Category: Digital – AI & Apps

News and media stories that reflect Internet activities via social media, AI, Apps, and digital communication channels.

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CoreWeave announces NovelAI as among the first to have NVIDIA HGX H100 GPUs online

  • Today’s news follows CoreWeave’s early access period during which H100 PCIe instances launched in December and HGX H100s launched in February, further strengthening CoreWeave’s commitment to bringing the latest NVIDIA AI technology to market quickly
  • NovelAI, a generative AI company that creates literature and imagery with users’ personal perspective and voice, will be one of the first customers to use CoreWeave’s NVIDIA HGX H100 instances; the company and its developers now have the ability to scale on a supercomputer level
  • CoreWeave Cloud, powered by NVIDIA HGX H100s, NVIDIA Quantum-2 InfiniBand networking, and NVIDIA BlueField data processing units (DPUs) is critical to the growth of large language models and machine-learning algorithms that use enormous text data sets to identify, anticipate and generate human language

 

ROSELAND, N.J. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — #AI—CoreWeave, a specialized cloud provider built for large-scale GPU-accelerated workloads, today announced general availability of instances of NVIDIA HGX H100 GPUs online. This is CoreWeave’s second NVIDIA H100 offering, following the company’s launch of H100 PCIe GPU instances in January.

Anlatan, developers of NovelAI, will be among the first to deploy the latest NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPUs on CoreWeave, which began offering the new instances to select customers in February.

 

The news comes amid the global embrace of generative AI, a technology employing large language model (LLM) training that enables creative work, including the writing of scholarly papers, a stand-up comedy routine or a sonnet; the designing of artwork from a block of text; and in the case of NovelAI, composing literature.

 

“With generative AI becoming such a cultural phenomenon, it means a lot to be the first provider to make NVIDIA HGX H100 platforms generally available. This is a testament to our agility and efficiency in deploying infrastructure,” said Michael Intrator, CoreWeave co-founder and CEO. “We’ve been working with Anlatan, the creators of NovelAI, for more than a year, and we’re honored that they will be one of the first to deploy these cutting-edge GPUs.”

 

Launched in June 2021, NovelAI is a monthly subscription service for AI-assisted authorship, storytelling, text-adventure games, and virtual companionship. It also serves as a GPT-powered sandbox for creators and developers. The company’s AI algorithms, trained on actual literature, generate text based on users’ respective writing styles. They adapt to inputs in order to maintain the author’s perspective and style, making quality literature possible from anyone, regardless of ability. NovelAI blends the power of AI storytelling with the privacy of full encryption to offer limitless freedom of expression.

 

NVIDIA HGX H100 AI supercomputing platforms will be a key component in Anlatan’s product development and deployment process. CoreWeave’s cluster will enable the developers to be more flexible with model design, more quickly iterate on training, and serve their models through NovelAI to millions of users every month.

 

“We are entirely focused on AI innovation and AI-first products. NVIDIA H100 GPUs are the most top-notch, state-of-the-art machine learning accelerators,” said Anlatan CEO Eren Doğan. “This gives us a significant competitive advantage within the machine learning industry – for a wide variety of applications ranging from model training to model inference. We have worked with CoreWeave previously and were extremely happy with the support we received. CoreWeave’s Kubernetes-first cloud native ecosystem frees us from infrastructure worries and saves us time.”

 

CoreWeave has taken a unique approach to building its NVIDIA HGX H100 clusters in order to optimize performance for model training. Built on CoreWeave’s Kubernetes-native infrastructure, its clusters have a rail-optimized design using the NVIDIA Quantum-2 InfiniBand networking platform, providing 3.2Tbps of bandwidth per node. Additionally, CoreWeave’s NVIDIA HGX H100 infrastructure can scale up to 16,384 H100 SXM5 GPUs under the same InfiniBand Fat-Tree Non-Blocking fabric, providing access to a massively scalable cluster of the world’s most performant and deeply supported model training accelerators. What’s more, CoreWeave Cloud integrates NVIDIA BlueField data processing units (DPUs) to enable secure and elastic provisioning of H100 instances.

 

“Focusing on AI innovation and AI-first products to transform the future is key to creating a significant competitive advantage within the machine learning industry,” said Ian Buck, vice president of hyperscale and high performance computing at NVIDIA. “NVIDIA’s collaboration with innovators such as CoreWeave enables developers with cutting-edge NVIDIA HGX H100 GPUs to supercharge large language models (LLMs) and other AI workloads.”

 

Today’s announcement comes only months after CoreWeave’s November news that it would be among the first to offer cloud instances with NVIDIA HGX H100 supercomputing. CoreWeave’s collaboration with NVIDIA is critical to continue supporting the growth of large language models and other world-changing technology.

Learn more at www.coreweave.com.

 

About CoreWeave

Founded in 2017, CoreWeave is a specialized cloud provider, delivering a massive scale of GPU compute resources on top of the industry’s fastest and most flexible serverless infrastructure. CoreWeave builds cloud solutions for compute intensive use cases — digital assets, VFX and rendering, machine learning and AI, batch processing and pixel streaming — that are up to 35 times faster and 80% less expensive than the large, generalized public clouds. Learn more at www.coreweave.com.

 

About Anlatan, Developers of NovelAI

Anlatan’s mission is to provide user-friendly, customizable AI experiences that prioritize user rights to privacy and transparency. Its AI research brings about waves of change, leading to the development of unrestricted GPT-powered sandboxes that offer unlimited freedom of expression and creativity. In addition to text-based AI experiences, they have also introduced diffusion-powered image generation and text-to-speech capabilities, further expanding the range of possibilities for their users. The fruits of its research on diffusion-based image generation have yielded remarkable advancements, elevating the standards of existing image generation to new heights. Its team, united by a passion for AI, is comprised of individuals from a broad age range and diverse skill sets, all working remotely from around the globe. Every member brings their unique expertise to the table, bridging skills and supporting each other to create a tide of easily accessible, unconstrained AI products.

Contacts

Treble
Michael Kellner

coreweave@treblepr.com

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Business Digital - AI & Apps Lifestyle Programs & Events Technology

AM Best to host webinar on how insurers are responding to funding-backed litigation

OLDWICK, N.J. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — #insurance — AM Best and Best’s Insurance Professional Resources will host a complimentary webinar entitled “How Insurers Are Responding to Funding-Backed Litigation.”

 

The webinar will air on Tuesday, April 25, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. ET. Claims and legal experts examine the rise of litigation funding, including trends in disclosure requirements, how funding is affecting settlement strategies and litigation costs. Register today: http://www.ambest.com/webinars/litigation/index.html.

 

Panelists include:

  • Michael Briggs, Partner, Litigation & Dispute Resolution, McMillan
  • Marie Castronuovo, Partner, Russo & Gould, LLP
  • Dr. Janine McCartney, Ph.D., MBA, CSP, CHST, HHC Safety Engineers
  • Fred Fisher, President, Fisher Consulting Group Inc.

 

Attendees can submit questions during registration or by emailing webinars@ambest.com. The event will be streamed in video format, and playback will be available to registered viewers shortly after the event.

 

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

 

Copyright © 2023 by A.M. Best Company, Inc. and/or its affiliates.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Contacts

John Czuba
Managing Editor, Best’s Insurance Professional Resources
+1 908 439-2200, ext. 5673
john.czuba@ambest.com

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Business Digital - AI & Apps Lifestyle Technology

TrueFort launches the TrueFort Trust Global Channel Partner Program

Security partner ecosystem will focus on addressing customer challenges associated with lateral attack protection, workload security and micro-segmentation

 

WEEHAWKEN, N.J. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — #Applicationprotection — TrueFort, the lateral movement protection company, today announced the TrueFort Trust Partner Program for IT solution providers, systems integrators, consultants, MSPs/MSSPs and ISVs to deliver custom workload, lateral attack and micro-segmentation security solutions. The program uses a channel friendly model that allows partners to capitalize on new market opportunities to generate new recurring revenue streams.

TrueFort provides deep visibility and real-time protection for cloud, data center, and hybrid application environments. On day one, TrueFort channel partners benefit from application intelligence and workload behavior analytics to enforce Zero Trust microsegmentation that contains lateral movement and stops the spread of ransomware. TrueFort has unique full-stack cloud workload capabilities based on patented behavioral analytics and policy automation, specifically designed to address the complexities and dynamic nature of modern workloads.

 

“TrueFort enables partners to deliver value-added services to prevent zero-day, supply chain and ransomware attacks,” said Jay Dosanjh, VP Channels and Alliances for TrueFort. “Our channel-first model allows partners to engage in accordance with their business structure and growth initiatives. The more you invest and collaborate with TrueFort, the more benefits and rewards you will receive in return.”

 

TrueFort Partner Program Details

The multi-tier TrueFort Partner Program includes the following elements to enable partners to succeed and capitalize on this fast growing market opportunity:

  • Enables partners to differentiate their offerings via TrueFort’s integrated, lifecycle approach to microsegmention, service account protection, workload hardening, and file integrity monitoring
  • Provides automation to trigger response in ticketing systems, CMDBs, and SOC tools
  • Partner participation profitability and gamified incentives
  • Access to a Knowledge Base of sales assets, use cases, and technical collateral
  • Deal registration to reduce channel conflict and provide opportunity protection
  • Sandbox license for TrueFort Platform to demonstrate use cases and capabilities to prospects and customers
  • Marketing support and market development funds for joint programs, events and Go-to Market initiatives
  • Dedicated sales and system engineering support for successful deployments
  • Partner enablement and training resources helping you crawl, walk, and run on your own
  • Dedicated Partner Account Team
  • Differentiated partner levels, providing greater value based on engagement and joint opportunities

 

“Channel partners seek innovative solutions to address sophisticated cyberattacks,” said Charbel Tawil, Chairman and CEO of Forequest Technologies. “By providing a continuous detection and response platform that understands accepted behavior, TrueFort controls lateral movement used by zero-day, supply chain and ransomware attacks.”

 

Top Market Opportunities

Three of the leading customer use cases that TrueFort channel partners can monetize are:

1) Microsegmentation – TrueFort Zero Trust segmentation goes beyond other limited microsegmentation products by leveraging a behavioral understanding of applications that spans activity from network connections, users, and executed commands.

2) Granular Application Visibility – TrueFort provides a unified, real-time view of all user, network, and process behavior within applications across cloud, virtual, container-based, and traditional environments. This makes it easy to establish and detect trusted and untrusted relationships between applications.

3) Incident Response and Threat Hunting – TrueFort enables workflow-driven, rule-based real time response to attacks. It enables customers to detect and shut down unapproved lateral movement by blocking network connections, killing processes and disconnecting users in real-time.

 

For more information on joining the TrueFort Partner Program visit: TrueFort | Partners

 

About TrueFort

TrueFort puts you in control of lateral movement across the data center and cloud. The TrueFort Cloud extends protection beyond network activity by shutting down the abuse of service accounts. Founded by former IT executives from Bank of America and Goldman Sachs, leading global enterprises trust TrueFort to deliver unmatched application environment discovery and microsegmentation for both identity and activity. For more information visit https://truefort.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Contacts

Media Contact:

Marc Gendron

Marc Gendron PR for TrueFort

marc@mgpr.net
617.877.7480

Categories
Business Culture Digital - AI & Apps Lifestyle Technology

MIPI Alliance announces honorees in 10th Annual Membership Awards ceremony

Ten recipients recognized for extraordinary contributions to MIPI specifications for mobile, IoT, security, automotive and more

 

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — #MIPI — The MIPI Alliance, an international organization that develops interface specifications for mobile and mobile-influenced industries, today announced the recipients of the 2022 MIPI Alliance Membership Awards for their outstanding contributions and leadership. MIPI’s 10th annual awards ceremony took place last week in conjunction with MIPI Member Meeting #62 in Lisbon, Portugal.


“It is primarily because of the intense commitment of our growing membership that MIPI Alliance is able to succeed in our mission to deliver the interface specifications necessary to create state-of-the-art, innovative mobile-connected devices,” said Sanjiv Desai, chair of the MIPI Alliance.

 

“This awards ceremony is always a welcome opportunity to recognize those individuals and member companies who have given the most of themselves to MIPI activities and the industries we serve. We thank all of our members for their continued contributions.”

 

Individuals and companies are nominated by MIPI members. An awards and recognition committee appointed by the MIPI Board of Directors reviews and recommends nominees, and the board approves the final honorees. Ten award recipients in six categories were recognized in the 2022 program.

 

The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to individuals with at least seven years of service to MIPI Alliance and who have provided noteworthy contributions or leadership to a working group, the board of directors or another MIPI area. Sergio Silva of Synopsys, Inc., was recognized for his ongoing influence and innovative contributions to MIPI M-PHY, particularly in both the electrical and digital domains. An active contributor for more than a decade, Silva recently brought forward a key proposal for the next version of the specification and has leveraged his profound knowledge of physical layer requirements to proactively resolve issues and challenges, and clarify M-PHY use cases.

 

The Corporate Award was presented to Western Digital Technologies Inc., a MIPI Alliance member since 2006, for outstanding leadership and contributions to the development of the MIPI M-PHY physical layer interface and the MIPI UniPro transport layer, both of which have been developed in collaboration with JEDEC for its widely implemented Universal Flash Storage standard. Western Digital representative Kirill Dimitrov assumed the chair role for the MIPI M-PHY Working Group in 2018 and received a 2021 MIPI Working Group Leadership Award.

 

The Working Group Leadership Award is presented to leaders within MIPI working groups in recognition of their noteworthy contributions to the groups’ activities or specification development. Two individuals were recognized for their efforts in 2022:

  • Philip Hawkes of Qualcomm Incorporated, co-chair of the MIPI Security Working Group, was recognized for his own contributions, as well as his efforts to encourage others to participate in the development of the forthcoming MIPI Security framework, which includes the MIPI Security v1.0 and MIPI Security Profiles v1.0 specifications. The group is also collaborating with the Camera Working Group to apply these specifications to securing MIPI CSI-2 data streams.
  • Niel Warren of Google LLC, chair of the MIPI Audio Working Group, was honored for his contributions and dedication in the development of MIPI SoundWire and the forthcoming MIPI SoundWire I3S (MIPI SWI3S) specification. Warren has been instrumental in soliciting member inputs, and under his leadership, working group participation has been at an all-time high.

 

Four members received the Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes individuals impacting the MIPI specification development process or those contributing by serving on the board of directors, a working group, or helping in the areas of marketing or testing:

  • Nadav Banet of Valens Semiconductor received the award for innovative contributions across the end-to-end MIPI Automotive SerDes Solutions (MASS) framework. The lead of the Camera Adaptation Layer Subgroup, Banet’s major inputs include the Service Extension Packet (SEP) format, which has been adopted by both the MIPI Camera Service Extensions (MIPI CSE) and MIPI Display Service Extensions (MIPI DSE) specifications.
  • Hendrik Lange of KIOXIA Corporation was recognized for his contributions to the development of MIPI UniPro v2.0. In addition to helping create a comprehensive and thorough Conformance Test Suite (CTS) for the newest version of UniPro, Lange helped ease implementation by ensuring high-quality descriptions were included in the specification.
  • Cédric Marta of Synopsys, Inc. was selected to receive this honor for his contributions to the MIPI Camera Working Group. As a co-vice chair of the working group, Marta has provided especially crucial support in discussions surrounding the MPI CSI-2 ecosystem and interoperability, and has served as a MIPI author to provide education on the features and capabilities of CSI-2.
  • Jürgen Urban of KIOXIA Corporation was recognized for his input in creating the CTS for MIPI UniPro v2.0. Urban was instrumental in applying new features and leading discussions on change proposals for the CTS, helping speed its completion. As a former chair of the UniPro Working Group, Urban also received a Working Group Leadership Award in 2014.

 

The Special Achievement Award is presented to individuals who actively and consistently perform and contribute toward MIPI Alliance objectives. The 2022 award was presented to Chris Grigg, MIPI’s specifications and technical editing director. For 10 years, Grigg has expertly managed the editing process for a growing portfolio of MIPI specifications and supporting documents to ensure high quality, clarity and consistency across all technical materials and Alliance policies.

 

The Legacy Award, presented posthumously for notable participation in MIPI Alliance, was presented to Paul Kimelman of NXP Semiconductors. A longtime contributor, Kimelman’s extraordinary leadership and tireless coordination were key to the development and promotion of MIPI I3C. He was also a notable contributor to MIPI Debug for I3C, authoring a key section of the specification.

 

For photos and information about past recipients, please visit https://www.mipi.org/membership/annual-awards.

 

To discover more about MIPI Alliance, subscribe to its blog and connect with its social networks by following MIPI on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

 

About MIPI Alliance

MIPI Alliance (MIPI) develops interface specifications for mobile and mobile-influenced industries. There is at least one MIPI specification in every smartphone manufactured today. Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2023, the organization has over 375 member companies worldwide and more than 15 active working groups delivering specifications within the mobile ecosystem. Members of the organization include handset manufacturers, device OEMs, software providers, semiconductor companies, application processor developers, IP tool providers, automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, and test and test equipment companies, as well as camera, tablet and laptop manufacturers. For more information, please visit www.mipi.org.

 

MIPI®, A-PHY®, CSI-2®, M-PHY® and UniPro® are registered trademarks owned by MIPI Alliance. C-PHYSM, CSESM, D-PHYSM, DSESM, MIPI SecuritySM and SWI3SSM are service marks of MIPI Alliance.

Contacts

Becky Obbema

Interprose for MIPI Alliance

+1 408.569.3546

becky.obbema@interprosepr.com

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Digital - AI & Apps Lifestyle Technology

1Kosmos to present rollout blueprint for secure password-less access at 2023 Gartner IAM Conference

Experts will explain how to eliminate passwords with identity-based authentication, while overcoming deployment roadblocks and pitfalls

 

EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J — (BUSINESS WIRE) — #Blockchain—1Kosmos, the only company that unifies identity proofing and password-less authentication, today announced that it will present a session on eliminating passwords and deploying password-less multi-factor authentication (MFA) at the Gartner Identity & Access Management Summit, March 22 at the Gaylord Texan Hotel & Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas.

 

WHO: Javed Shah, Senior Vice President of Product Management for 1Kosmos is a 22 year veteran in the identity management industry. Prior to 1Kosmos, Javed worked at ForgeRock, where he held several leadership roles in the pre-Sales and product management organizations. He has also served in senior technical and architecture roles with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Kaiser Permanente, Prolifics and Persistent Systems.

 

Robert MacDonald, Vice President of Product Marketing for 1Kosmos has more than 15 years of global marketing experience in identity software. Rob managed product strategy and vision for the Identity and Access Management portfolio at Micro Focus, was responsible for content planning, sales enablement and GTM activities for ForgeRock, and has held senior marketing positions at Entrust, Dell, Quest and Corel Corporation.

 

WHAT: Traditional identity and access management frameworks are failing miserably, with passwords remaining the weakest link in the security chain. According to one recent survey, 84% of firms have suffered an identity-related breach in the past 12 months. It’s no surprise that deploying passwordless MFA is gaining mindshare among IT and security leaders as a way out of the whac-a-mole approach to security. But where should they begin? This session will explain the benefits, challenges and pitfalls to avoid for eliminating passwords and implementing a controlled deployment of passwordless MFA, including:

  • Why the rush to passwordless authentication often signals a deeper identity issue
  • The difference between device based and identity based biometrics
  • How to deploy a controlled rollout of passwordless MFA

 

WHERE: Gartner Identity & Access Management Summit,

Gaylord Texan Hotel and Convention Center, Grapevine, Texas

WHEN: Secure Passwordless – Yes You Can!

Wednesday, March 22nd at 9:45 AM local time

HOW: To schedule a conversation with 1Kosmos, contact Marc Gendron at marc@mgpr.net or +1 617.877.7480.

 

About 1Kosmos

1Kosmos enables passwordless access for workers, customers and citizens to securely transact with digital services. By unifying identity proofing and strong authentication, the BlockID platform creates a distributed digital identity that prevents identity impersonation, account takeover and fraud while delivering frictionless user experiences. BlockID is the only NIST, FIDO2, and iBeta biometrics certified platform that performs millions of authentications daily for some of the largest banks, telecommunications and healthcare organizations in the world. The company is funded by Forgepoint Capital and Gula Tech Adventures with headquarters in Somerset, New Jersey. For more information, visit www.1kosmos.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Contacts

Media:
Marc Gendron

Marc Gendron PR for 1Kosmos

617.877.7480

marc@mgpr.net

Categories
Digital - AI & Apps Education Lifestyle Technology

Bowker announces partnership with Bookshop.org to promote Book2Look view-inside widget

Publishers invited to submit titles for inclusion in pilot program

CHATHAM, N.J. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — As noted in recent press coverage, Bowker and Bookshop.org have launched a joint pilot program to make the Book2Look view-inside widget available to publishers free of charge.

 

“As the exclusive Book2Look distributor for the United States, we are pleased and excited to invite publishers to participate in the program,” said Bowker General Manager Beat Barblan.

 

“We encourage publishers to act now and take advantage of this unique limited-time opportunity.”

 

Bookshop.org, an online shopping platform that supports independent booksellers, is adopting the Book2Look view-inside widget (aka “Biblet,”) for all of its titles. Biblets will give Bookshop.org customers the option of previewing a few pages of a book while browsing, increasing the likelihood of purchase. Market research (Nielsen) shows that the option to look inside a book before purchase is among the top deciding factors after author, topic/genre, and price.

 

As stated by Andy Hunter, Bookshop.org CEO, “Bookshop.org is pleased to offer our customers an opportunity to browse books before buying them, using Book2Look’s elegant, embeddable preview technology.”

 

With Book2Look, publishers can share book excerpts, videos, audio clips, and reviews, enabling readers to more fully experience the book before purchase. An analytics component provides a dashboard for tracking Biblet performance including such key metrics as page views, click-throughs, and time spent in Biblets.

 

Designed to improve book discovery and sales, the Book2Look view-inside widget is a dynamic and effective way to present books to potential customers online. According to Book2Look managing director Ralph Möllers, a well-known digital publishing figure in the book industry, more than 4,000 publishers and self-publishers are currently using the technology.

 

To have their titles featured on Bookshop.org, publishers need only provide book content, cover image, and title data (the Biblet will only use whatever the publisher decides to give readers to preview). Publishers can request a free publisher account from Bowker by clicking here: http://bit.ly/3YJLY7t.

 

ABOUT BOWKER

Bowker provides products and services that make books easier to discover, evaluate, and experience – connecting publishers, authors, and booksellers with readers. From essential identifiers like ISBNs and barcodes…to editing and copyright protection assistance…to marketing and publicity tools, Bowker offers a wide range of resources to help authors publish and promote their titles.

 

ABOUT BOOKSHOP.ORG

Bookshop.org works to connect readers with independent booksellers all over the world. With a commitment to helping independent bookstores thrive, the Bookshop.org platform provides tools to help them compete online, and financial support to help them maintain their presence in local communities. Every purchase on the site financially supports independent bookstores.

 

ABOUT BOOK2LOOK

Ralph Möllers founded Book2Look as a digital book marketing platform to promote titles for his publishing company. He later partnered with Hitesh Jain, the owner of WITS Interactive, to develop Book2Look into a marketing tool that other publishers could use to promote their own titles.

Contacts

Andrew Kovacs

akovacs@bowker.com

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Art & Life Business Culture Digital - AI & Apps International & World Lifestyle Regulations & Security

Humanity Communications Collective receives international recognition for Human & Civil Rights work

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — Affirming its commitment to amplifying social justice issues through strategic and creative communications, Humanity Communications Collective recently announced it was selected as a 2023 Anthem Awards winner.


HCC was awarded a Bronze award in the Human & Civil Rights category for their work with the Bring Sundiata Acoli Home Alliance in 2022. HCC led a comprehensive communications approach to bring Black Panther Sundiata Acoli home last year. Acoli, 85, had been incarcerated since 1973 and was repeatedly denied parole for more than 24 years, violating New Jersey law. HCC strategically and methodically told the story of his humanity and key tenets of the law and created a compelling and nuanced narrative around the law’s intent, justice and civil rights.

 

Over the 9-month project, HCC:

  • Generated 1,268 social media posts with 1.9 million impressions, with a 544% engagement increase across social platforms.
  • Secured 763 media articles reaching an audience of 11.4 million.
  • Increased website visits by 400%.
  • Increased email subscription rates by 52% and open rates to 44%.
  • Drove the online petition calling for Sundiata’s release to more than 20,000 signatures.

 

In May 2022, Sundiata Acoli was granted parole and released after nearly 50 years of incarceration.

 

“While the true honor of this work was the rightful and just release of Sundiata Acoli, we are overjoyed by this international recognition and the esteemed group HCC joins,” said HCC CEO Yanira Castro. “Our goal was to galvanize support for Sundiata and encourage the state to faithfully discharge the law – even when it may not be popular. This is what social justice is all about; holding an unwavering commitment to speaking out and demanding equity for all, without exception. We all must move together to free the rest of our political prisoners. Now.”

 

In a video associated with the award announcement, Castro and the project’s team urged the release of political prisoners, further signifying HCC’s commitment to issue amplification.

 

The Anthem Awards was launched in response to the prevalence that social good has taken within the national conversation and cultural zeitgeist in recent years. The 2nd Annual competition received nearly 2,000 entries from 43 countries worldwide. By amplifying the voices that spark global change, the Anthem Awards are defining a new benchmark for impactful work that inspires others to take action in their communities. A portion of program revenue will fund a new grant program supporting emerging individuals and organizations working to advance the causes recognized.

 

Winners are selected by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, with members that include: Nicholas Thompson, CEO, The Atlantic, Christina Swarns, Executive Director, Innocence Project, Zarna Surti, Global Creative Director, Nike Purpose, Maurice Mitchell, National Director, Working Families Party, Lindsay Stein, Chief Purpose Office, Tombras, Jennifer Lotito, President & Chief Operating Officer, (RED), Lisa Sherman, President & CEO, The Ad Council, Emily Barfoot, Global Brand Director Dove, Unilever, Trovon Williams, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications, NAACP, Roma McCaig, Senior VP of Impact, Clif Bar, Michelle Egan, Chief Strategy Officer, NRDC, Dinah-Kareen Jean, Senior Manager, Social Innovation, Etsy, Sarah Kate Ellis, President & CEO, GLAAD, Jad Finck, Vice President of Innovation & Sustainability, Allbirds, Christopher Miller, Head of Global Activism Strategy, Ben & Jerry’s, Shayla Tait, Director of Philanthropy, The Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation.

 

“Since launching this platform in June of 2021, we have seen that social change has emerged as a dominant force in mainstream culture,” said Anthem Awards Managing Director Jessica Lauretti. “The sheer number, breadth and overall quality of the entries shared with us in the 2nd Annual Awards is a testament to the strength of this growing movement and demonstrates an enduring commitment to the work that is both humbling and inspiring to see. From the war in Ukraine to protests in Iran and the ongoing battle for equality here at home in the States, the call for change not only perseveres but is a growing global chorus.”

 

Launched in 2021 by The Webby Awards, the Anthem Awards honors the purpose & mission-driven work of people, companies and organizations worldwide. The Anthem Awards honors work across seven core causes: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion; Education; Art & Culture; Health; Human & Civil Rights; Humanitarian Action & Services; Responsible Technology; and Sustainability, Environment & Climate. Founded in partnership with the Ad Council, Born This Way Foundation, Feeding America, GLAAD, Mozilla, NAACP, NRDC, WWF, and XQ.

 

Hailed as the “Internet’s highest honor” by The New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international awards organization honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites; Video; Advertising, Media & PR; Apps, Mobile, and Voice; Social; Podcasts; and Games. Established in 1996, The Webby Awards received more than 13,500 entries from all 50 states and 70 countries worldwide this year. The Webby Awards are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS). Sponsors and Partners of The Webby Awards include Verizon, WP Engine, YouGov, Brandlive, Canva, NAACP, KPMG, Fast Company, Wall Street Journal, MediaPost, Podcast Movement, and AIGA.

 

Humanity Communications Collective is a luxury, justice-driven, strategic communications agency focused on making human and emotional connections. We provide communications strategy, content creation, branding, media relations, social media services, and event activations for non-profits and social impact organizations. We live at the intersection of communications, digital, social impact, and cultural competency. HCC is owned by an Afro-Latina with a team of strategic communications experts in three different countries.

 

Contacts

Heather Hansen

Humanity Communications Collective

Heather@humanitycom.com
410-991-4444

Categories
Business Digital - AI & Apps Healthcare Lifestyle News Now! Science

CORRECTING and REPLACING zant. announces Jim Lusk as investor

zant., a mental health app dedicated to delivering low-cost support to college students announces Jim Lusk as an investor.

 

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — Please replace the release dated January 26, 2023 with the following corrected version due to multiple revisions.

The updated release reads:

 

ZANT. ANNOUNCES JIM LUSK AS INVESTOR

zant., a mental health app dedicated to delivering low-cost support to college students announces Jim Lusk as an investor.

 

zant. believes that mental health professionals exist across a spectrum of services and conduct the work they do with the ultimate goal of supporting those struggling. They aim to use the resources they have throughout the team and investment to do something about the fragmented and broken system that exists today within the mental health industry.

 

According to MarketWatch, today, “one-third of Americans can’t afford therapy,” which is where zant. comes in. The revolutionary mental health app has focused its differentiation on low rates starting at $25 per session, special features to manage all aspects of finding, scheduling, paying, and having the session in one place, and offering services from life coaches, counselors, and specialists. As they continue in their fundraising efforts, zant. is thrilled to announce Jim Lusk as an investor. With extensive experience in strategic planning and business strategy, finance, and beyond – Lusk brings a wealth of knowledge to the team.

 

Lusk shared his enthusiasm for joining zant.: “I am proud to join zant., as it truly is leading the way in this sector of mental health in making traditional and non-traditional services accessible for all people regardless of their age, location, or financial and insurance situation.” He added, “zant.’s mission perfectly aligns with what I believe every person should have access to; high-quality mental health support without breaking the bank.”

 

Lusk earned his Bachelor’s degree from The Wharton School and his Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Seton Hall University. His expertise in various aspects of business has been utilized in multiple executive roles since 1994 starting at the AT&T Corporation. Lusk has served as the interim CFO for Lucent, CFO for ABM Industries, and CFO for Bioscrip.

 

Lusk has a variety of skills which includes finance, treasury, and accounting. His expertise includes financial planning and analysis, operations, along with mergers and acquisitions activities allowing him to gain an understanding of global markets that can be applied to zant.’s growth.

 

“When I first met Jim, I could feel his passion and overwhelming love for people. I was not only thrilled to hear about his interest in investing himself but alongside his wife as a joint investment,” said Maggie Rose Macar, founder and CEO of zant. “Jim is and will continue to make an impact on the zant. team as a mentor and advisor, someone who is encouraging, passionate about helping others, and despite his busy schedule, makes time to meet with our team members and share his wealth of knowledge without hesitation.”

 

As an investor with zant., Lusk will continue to provide valuable insight into strategies that are designed to deliver lasting results that benefit this innovative mental health app, which is currently utilized by Americans around the country.

 

zant. launched September 1st on the iOS App Store and is now available for download on the Google Play Store for android users. To invest in zant., contact investments@zant.app and head to www.zant.app for more information.

 

zant. is a mobile app offering over 25 categories of support at low costs with discounted student and standard rates. We envision a world where mental health services are accessible, affordable, and still remain high-quality.

Contacts

Jake Ciccarelli, jake@zant.app

Categories
Business Culture Digital - AI & Apps Lifestyle Regulations & Security

Next Solutions Group acquires technologist Tom Cocuzza’s Wells Tech Advisors

Expertise in supporting marketing technology for highly regulated industries

 

AUSTIN, Texas & MORRISTOWN, N.J. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — The Next Solutions Group (NSG) announced the acquisition of Wells Tech Advisors to support marketing technology for businesses, including those in highly regulated industries such as healthcare.


Wells Tech Advisors, which is led by Tom Cocuzza, will be rebranded as NSG Technologies and focus on devOps, engineering, quality assurance, architecture, application management and related disciplines. Those services will complement Next Solutions Group’s offerings, which include corporate reputation/issues management, business intelligence, and cybersecurity.

 

“Tom and his teams have the ability to understand business goals, translate those into specific actions and then build the right solutions, often in highly regulated marketplaces,” said Raymond F. Kerins Jr., founder and CEO of Austin and New York-based Next Solutions Group.

 

“Technology must be there to enable, accelerate and improve business outcomes, which requires a mentality and experienced team that thinks in an agile manner.”

 

NSG and NSG Technologies are part of Next Practices Group (NPG), a founder-driven consortium of firms.

 

Cocuzza most recently served as Practice Leader, Technology Services for Real Chemistry, where he led a 35-person technology team to deliver strategies across Veeva, Marketo, Salesforce and Salesforce Marketing Cloud, as well as bespoke solutions for clients in the healthcare industry.

 

“Tom grew up as a software engineer, lead developer and senior systems engineer, so he knows the ins and outs of devOps, in addition to understanding how to scale this important function,” added John Morea, Global CIO, NPG and Chair, NSG Technologies.

 

“Our mission at NPG is for our IT team to be client-facing, so that our clients and all NPG firms can partner with a best-in-class team.”

 

Cocuzza created Wells Tech Advisors in early 2022 to offer clients a range of skills that include devOps as a service, platform architecture, data engineering, application, cloud service and vendor management and process optimization.

 

“My goal is to build NSG Technologies into a service that streamlines workflow for our clients with a team that knows how to navigate highly regulated industries, such as healthcare, financial services, insurance, energy and other key industries,” stated Cocuzza, founder and CEO of NSG Technologies.

 

About The Next Solutions Group

The Next Solutions Group specializes in corporate reputation/issues management, technology solutions, business intelligence, and cybersecurity and is a member of The Next Practices Group (NPG).

 

NSG’s senior team of professionals has a broad range of experience in business, government, and journalism. We have supported C-suite executives, top government officials, military, and non-profit leaders.

 

We protect and advance our clients’ reputation while ensuring alignment with organizational objectives. We support and coach executives and leaders in preparation for engagement with key audiences, including investors, employees, regulators, and journalists. At a time when companies and their leaders are coming under relentless assault online, we monitor the clear, deep, and dark web to protect their safety and reputation.

 

We represent multinational companies in sectors including healthcare, technology, consumer goods and financial services. Our senior leaders are engaged. We do the day-to-day work. We have engaged with companies that have been under investigations by various governmental agencies, including the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission. We have worked on class action lawsuits, executive issues/transitions, corporate layoffs, anti-corporate activism, and cyber/ransomware attacks. Our work has also included M&A, regulatory and product issues such as recalls.

 

About The Next Practices Group

NPG is a founder-driven group formed to create perpetual competitive advantage and value for clients. The group’s combined expertise in leading organizations and in the key disciplines of data science, technology, digital media, issues management, cybersecurity, and marketing communications powers new models and a new approach to doing business.

Contacts

Media:
Madeline Brew

732-207-9917

Madeline.Brew@nextpracticegroup.com

Categories
Business Digital - AI & Apps

ExtensisHR announces new enhancements to Work Anywhere™ mobile application

Features include multiple language functionality, additional manager capabilities, and more

 

WOODBRIDGE, N.J. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — #HR—ExtensisHR, a nationally recognized Professional Employer Organization (PEO) and HR Outsourcing (HRO) services provider, announces greater enhancements and functionality of its Work Anywhere™ mobile application. While the state-of-the-art app already offers mobile users fast, real-time access to their important HR services, this latest version is specifically tailored to better serve a diverse customer base and reflect the concierge-level of service ExtensisHR is known for, including:

  • Multiple language functionality: Users can now set their preferred language to English or Spanish and easily toggle between both in the “settings” tab
  • View per-pay-period contributions: Easily see their medical, dental, and vision contributions and covered dependents if applicable
  • New manager and administrator capabilities: Ability to select an employee from their team list and view high-level details such as date of hire, birthdate, resident address, and more

 

Other recent additions have been designed to deliver superior performance, convenience, and security, and allow users to:

  • Utilize their device’s facial or fingerprint recognition to log in and access their account
  • Customize the frequency of multi-factor authentication (MFA) prompting
  • Change address information for a primary residence, mailing, or W-2 delivery address
  • Update or add direct deposit information

 

“We are always looking to create better experiences for our customers and their employees,” said Joe Catapano, Chief Information Officer at ExtensisHR. “And as people continue to seek out effective ways of working in a world where agility and convenience are supreme, we’re confident that these updates will provide exactly what today’s modern worker craves. Whether it’s the ability to easily view their per-pay health insurance deductions, or choosing their preferred language of English or Spanish, the Work Anywhere™ app provides personalization at the click of a button.”

 

Accessible for both iPhone and Android devices, ExtensisHR’s Work Anywhere™ app is available for download now in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.

 

About ExtensisHR

Founded in 1997, ExtensisHR is a leading national Certified Professional Employer Organization (PEO) and HR Outsourcing (HRO) solution provider, focused on delivering exceptional customer service. We specialize in tailored HR solutions for small- and medium-sized businesses, with a comprehensive portfolio including human resources, benefits, payroll, Work Anywhere™ technology, risk and compliance, employee management, recruiting, and more. To learn more or to become a broker or business partner, visit: www.extensishr.com, or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Contacts

Media:
ExtensisHR

Stephanie Clark

sclark@extensishr.com
732-236-5224