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Leading the AI Chart: Cisco Engage Greater Bay Area 2025 Focuses on the Next Wave of Transformation Technologies

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New innovations showcase the company’s leading portfolio designed to help customers build, secure and operate AI-ready data centers.Cisco’s Greater Bay Area team empowers businesses with innovative solutions, aiding customers in AI, secured networking, and digital resilience.Latest research by Cisco shows that CEOs worry gaps in their understanding of AI will impact strategic decisions, risking missed opportunities.

HONG KONG, Feb. 24, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) today brought together senior leaders and industry experts for a series of insightful discussions on the critical technological advances shaping the vibrant Greater Bay Area (GBA). The event marked the return of Cisco Engage Greater Bay Area following its great success in 2023. This year’s theme, “Go Beyond”, explores new frontiers of innovation, where companies in the GBA harness the transformative possibilities of the AI era to push the limits of what can be achieved.  

The event was attended by Professor Sun Dong, JP, Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry of the HKSAR Government, Hon. Mr. Duncan Chiu, Legislative Council Member Technology & Innovation Constituency, Carmen Leung, Senior Superintendent of Police, Cyber Security, Forensics and Training, CSTCB, Hong Kong Police,  Dave West, President, Cisco Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China, and Ming Wong, Vice President and Chief Executive Officer, Cisco Greater China.

Professor Sun Dong, JP, Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry of the HKSAR Government said, “Hong Kong has long been recognized as a super connector, bridging the dynamic markets of Mainland China with the rest of the world.  The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government is fully committed to creating a robust I&T ecosystem and a business-friendly environment where I&T enterprises and start-ups can grow and thrive here, and make impactful contributions to the local and global economy and society.  To construct a sustainable I&T ecosystem, the close collaboration among government, industry, academia, research and investment sectors is crucial. We welcome more international I&T enterprises like Cisco to set foot in Hong Kong and leverage Hong Kong’s unique advantages as an ideal gateway for businesses aiming to tap into the vast markets of Mainland China and the Asia-Pacific region.”

Cisco’s Commitment in Greater Bay Area

In May 2023, Cisco proudly established the Greater Bay Area team, marking a significant step in our commitment to innovation and customer success in the region. Over the past 20 months, our dedicated GBA team has played a pivotal role in helping customers seize growth potential in the GBA and capitalize on synergies across markets. The team has successfully assisted a large number of customers in transitioning to AI-ready data centers, create future-proof workplaces, and enhance digital resilience. These achievements underscore Cisco’s unwavering dedication to empowering businesses with cutting-edge solutions and robust digital infrastructures.

Additionally, Cisco has been actively involved in a range of strategic initiatives across the GBA. These include a Memorandum of Understanding with Cyberport to make join efforts in the establishment of an AI lab; supporting Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in expanding its AI data center; and contributing to the Hong Kong Police Force’s establishment of a Cyber Security Action Task Force to enhance the city’s ability to cope with cyber threats. Cisco also participated in the “US-China Bay to Bay Dialogue”, where discussions focused on the shared economic development of the Bay Area.

A Paradox Between AI’s Potential and Implementation Challenges

Cisco has been leading the chart on providing in-depth analysis of the biggest trends impacting businesses, the latest of which are published in Cisco’s 2025 AI Briefing CEO Edition. This study uncovers a paradox where four in five CEOs recognize AI’s potential benefits and almost all CEOs plan to integrate AI into their operations. Yet at the same time, many fear gaps in their knowledge will hinder decisions in the boardroom (74%) and stifle growth (58%) – risking missed opportunities and falling behind competitors. 

More than 70% of CEOs are concerned about losing ground due to IT and infrastructure gaps, fears that are already translating into real losses. Over half (53%) worry that a lack of investment in technology is costing them competitive advantage, while two-thirds are concerned about the opportunity costs of not investing more in technology.  Without decisive action, CEOs anticipate higher operating costs, lower profits, reduced productivity, and declining market share.

For those who confront their fears, the rewards will go far beyond simply “keeping up”. CEOs are turning to AI for its transformative potential: driving efficiency (69%), spurring innovation (68%), and outpacing competitors (54%). Yet, to realize AI’s full potential, they must first overcome key barriers – including skills shortages, infrastructure limitations, and security risks.

While CEOs focus on the bigger picture, their CIOs and CTOs are often grappling with operational hurdles, including the lack of compelling business use cases – a challenge CEOs rank lower. This tension perhaps reflects AI’s exploratory phase, with 82% of CEOs recognizing that AI’s potential benefits call for bold experimentation in the short term to uncover value in the long term.

As they work to meet these challenges, CEOs recognize they cannot deliver on their blueprint alone. 96% are turning to trusted partnerships to future-proof their network for AI.

“As AI continues to evolve, particularly with the rapid growth of agentic AI, companies in the GBA are navigating a pivotal transformation,” said Iris Feng, General Manager of Cisco Hong Kong, Macau, and South China. “Cisco is leading the charge to help businesses not only navigate the AI revolution but also leverage its power for sustainable growth, capitalizing on the region’s growing role as a global powerhouse. Our solutions are designed to help businesses in the GBA seamlessly adapt, stay competitive, and achieve long-term success, all backed by Cisco’s AI-driven innovations.”

Powering AI for the Future: Cisco’s Latest Innovations

To provide GBA customers with the technology needed to embrace AI, Cisco is delivering impactful innovations across its unmatched product portfolio. Its AI infrastructure and data center solutions empower enterprises and service providers to transform their infrastructure for AI workloads:

Cisco N9300 Smart Switches with Hypershield: Cisco’s Smart Switches redefine adaptive and scalable AI data center architectures by embedding services directly into the network. Cisco Hypershield, which will be the first service available, eliminates the gap between security and networking layers by converging them into a single solution.Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall: The N9300 Smart Switch and Hypershield integration, along with advances in firewall, management, and licensing, will enable Cisco to deliver Hybrid Mesh Firewall optimized to protect AI applications in the data center and public cloud. Cisco’s Hybrid Mesh Firewall is a highly distributed security fabric managed under a single management console, delivering zero trust segmentation and protect application vulnerabilities in modern and AI applications.Cisco Agile Services Networking: The Cisco Agile Services Networking architecture provides a blueprint for service providers as they look to enable AI connectivity and monetize assured services. The innovations introduced to deliver this architecture include Silicon One-powered platforms, coherent pluggable optics and provider management and assurance software enhancements.Expansion of AI Server Family: New Cisco UCS C845A M8 server, based on the NVIDIA MGX reference architecture, brings flexibility to AI workloads. Its advanced architecture is designed to enable AI innovation, offering the computational power for intensive tasks and the efficiency required for rapid deployment.

Solving AI Challenges

Cisco’s portfolio gives customers and partners solutions to accelerate AI adoption, but challenges remain. Recognizing the need to tackle the energy efficiency challenges imposed by AI workloads, as well as the deepening skills gap that has developed due to the ever-evolving AI landscape, Cisco has introduced new partnerships and programs:

Engineering Alliances: The Cisco Engineering Alliances program is designed to accelerate building new validated solutions to solve some of our customers’ most pressing challenges. Cisco has signed alliances with Vertiv, DeepCoolAI, Green Revolution Cooling, and Asperitas to deliver liquid cooling solutions, addressing the ever-increasing thermal density in AI data centers. Additionally, Cisco has signed alliances with Panduit, MHT Technologies, and ThinLabs to deliver end-to-end direct current microgrid solutions leveraging Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) and Fault Managed Power (FMP) to reduce energy use in smart buildings.  AI Skilling: Cisco continues to enhance its offerings in AI skilling by launching its newest AI Skills Journey program to build critical AI Infrastructure skills from entry to expert—available at u.cisco.com. As a part of this effort, Cisco Learning & Certifications has updated current certifications, including Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA), Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP), and Internetwork Expert (CCIE). These updated certifications reflect the AI and cybersecurity skills needed to achieve impactful business outcomes. Select programs will be complimentary through March 24.

Download highlights from Cisco’s 2025 AI Briefing CEO Edition here.

For more information about AI Defense, the latest addition to Cisco’s series of AI-driven security innovations, visit cisco.com/go/ai-defense.

For more high-resolution images and video, please visit this link.

The CEO study, conducted by Opinion Matters (24 Dec 2024 – 2 Jan 2025), surveyed 2,503 CEOs from companies with 250+ employees worldwide. A companion study with 8,065 senior networking leaders will follow in the coming months, exploring the strategic and operational needs of AI-era networking and security.

About Cisco

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide technology leader that is revolutionizing the way organizations connect and protect in the AI era. For more than 40 years, Cisco has securely connected the world. With its industry leading AI-powered solutions and services, Cisco enables its customers, partners and communities to unlock innovation, enhance productivity, and strengthen digital resilience. With purpose at its core, Cisco remains committed to creating a more connected and inclusive future for all. Discover more on The Newsroom.

Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. A listing of Cisco’s trademarks can be found at www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. 

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NIX United Achieves AWS AI Competency After Rigorous Audit

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July 23, 2026

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AI-enabled software development company NIX United has officially achieved the AWS AI Competency designation from Amazon Web Services (AWS). The recognition validates NIX’s proven expertise in architecting, securing, and deploying enterprise-grade artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions on AWS.

TAMPA, Fla., July 23, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — For enterprise organizations, the designation provides independent validation of NIX’s end-to-end AI capabilities across solution architecture, data security, governance, and operational excellence. It is based on successful production deployments, including a generative AI customer feedback analytics platform and an AI-powered medical education solution. The competency also provides eligible customers with access to AWS-validated frameworks, specialized technical resources, and AWS GenAI Innovation Funding programs.

“AI must be engineered for long-term production value,” said Artur Bakulin, Head of RnD and Innovation at NIX United. “Earning the AWS AI Competency reflects our commitment to building AI architectures grounded in verifiable return on investment.”

Moving Beyond AI Demos to Production Value

While AI adoption accelerates, organizations face a critical barrier: transitioning from impressive proofs of concept to production-grade applications. Building AI for the modern enterprise requires solving complex challenges around regulatory compliance and seamless system integration.

To earn the AWS AI Competency, NIX completed a comprehensive technical audit demonstrating its ability to deliver scalable AI solutions. The evaluation covered engineering practices, security controls, governance frameworks, and operational excellence, while highlighting NIX’s experience applying generative AI to complex business workflows.

Strategic Benefits for Enterprise Clients

“AI must be engineered for long-term production value,” said Artur Bakulin, Head of RnD and Innovation at NIX United. “Earning the AWS AI Competency reflects our commitment to building AI architectures grounded in verifiable return on investment.”

For NIX clients, this designation provides:

Reduced project risk through AWS-validated architectures that support data privacy, security, and regulatory compliance.Faster project execution with access to eligible AWS funding programs, including subsidized AI assessments, Proofs of Concept (PoCs), and AWS GenAI Innovation Funding.Long-term scalability with solutions engineered to move seamlessly from pilot projects to business-critical production environments.

Organizations exploring generative AI initiatives can work with NIX experts to evaluate their eligibility for the AWS GenAI Innovation Funding Program and identify opportunities to accelerate adoption.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What specific competency did NIX United achieve?

A: NIX achieved the AWS AI Competency, a formal designation by Amazon Web Services verifying a partner’s technical proficiency and robust customer success in delivering generative AI solutions.

Q: What criteria did AWS use to evaluate NIX United?

A: AWS conducted a comprehensive technical audit covering NIX’s solution architecture, security controls, governance frameworks, and delivery methodology.

Q: How can enterprise clients fund their AI initiatives with NIX United?

A: Through NIX’s status as an advanced AWS partner, eligible clients can access the AWS GenAI Innovation Funding Program to offset costs for AI assessments, proofs-of-concept, and full-scale implementations.

Media Contact

Yevheniia Kryvenko, NIX United, 1 7272563558, yevheniia.kryvenko@nixs.com, NIX United

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Apollo and San Jose Earthquakes Announce Official Sleeve and Go-to-Market Partnership, Bringing the AI GTM System to Major League Soccer

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July 23, 2026

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First-of-its-kind partnership to help Earthquakes capitalize on soccer’s surging popularity through AI-powered GTM transformation

SAN FRANCISCO, July 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Apollo, the AI go-to-market system, announced today a multiyear Official Sleeve Partnership with Major League Soccer’s San Jose Earthquakes that entails becoming both the club’s Official Go-to-Market Partner and the first go-to-market (GTM) company to combine a professional sports sponsorship with a full-scale partnership for revenue operations transformation.

As soccer continues its unprecedented rise in popularity across the United States, with MLS seeing a 62% year-over-year increase in viewership to kick off the 2026 season, the unique partnership positions the Earthquakes to modernize their GTM, accelerate revenue and capitalize on the sport’s expanding global audience.

In the partnership, Apollo will serve as both a brand sponsor with its logo featured prominently on the right sleeve of the Earthquakes’ jersey, and as a technology partner, powering the club’s GTM strategy. The club will deploy Apollo’s system across key revenue-generating functions, including group ticket sales, sponsorship pipeline management, inbound lead routing and season ticket renewals, creating a modern GTM system designed to drive fan engagement and commercial growth.

“We see this partnership as a natural extension of Apollo’s mission to make world-class go-to-market accessible to everyone by bringing it to the world’s most popular game,” said Matt Curl, CEO of Apollo. “Soccer is entering an incredible growth phase in the U.S., creating a once-in-a-generation opportunity for clubs to deepen fan relationships and accelerate commercial growth. Every professional sports team is running a revenue business focused on finding customers, engaging fans, growing sponsorships and driving renewals. By bringing together data, intelligence and execution into one system, we’re helping the Earthquakes build a modern commercial operation that will become a model for the future of sports.”  

The partnership reflects Apollo’s broader vision that every organization can benefit from its AI GTM system. With the rise in soccer’s popularity, clubs face increasing pressure to convert fan interest into lasting relationships, ticket sales, sponsorships and recurring revenue. While sports organizations have historically relied on fragmented tools across ticketing, sponsorship sales, CRM and marketing, Apollo brings those workflows together into one connected system to help organizations capitalize on this moment.

For the Earthquakes, that means:

Modernizing group ticket sales workflowsImproving inbound lead managementGrowing sponsorship pipelineStreamlining season ticket renewal campaignsGiving sales and marketing teams a unified system

“While excitement around soccer continues to grow across the country, we’re investing in the technology and systems that will help us better engage our supporters and continue growing our commercial business,” said Earthquakes President Jared Shawlee. “I started my career in sales and have never seen the kind of technology that Apollo provides. This will transform our approach to sales and marketing by giving us one system to connect data, automate workflows and create a more connected experience for Quakes fans throughout their journey with the club.”

“We are excited to roll out the Apollo AI GTM system to revenue teams across our organization,” added Earthquakes Chief Strategy Officer Ian Anderson. “Apollo is at the forefront of AI-powered GTM and the Quakes are committed to being ahead of the technology curve for our industry.”

The Earthquakes become Apollo’s first official sports partner, laying the foundation for a broader strategy to bring modern GTM technology to sports organizations worldwide. Apollo plans to use the partnership as a blueprint for working with hundreds of professional sports organizations facing similar revenue and commercial challenges.

“This is just the beginning,” added Curl. “Professional sports organizations have the same GTM challenges as fast-growing businesses. We’re excited to demonstrate what’s possible when data, intelligence, and execution come together in a single system to help teams build stronger relationships with fans, partners, and customers.”

The partnership will officially debut ahead of the Earthquakes’ annual California Clasico match on Saturday, July 25, against the LA Galaxy at Stanford Stadium, with Apollo and the club jointly celebrating the launch through customer events, social activations and in-stadium experiences.

About Apollo
Apollo is the AI GTM System that uniquely combines data, intelligence, and execution in one loop helping every business find and win their next customer. Trusted by millions of users and over 600,000 companies worldwide, Apollo combines one of the industry’s largest B2B contact databases with a purpose built GTM intelligence engine and a full execution stack, in an all-in-one system. Learn more at apollo.io.

About San Jose Earthquakes
The San Jose Earthquakes, one of Major League Soccer’s original teams, are the epicenter for soccer in Northern California, playing at the highest professional level in the United States. The club won MLS Cups in 2001 and 2003 and took home Supporters’ Shields in 2005 and 2012. The Earthquakes are based out of PayPal Park, an 18,000-seat soccer-specific stadium that opened in 2015 and is the first cloud-enabled venue in MLS. The organization was originally founded in 1974 in the North American Soccer League, and in 2024, celebrated its 50th anniversary of positively impacting communities around Northern California. The club’s nonprofit arm, the Quakes Foundation, focuses on health and fitness initiatives for local underserved youth and fighting food insecurity. For more information about the Earthquakes, visit sjearthquakes.com.

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CIQ Arms Federal Agencies and Contractors with Kernel-Level Detection and BOD 26-04-Compliant Remediation

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July 23, 2026

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RLC Pro Hardened and Ascender Pro together give federal teams kernel exploitation detection as it happens and CVE remediation before it wipes out an entire fleet

RENO, Nev., July 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — CIQ, the founding commercial sponsor of Rocky Linux, today announced the launch of an RLC Pro Hardened and Ascender Pro deployment that gives federal agencies real-time kernel exploit detection, audit-ready compliance, and automated remediation in a single deployment. The pairing gives federal teams a stronger position inside the three-day remediation window Binding Operational Directive (BOD) 26-04 sets for the highest-risk vulnerabilities on federal systems.

On June 10, 2026, CISA issued BOD 26-04, and the three-day clock starts when a flaw enters the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, not when a patch ships. For the most dangerous vulnerabilities, the exploit often arrives before the patch does, leaving agencies with a compliance deadline and no fix to apply yet. Non-compliance penalties can include a range of administrative consequences, including greater regulatory oversight and asset disconnection.

RLC Pro Hardened, CIQ’s federal-ready Enterprise Linux distribution, answers that gap. It is the first Enterprise Linux distribution to ship runtime kernel exploitation detection enabled and supported by default, giving agencies a record of what happened during the window before a fix shipped. CIQ delivered that capability well before BOD 26-04 put federal agencies on a three-day clock.

“A single critical vulnerability can impact an entire federal fleet before it’s even confirmed as a CVE,” said Gregory Kurtzer, founder and CEO of CIQ. “RLC Pro Hardened’s LKRG catches the exploit behavior at the kernel the moment it happens, patch or no patch. Once remediation is required, Ascender Pro orchestrates it across the entire fleet and proves it happened, system by system. Agencies get both sides covered without rebuilding their infrastructure.”

RLC Pro Hardened ships with Linux Kernel Runtime Guard (LKRG), which validates kernel integrity continuously and records kernel-level exploitation as it happens. The distribution also arrives audit-ready, with FIPS 140-3 validated cryptography and CIQ-engineered lockdown playbooks for DISA STIG, CIS and NIST 800-171.

Ascender Pro adds Reaqt, an event-driven engine that watches fleet logs, matches them against rule sets, and fires the right Ansible playbook automatically. Across a fleet, that closes issues faster than manual, ticket-driven review.

More About BOD 26-04

BOD 26-04 replaced the severity-score deadlines of BOD 22-01 and BOD 19-02 with a risk model. It scores each vulnerability on four factors: public exposure, presence in the KEV catalog, exploit automation and technical impact. A vulnerability that meets all four carries a three-calendar-day remediation deadline, the shortest CISA has set in a Binding Operational Directive. Agency remediation policies must support the directive by August 7, 2026.

About CIQ

CIQ is the founding support and services partner for Rocky Linux and a leading provider of enterprise Linux infrastructure. CIQ delivers commercially supported Linux offerings, high-performance computing solutions and AI infrastructure to enterprises, government agencies, research institutions and supercomputing centers worldwide. CIQ’s products include the Rocky Linux from CIQ (RLC Pro) family of operating systems, Ascender Pro for IT automation, Fuzzball job-based container orchestration, Warewulf cluster provisioning and Apptainer, the leading container system for high-performance computing. For more information, visit ciq.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Cristin Connelly
Cathey Communications for CIQ
cristin@cathey.co

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