regulatory_compliance

A-LIGN Acquires Pathfynder to Add Offensive Security to Compliance Suite

Tampa – September 07, 2026 -- A-LIGN, a cybersecurity compliance firm serving more than 6,400 organizations worldwide, has acquired offensive and defensive security specialist Pathfynder, extending its portfolio beyond audits into penetration testing and adversary emulation.

A-LIGN adds veteran-owned offensive security team to its compliance business

Pathfynder, a veteran-owned firm, employs specialists with military and intelligence community backgrounds delivering network, cloud, and web application penetration testing, red team operations, adversary emulation, and forensics and incident response services.

Ex-Army Cyber Command Chief of Staff Joins Qtonic Quantum for Federal Push

Miami – September 07, 2026 -- Col. Reginald M. Harris, U.S. Army (Retired), the former Chief of Staff of U.S. Army Cyber Command, has joined Qtonic Quantum Corp to lead federal and defense government affairs as Washington imposes hard deadlines on post-quantum cryptography adoption.

Pentagon deadline forces cryptographic inventory before 2030

The Department of War's Post-Quantum Cryptography Strategy, released in June 2026, requires high-impact and national security systems to support quantum-resistant algorithms by December 31, 2030, with force-wide use mandated by December 31, 2031. Non-compliant systems face phase-out. Executive Order 14412, signed June 22, 2026, directs CISA and NIST to publish minimum elements for a cryptographic bill of materials and instructs the FAR Council to draft a rule binding covered contractors to post-quantum standards.

Claroty Named Leader, Customer Favorite in Forrester OT Security Wave

New York – September 07, 2026 -- Claroty scored the highest mark possible in nine separate evaluation criteria, earning both a Leader and a Customer Favorite distinction in The Forrester Wave: Operational Technology Security Solutions, Q3 2026.

Forrester awards top scores across current offering and strategy categories

The nine top scores span vulnerability management, risk modeling and exposure prioritization, secured access management, reporting, IT/OT convergence support, SOC integration depth, and OT-safe deployment models within the current offering category. On the strategy side, Claroty received top marks for innovation, adoption, and pricing flexibility and transparency.

Flō Networks Moves to Acquire Up to 100% of Axtel in Mexico

Mexico City – September 07, 2026 -- Flō Networks has announced plans to launch public tender offers to acquire up to 100% of the outstanding shares of Controladora Axtel, S.A.B. de C.V. and up to 100% of the CPOs of Axtel, S.A.B. de C.V., in a move that would consolidate two major fiber-optic operators in Mexico.

Boards of both Axtel companies give preliminary green light to the deal

Flō, the U.S.-based digital infrastructure operator formerly known as Transtelco, said it has received preliminary approval from the Boards of Directors of both Axtel Companies to advance toward launching the offers. The company is now seeking regulatory clearances required to proceed.

API International Launches NSF-Certified CleanLine Flanges for Drinking Water

Tualatin, Ore. – September 07, 2026 -- API International has launched CleanLine, a new line of stainless steel flanges certified to NSF/ANSI/CAN 61 and NSF/ANSI/CAN 372 for drinking-water and clean-water applications.

New Line Adds NSF Certification to Existing Waterworks Flange Range

CleanLine expands API International's waterworks and sanitary process components to serve projects that specifically require NSF-certified parts. The line was developed in response to customer demand for stainless steel components in drinking-water systems that mandate NSF certification. Ric Henderson, VP of Sales, said the certification lets the company support more drinking-water infrastructure projects using the same manufacturing and service base as its existing AWWA and ANSI/ASME flange offering.

US Manufacturing PMI Cools to 54.6% as Tariffs, Iran Conflict Bite

Tempe, Ariz. – – September 07, 2026 -- U.S. manufacturing activity expanded for an eighth straight month in August, but the pace cooled as the ISM Manufacturing PMI fell to 54.6%, down 1 percentage point from July's 55.6%, according to the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). The reading marks the sector's recovery from a 10-month contraction and corresponds to an estimated 2.4% annualized increase in real GDP, ISM said. The broader U.S. economy has now expanded for 22 consecutive months.

New orders and backlogs lose momentum as demand sentiment softens

The New Orders Index dropped 3 points to 53.7% from 56.7% in July, while the Backlog of Orders Index fell 3.2 points to 51.8%. The positive-to-negative comment ratio on demand narrowed to 2-to-1 in August from 3.5-to-1 the prior month. New Export Orders bucked the trend, edging up 0.2 point to 53.2%.

PDFix Tagging Cuts ITHAKA's PDF Accessibility Costs by 97% on AWS

Frederick, Md. – September 06, 2026 -- ITHAKA, the nonprofit behind JSTOR, has achieved a 98% accessibility check pass rate while cutting remediation costs by more than 97% through an on-demand PDF pipeline built on Amazon Web Services using PDFix structural tagging, according to a new AWS Public Sector Blog article highlighted by PDFix-US.

ITHAKA's 20 million PDFs would cost up to $624 million to remediate manually

ITHAKA's digital corpus spans approximately 20 million PDFs and 156 million pages, with materials dating back to 1550. The AWS article estimates manual remediation of the full collection would cost between $156 million and $624 million, a scale that made conventional, upfront remediation financially impractical.

Google Funds Water-Saving Irrigation for 6,000 Acres of Texas Rice Farms

Nashville, Tenn. – September 05, 2026 -- AgriCapture has partnered with Google and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation to replenish 5.4 billion gallons of water in Southeast Texas by converting 6,000 acres of rice farmland to water-saving irrigation systems.

Google finances irrigation overhaul across Trinity River Basin farmland

The program targets the Trinity River Basin, where roughly 140,000 rice acres are flood irrigated annually amid pressure from agricultural demand, urban growth and recurring drought. AgriCapture is working directly with Texas rice farmers to install irrigation infrastructure that replaces continuous flooding, measuring results through flow meters, field sensors and geospatial monitoring to quantify verified water savings against prior flood-irrigation baselines.

Sentric Specialty, Neumann Advisory Forge Exclusive Food Safety Risk Pact

Novato, Calif. – September 05, 2026 -- Sentric Specialty has entered an exclusive strategic relationship with Neumann Advisory Services, LLC (NAS) to pair specialty insurance coverage with hands-on product safety consulting for food and beverage manufacturers.

Sentric policyholders gain exclusive access to NAS's regulatory and recall expertise

Under the arrangement, eligible Sentric Specialty policyholders will receive direct access to NAS's advisory services covering product safety, regulatory compliance, food safety, recall preparedness, crisis management and enterprise risk reduction. The relationship is structured to support clients both before and after a product safety incident, rather than only after a claim is filed.

Ribbon Expands Router Lineup to Secure Utility Grid Networks

Plano, Texas – September 05, 2026 -- Ribbon Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: RBBN) has expanded its critical infrastructure portfolio with two new routers, the NPT 1022M and NPT 2104, targeting utilities that must modernize grid communications without disrupting live operations.

New routers add capacity while preserving legacy operational technology support

The NPT 1022M and NPT 2104 build on Ribbon's existing NPT 1012D and NPT 2714 platforms, adding support for 100GbE and 400GbE interfaces alongside legacy 64 kbit/s PCM circuit emulation. The combination lets utilities run TDM-based teleprotection and SCADA systems on the same network as IP-MPLS and segment routing traffic, avoiding a hard cutover from decades-old infrastructure.