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U.S. Quartz Workers: Strong Safeguard Remedies Needed to Save 100,000 American Manufacturing Jobs

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WASHINGTON, July 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Quartz Manufacturers Alliance for America (QMAA) released a powerful video featuring quartz manufacturing workers from across the country calling for free and fair trade policies to save 100,000 American jobs. QMAA, a coalition of leading U.S.-based quartz slab manufacturers, are calling for strong safeguard remedies after the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) found a huge flood of foreign imports had caused tremendous injury to the domestic quartz industry.

QMAA members are urging the Trump Administration to build on the ITC’s strong recommendation and address this major flood of quartz imports with a Tariff of 50% and a Reshoring Import Cap of 141 million square feet on imported quartz surface products. This will ensure a reshoring of the good-paying U.S. quartz manufacturing jobs stolen by companies who cheat U.S. trade law, distort competition and are decimating U.S. quartz manufacturing. Together, these trade remedies will provide the relief necessary to save the 100,000 jobs supported by the U.S. quartz industry.

The video features workers from LX Hausys, Guidoni USA and Cambria Company and is available here:
Save 100,000 American Quartz Jobs

Quotes from QMAA Quartz Manufacturing Workers
“This facility used to be a Husqvarna plant. Husqvarna closed down due to cheap foreign imports. There were over 1,000 people working here and all of a sudden…I’m worried I may see the same thing take place again.”
-Raymond Mack, Production Operator, Guidoni USA, Helena-McRae, GA

“Foreign countries, mainly China, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, have been circumventing and cheating the American market. We believe in the industry. We believe in the American working power. We just want to level the playing field, make it fair for everyone and everyone will benefit.”
– Daniel Vas de Melo SA, Business Development Manager, Guidoni USA, McRae-Helena, GA

“In order for us to continue to compete, we need a strong Tariff and Import Cap on imported quartz surfaces. That will ensure we can play on an even playing field. That’s all we’re asking for. I would hate to see cheap, imported quartz have a negative impact on families such as mine and the other families that we employ here.”
– Mike Morici, Vice President – LX Hausys, Adairsville, GA

“The surge of foreign imports has shocked the U.S. economy, and the market for surfaces. It’s taken prices down to unsustainably low levels for any domestic supplier. The result of that is we’re not producing as much as we should, we can’t hire as many people as we would like to, and we can’t grow our business in the way that we and our peers in the U.S. want to grow.”
– Andrew Eich, President and Chief Operating Officer, Cambria

“As these foreign imports flood the market, we lose the ability to create and sustain jobs that ensure good paying conditions for manufacturing workers. There will be over 100,000 jobs that have the strong potential to go away.”
– Jack Sundry, SVP Core and Lexus – Cambria, Southern Minnesota

Background
In September 2025, QMAA filed a Global Safeguard petition with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) under Section 201 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974. The ITC’s thorough investigation found serious injury to the domestic industry caused by a massive import surge designed to undercut American businesses. Quartz imports have surged by 78.3% within the past five years, leading to a nearly 20% decline in domestic production, factory closures and major job reductions.

A final safeguard decision from the United States Trade Representative is expected by Aug. 1, 2026.

About the Quartz Manufacturing Alliance for America:
QMAA is a coalition of U.S.-based, American quartz slab manufacturing factories, united with other industry leaders to support and strengthen the American quartz industry. QMAA is committed to ensuring a free and fair, competitive marketplace born of free enterprise that provides the opportunity to compete on a level playing field for American quartz slab manufacturing factories and their valued workers. We also believe this effort will have a positive impact throughout the entire quartz surfacing industry, including to the strong benefit of American stone fabrication shops and upstream suppliers of quartz minerals and resin. Learn more at: https://www.qmaa.org/

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-quartz-workers-strong-safeguard-remedies-needed-to-save-100-000-american-manufacturing-jobs-302833444.html

SOURCE Quartz Manufacturing Alliance of America

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Control-First Security Design Creates Friction and Limits Business Value, Finds Info-Tech Research Group

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Many security programs are designed around controls rather than the key services they are meant to enable. Info-Tech Research Group explains that when security controls are introduced without the context, alignment, or defined outcomes tied to how the organization operates, they create friction and fail to deliver intended value. The firm’s blueprint Build Security Services for Business Value introduces a service-centric framework for designing security as a built-in enabler, not an add-on control layer.

ARLINGTON, Va., July 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — As organizations face rising security threats and growing dependence on digital operations, security leaders are under pressure to protect the business without slowing it down. Yet many security teams continue to implement controls in isolation from the business services they are meant to protect, according to Info-Tech Research Group. To help address this challenge, the global research and advisory firm has published its Build Security Services for Business Valueblueprint,designed to help CISOs and IT leaders define security as a service with clear context, measurable outcomes, and business value.

Info-Tech’s research shows that when security is not aligned to the business services it supports, leaders struggle to articulate what security is meant to achieve, who it serves, and how it creates value. Controls introduced without this alignment are more likely to disrupt operations, be bypassed, or go underused, reinforcing the perception of security as a barrier rather than an enabler. Over time, this erodes trust, makes investment harder to justify, and reduces the organization’s ability to sustain effective security practices.

“Security that isn’t designed in the context of the business will always struggle to gain traction,” says Diana MacPherson, research director at Info-Tech Research Group. “CISOs need to stop leading with controls and start leading with a service story, one that makes the purpose, the stakeholders, and the value explicit. That’s what earns trust and investment.”

Info-Tech’s Three-Phase Framework for Designing Security Services That Enable Business Outcomes

To help security leaders move from control-first design to service-based enablement, Info-Tech’s Build Security Services for Business Value blueprint outlines a three-phase framework for defining, aligning, and operationalizing security services:

Phase 1: Map Your Security Service Context
Define the security service by clarifying its purpose, stakeholders, dependencies, risks, and value within the broader business environment.Phase 2: Align Security Services to Business Services
Ensure that security services are aligned to business workflows, customers, capabilities, governance, and risk so that security supports how the organization delivers outcomes.Phase 3: Analyze, Finalize, and Communicate the Service
Translate insights into a fundable plan by defining outcomes, estimating resources and costs, and communicating value through clear narratives and roadmaps.

“Business leaders fund what they understand,” adds MacPherson. “If security leaders can’t articulate what a service costs, what it delivers, and who it protects, they’ll keep losing the budget conversation. This framework gives them the language to change that.”

Info-Tech’s Build Security Services for Business Value blueprint equips CISOs and security leaders with a phased framework, supported by a Security Service Workbook, Communication Document, and Roadmap Tool, to help organizations define service context, align security to business services, and translate insights into actionable plans. By applying this approach, security leaders can position security as a measurable business enabler rather than a control layer disconnected from the business.

For exclusive and timely commentary from Info-Tech’s experts, including Diana MacPherson, and access to the complete Build Security Services for Business Value blueprint, please contact pr@infotech.com.

About Info-Tech Research Group
Info-Tech Research Group is the “get things done” partner for over 30,000 IT, HR, and marketing leaders worldwide. The fastest growing research and advisory firm, Info-Tech enables leaders to make well-informed decisions and transform their organizations through AI, strategic foresight, step-by-step methodologies, practical tools, industry-leading advisory, and training programs. For nearly 30 years, tens of thousands of private and public organizations have trusted Info-Tech to lead their most important initiatives through periods of change and deliver outcomes that truly matter.

To learn more about Info-Tech’s HR research and advisory services, visit McLean & Company, and for data-driven software buying insights and vendor evaluations, visit the firm’s SoftwareReviews platform.

Media professionals can register for unrestricted access to research across IT, HR, and software, and hundreds of industry analysts through the firm’s Media Insiders program. To gain access, contact pr@infotech.com.

For information about Info-Tech Research Group or to access the latest research, visit infotech.com and connect via LinkedIn and X.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/control-first-security-design-creates-friction-and-limits-business-value-finds-info-tech-research-group-302833463.html

SOURCE Info-Tech Research Group

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Control-First Security Design Creates Friction and Limits Business Value, Finds Info-Tech Research Group

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Many security programs are designed around controls rather than the key services they are meant to enable. Info-Tech Research Group explains that when security controls are introduced without the context, alignment, or defined outcomes tied to how the organization operates, they create friction and fail to deliver intended value. The firm’s blueprint Build Security Services for Business Value introduces a service-centric framework for designing security as a built-in enabler, not an add-on control layer.

ARLINGTON, Va., July 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — As organizations face rising security threats and growing dependence on digital operations, security leaders are under pressure to protect the business without slowing it down. Yet many security teams continue to implement controls in isolation from the business services they are meant to protect, according to Info-Tech Research Group. To help address this challenge, the global research and advisory firm has published its Build Security Services for Business Valueblueprint,designed to help CISOs and IT leaders define security as a service with clear context, measurable outcomes, and business value.

Info-Tech’s research shows that when security is not aligned to the business services it supports, leaders struggle to articulate what security is meant to achieve, who it serves, and how it creates value. Controls introduced without this alignment are more likely to disrupt operations, be bypassed, or go underused, reinforcing the perception of security as a barrier rather than an enabler. Over time, this erodes trust, makes investment harder to justify, and reduces the organization’s ability to sustain effective security practices.

“Security that isn’t designed in the context of the business will always struggle to gain traction,” says Diana MacPherson, research director at Info-Tech Research Group. “CISOs need to stop leading with controls and start leading with a service story, one that makes the purpose, the stakeholders, and the value explicit. That’s what earns trust and investment.”

Info-Tech’s Three-Phase Framework for Designing Security Services That Enable Business Outcomes

To help security leaders move from control-first design to service-based enablement, Info-Tech’s Build Security Services for Business Value blueprint outlines a three-phase framework for defining, aligning, and operationalizing security services:

Phase 1: Map Your Security Service Context
Define the security service by clarifying its purpose, stakeholders, dependencies, risks, and value within the broader business environment.Phase 2: Align Security Services to Business Services
Ensure that security services are aligned to business workflows, customers, capabilities, governance, and risk so that security supports how the organization delivers outcomes.Phase 3: Analyze, Finalize, and Communicate the Service
Translate insights into a fundable plan by defining outcomes, estimating resources and costs, and communicating value through clear narratives and roadmaps.

“Business leaders fund what they understand,” adds MacPherson. “If security leaders can’t articulate what a service costs, what it delivers, and who it protects, they’ll keep losing the budget conversation. This framework gives them the language to change that.”

Info-Tech’s Build Security Services for Business Value blueprint equips CISOs and security leaders with a phased framework, supported by a Security Service Workbook, Communication Document, and Roadmap Tool, to help organizations define service context, align security to business services, and translate insights into actionable plans. By applying this approach, security leaders can position security as a measurable business enabler rather than a control layer disconnected from the business.

For exclusive and timely commentary from Info-Tech’s experts, including Diana MacPherson, and access to the complete Build Security Services for Business Value blueprint, please contact pr@infotech.com.

About Info-Tech Research Group
Info-Tech Research Group is the “get things done” partner for over 30,000 IT, HR, and marketing leaders worldwide. The fastest growing research and advisory firm, Info-Tech enables leaders to make well-informed decisions and transform their organizations through AI, strategic foresight, step-by-step methodologies, practical tools, industry-leading advisory, and training programs. For nearly 30 years, tens of thousands of private and public organizations have trusted Info-Tech to lead their most important initiatives through periods of change and deliver outcomes that truly matter.

To learn more about Info-Tech’s HR research and advisory services, visit McLean & Company, and for data-driven software buying insights and vendor evaluations, visit the firm’s SoftwareReviews platform.

Media professionals can register for unrestricted access to research across IT, HR, and software, and hundreds of industry analysts through the firm’s Media Insiders program. To gain access, contact pr@infotech.com.

For information about Info-Tech Research Group or to access the latest research, visit infotech.com and connect via LinkedIn and X.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/control-first-security-design-creates-friction-and-limits-business-value-finds-info-tech-research-group-302833463.html

SOURCE Info-Tech Research Group

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NIX United Achieves AWS AI Competency After Rigorous Audit

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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

View original content:https://www.prweb.com/releases/nix-united-achieves-aws-ai-competency-after-rigorous-audit-302831769.html

SOURCE NIX United

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