endeavor.”

“Video games have been a major contributor to our global culture by blending entertainment, creating communities and pushing new technologies,” said John Heinecke, Chief Publishing Officer, Square Enix Americas, EMEA and ANZ. “iicon will be an incredible forum where business leaders and innovators can join forces to celebrate our industry’s achievements and to build the future of entertainment together.”

“Take-Two Interactive is a long-standing member and proud supporter of ESA,” said Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO of Take-Two Interactive. “iicon represents the ongoing evolution of the interactive entertainment industry and its irrefutable ascendance as the most beloved art form and cultural influence in the world today. We look forward to participating in this event and convening with a broad array of stakeholders to further what we believe to be one of the strongest periods in our industry’s history.”

“Video games push the boundaries of technology and creativity, extending far beyond entertainment,” said Laurent Detoc, Chief Direct-to-Player Officer, Ubisoft. “We look forward to iicon bringing together visionary leaders from the industry and beyond to shape the future impact of games.”

“At Xbox, our mission is to bring the joy of gaming to players anywhere they want, while creating opportunities for the amazing creators behind them,” said Sarah Bond, President, Xbox. “We appreciate the ESA establishing iicon as a platform to deepen connections among executives and thought leaders from within gaming, and from a wide range of partner industries. Together, we will collaborate, invent and create – and together we will all grow.”

Event Details

Dates: April 27-30, 2026Location: Fontainebleau Resort Las VegasAudience: By invitation only. iicon is tailored for visionaries, thought leaders and innovators across industries that intersect with interactive entertainment.

Interested attendees and sponsors can pre-register and sign up for updates at iicon.com. Stay tuned for more details about speakers, programming, event access and other ways to engage with iicon.

About iicon
The Interactive Innovation Conference (iicon) from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) explores the transformative potential of video games and interactive entertainment across industries. Bringing together visionaries, thought leaders and innovators, iicon offers exclusive insights, strategic connections and forward-looking discussions to shape the future of business, technology and human connections. Learn more at iicon.com. Follow along @iiconofficial on LinkedIn, X, YouTube and Twitch, and join the conversation at #iicon2026. 

About the Entertainment Software Association
Founded in 1994, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has served as the voice and advocate for the U.S. video game industry for more than 30 years. Its members are the innovators, creators, publishers and business leaders that are reimagining entertainment and transforming how we interact, learn, connect and play. The ESA works to expand and protect the dynamic marketplace for video games through innovative and engaging initiatives that showcase the positive impact of video games on people, culture and the economy to secure a vibrant future for the industry for decades to come. For more information, visit the ESA’s website or follow the ESA on X @theESA or Instagram @theesaofficial.

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SOURCE Entertainment Software Association

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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.

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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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