IT, AI & Telecommunications

California – October 31, 2026 -- Switching off Gemma 4's default reasoning with a single flag raised accuracy by up to 48 points, cut cost 6x to 8x and made a correct answer up to 19x faster on short verifiable tasks, according to a 27-model local benchmark run on a Strix Halo machine with a power meter attached. The 12B and 26B variants rose from about 52% to 100% on the easy suite.

Each model answered 190 checkable tasks twice, under two different prompts. Electricity was priced at California summer rates of 34 cents per kilowatt-hour off-peak and 58 cents on-peak.

Gemma 4 reasons on 95 of 95 tasks even when told not to

Asked for a one-line answer with no explanation, Gemma 4 emitted reasoning on every task in both prompt conditions. On a 4,096-token budget, the 12B and 26B spent the entire allowance thinking and returned nothing on roughly half the questions.

Global – October 31, 2026 -- CIQ is preparing the ML-KEM and ML-DSA post-quantum algorithm implementations in Network Security Services (NSS) for FIPS 140-3 validation. Distinguished Engineer Jeremy Allison, a Samba co-creator, leads the effort, which also covers Common Criteria evaluation for Rocky Linux from CIQ Pro (RLC Pro) and other CIQ products.

Transpiled Rust code forces repeated manual remediation at CIQ

Part of the NSS implementation was written in Rust and transpiled into C. The generated code worked but was not ready for FIPS validation. Its functions copied intermediate values onto the stack, and those values had to be securely erased before the functions returned.

ABU DHABI – November 01, 2026 -- Context Labs B.V. launched the AI Distillery, a Context Engine that converts an enterprise's operational and business data into a governed, customer-owned Context Package. The package works with any frontier or open-weight model and runs inside the customer's own environment. The product is available now through the Microsoft Marketplace.

Gartner and McKinsey data frame the AI-readiness gap

Gartner predicts organizations will abandon 60% of AI projects unsupported by AI-ready data through 2026. It also expects over 40% of agentic AI projects to be canceled by the end of 2027. McKinsey reports that eight in ten companies cite data limitations as the barrier to scaling AI agents.

Vienna – November 01, 2026 -- Austrian AI company Digicust has appointed Alexander Miklautz, previously Head of Marketing at PwC Austria, as Head of Global Partnerships & Events, effective November 1, 2026. The hire makes strategic partnerships a standalone growth channel alongside direct enterprise sales.

Miklautz will develop the partner network and joint market-entry and sales initiatives. Digicust is targeting customs software vendors, consulting and implementation firms, technology companies and industry organizations. The goal is deeper integration of its platform into existing system landscapes and access to new markets.

Miklautz to build a structured partner program with training and marketing support

He will expand the partner program with defined cooperation models, joint market-development plans, and training and marketing offerings for partners. Trade events and industry formats are intended to generate new collaborations.

Global – October 31, 2026 -- CrowdStrike has expanded its public Prompt Injection Taxonomy to 222 techniques, adding attacks that target how autonomous AI agents plan rather than only what they are prompted to do.

Attackers shape the context agents plan from

An agent breaks a goal into steps, picks tools and executes. Attackers no longer need to push one forbidden request past an input or output filter. They can instead shape the context the agent plans from, so a restricted action looks like the logical next step. Because each step can look benign alone, defenses that check steps in isolation may miss what the full plan adds up to.

Global – October 31, 2026 -- CrowdStrike has added Third-Party IOC Management to Falcon Next-Gen SIEM, letting security teams ingest, curate and manage externally sourced threat indicators in the same platform that holds their security telemetry.

The feature targets a "bring your own intelligence" model. Indicators from commercial providers, ISACs, government sources, open-source research, partners and internal incident response often sit in spreadsheets, ticketing tools and separate threat intelligence platforms. CrowdStrike says manual imports across those tools add operational overhead, delay detection, generate unnecessary alerts and slow investigations.

Ingestion covers IPs, domains, URLs and file hashes via STIX/TAXII, APIs and uploads

Teams can onboard IOCs through STIX/TAXII, APIs or direct uploads. The platform automatically consolidates duplicate indicators across sources.

COLUMBUS – October 31, 2026 -- Vertiv (NYSE: VRT) has launched a global ecosystem offering that combines an expanded collaboration with Dow and a new partnership with Solenis to manage liquid cooling as a single, integrated thermal system for AI-scale data centers.

The initiative pairs Vertiv's infrastructure, monitoring and global service capabilities with fluid chemistry, coolant and water treatment expertise from the two partners. Dow supplies advanced coolant technologies, while Solenis contributes specialty chemicals and water treatment solutions.

Vertiv extends Dow Coolant Care Network collaboration and adds Solenis

Vertiv expanded its work with Dow through the Dow Coolant Care Network and started a new partnership with Solenis to support end-to-end fluid management and thermal infrastructure services. Both are integrated with Vertiv's monitoring and lifecycle capabilities.

Orlando – October 31, 2026 -- Springbrook Software has made AI Invoicing and AI Permitting available today on its Cirrus cloud ERP platform. It also previewed natural language reporting and a resident-facing Citizen Portal at its Activate 2026 customer conference in Orlando.

The Innovation Roadmap targets three pain points the company says local governments face everywhere: reporting, ease of use and support. Attendees tested forthcoming features and gave live feedback.

AI Invoicing and AI Permitting go live with staff sign-off

AI Invoicing reads incoming invoices, captures the details and matches each one to its purchase order, cutting manual data entry for accounts payable staff. AI Permitting advises applicants, checks applications for completeness and performs a first review of the content.

In both tools, AI does the first pass and staff review and approve the result before anything is returned or approved.

Switzerland – October 31, 2026 -- Sword Switzerland has extended the internship of Elio Biffiger, its digital marketing intern, by a further six months. The initial placement ran six months from November 2025 and forms part of his Master's degree at CREA Geneva.

Intern runs social channels and editorial calendar for Sword Switzerland

Biffiger works alongside the marketing team on brand visibility and communication initiatives. He produces LinkedIn content, newsletters and marketing materials, including posts, carousels, visuals and partner announcements.

He also manages Sword Switzerland's social channels and its editorial calendar.

Biffiger handles event communication from agenda draft to guest list

His event remit runs end to end. It covers landing pages and registration in HubSpot, invitations and follow-ups, visual assets, and coordination with partners.

PLANO, Texas – October 31, 2026 -- Securus Technologies has made the Academy Award-eligible short film "Basement People" available across its network of more than 550,000 secure tablets in U.S. correctional facilities. The film was written by an incarcerated screenwriter.

Securus distributes the film through its Media Store from Oct. 22

The company, which serves more than 1,800 correctional agencies, added the title to the Securus Media Store on Oct. 22, 2026. It frames the release as a way to widen access to content tied to education, rehabilitation and reentry. The film also screens at the 2026 San Quentin Film Festival, now in its third year and described as the first film festival established inside a U.S. prison.