Tech News

Cisco Reimagines Security for Data Centers and Clouds in Era of AI

Published

2 years ago

April 18, 2024

News Summary:
Cisco powers and secures AI-scale data centers and clouds, safeguarding every application and device regardless of distribution or connectivity.

In today’s highly distributed landscape, the window from vulnerability to exploitation is shrinking rapidly.
Defending against this complex threat environment is beyond human scale.
Cisco Hypershield enables customers to deploy security wherever needed: in the cloud, data center, factory floor, or hospital imaging room.
With AI-native security, customers can autonomously segment networks, enjoy distributed and instant exploit protection without patches, and experience self-qualifying software upgrades with zero downtime.

News in Detail:
Cisco, the leader in security and networking, today unveiled a radically new approach to securing data centers and clouds in response to the increasing demands the AI revolution has put on IT infrastructure. Cisco is rearchitecting how we harness and protect AI and other modern workloads with industry-first, Cisco Hypershield. With this unprecedented innovation, Cisco is tipping the scales in favor of defenders, building on its recent announcements to accelerate AI infrastructure with Cisco’s ethernet switching, silicon and compute portfolio.

Cisco Hypershield protects applications, devices and data across public and private data centers, clouds and physical locations – anywhere customers need it. Designed and built with AI in mind from the start, Hypershield enables organizations to achieve security outcomes beyond what has been possible with humans alone.

“Cisco Hypershield is one of the most significant security innovations in our history,” said Chuck Robbins, Cisco Chair and CEO. “With our data advantage and strength in security, infrastructure and observability platforms, Cisco is uniquely positioned to help our customers harness the power of AI.”

Hypershield is a revolutionary new security architecture. It’s built with technology originally developed for hyperscale public clouds and is now available for enterprise IT teams of all sizes. More a fabric than a fence, Hypershield enables security enforcement to be placed everywhere it needs to be. Every application service in the datacenter. Every Kubernetes cluster in the public cloud. Every container and virtual machine (VM). It can even turn every network port into a high-performance security enforcement point, bringing completely new security capabilities not just to clouds, but to the data center, on a factory floor, or a hospital imaging room. This new technology blocks application exploits in minutes and stops lateral movement in its tracks.

“AI has the potential to empower the world’s 8 billion people to have the same impact as 80 billion. With this abundance, we must reimagine the role of the data center – how data centers are connected, secured, operated and scaled,” said Jeetu Patel, Executive Vice President and General Manager for Security and Collaboration at Cisco.

“The power of Cisco Hypershield is that it can put security anywhere you need it – in software, in a server, or in the future even in a network switch. When you have a distributed system that could include hundreds of thousands of enforcement points, simplified management is mission critical. And we need to be orders-of-magnitude more autonomous, at an orders-of-magnitude lower cost.”

Security enforcement with Hypershield happens at three different layers: in software, in virtual machines, and in network and compute servers and appliances, leveraging the same powerful hardware accelerators that are used extensively in high-performance computing and hyperscale public clouds.

Hypershield was built on three key pillars:

• AI-Native: Built and designed from the start to be autonomous and predictive, Hypershield manages itself once it earns trust, making a hyper-distributed approach at scale possible.
• Cloud-Native: Hypershield is built on open source eBPF, the default mechanism for connecting and protecting cloud-native workloads in the hyperscale cloud. Cisco acquired the leading provider of eBPF for enterprises, Isovalent, earlier this month.
• Hyper-Distributed: Cisco is completely reimagining how traditional network security works by embedding advanced security controls into servers and the network fabric itself. Hypershield spans all clouds and leverages hardware acceleration like Data Processing Units (DPU) to analyze and respond to anomalies in application and network behavior. It shifts security closer to the workloads that need protection.

Cisco, with its industry-leading expertise in networking, security and extensive partner ecosystem, together with NVIDIA, is committed to building and optimizing AI-native security solutions to protect and scale the data centers of tomorrow. This collaboration includes leveraging the NVIDIA Morpheus cybersecurity AI framework for accelerated network anomaly detection, as well as NVIDIA NIM microservices for powering custom security AI assistants for the enterprise. NVIDIA’s class of converged accelerators combine the power of GPU and DPU computing, to augment Cisco Hypershield with robust security from cloud to edge.

“Enterprises across all industries are seeking the security that can protect them against ever expanding cyber threats,” said Kevin Deierling, Senior Vice President of Networking at NVIDIA. “Together, Cisco and NVIDIA are leveraging the power of AI to deliver powerful, incredibly secure data center infrastructure that will enable enterprises to transform their businesses and benefit customers everywhere.”

As a revolutionary new security architecture, Hypershield is solving three key customer challenges in defending against today’s sophisticated threat landscape:

• Distributed Exploit Protection: Attackers are adept at weaponizing newly published vulnerabilities faster than defenders can patch. With defenders seeing nearly 100 new vulnerabilities every day, according to Cisco Talos Threat Intelligence, this can lead to catastrophic results. Hypershield delivers protection in minutes by automatically testing and deploying compensating controls into the distributed fabric of enforcement points.
• Autonomous Segmentation: Once an attacker is in the network, segmentation is key to stopping their lateral movement. Hypershield perpetually observes, auto-reasons and re-evaluates existing policies to autonomously segment the network, solving this in large and complex environments.
• Self-qualifying Upgrades: Hypershield automates the incredibly laborious and time-consuming process of testing and deploying upgrades once they are ready, leveraging a dual data plane. This completely new software architecture allows software upgrades and policy changes to be placed in a digital twin that tests updates using the customer’s unique combination of traffic, policies and features, then applying those updates with zero downtime.

Built into the Security Cloud, Cisco’s unified, AI-driven, cross-domain security platform, Cisco Hypershield is expected to be Generally Available in August 2024. With Cisco’s recent acquisition of Splunk, customers will gain unparalleled visibility and insights across their entire digital footprint for unprecedented security protection.

“AI is not just a force for good but also a tool used for nefarious purposes, allowing hackers to reverse engineer patches and create exploits in record time. Cisco looks to address an AI enabled problem with an AI solution as Cisco Hypershield aims to tip the scales back in favor of the defender by shielding new vulnerabilities against exploit in minutes – rather than the days, weeks or even months as we wait for patches to actually get deployed,” said Frank Dickson, Group Vice President, Security & Trust at IDC. “With the number of vulnerabilities ever increasing and the time for attackers to exploit them at scale ever decreasing, it’s clear that patching alone can’t keep up. Tools like Hypershield are necessary to combat an increasingly clever malicious cyber adversary.”

“Cisco Hypershield takes aim at the complex security challenges of modern, AI-scale data centers. Cisco’s vision of a self-managing fabric that seamlessly integrates from the network to the endpoint will help redefine what’s possible for security at scale,” said Zeus Kerravala, Founder and Principal Analyst of ZK Research. “For instance, this level of visibility and control across a hyper-distributed environment prevents lateral movement of attackers, enabled through a unique approach to segmentation that’s autonomous and highly effective. While this may seem fantastical, the time is right given recent AI advances combined with the maturity of cloud-native technologies like eBPF.”

“At AHEAD we believe cybersecurity should be integrated into everything we do. Bolted-on security is more expensive and less effective,” said Steven Aiello, Field Chief Information Security Officer at AHEAD. “Cisco Hypershield ensures that cyber protections are included into the fabric of the enterprise. Distributed Exploit Protection will be a massive win for blue teams – legacy synthetic patching was primarily limited to edge devices, allowing lateral movement once an attacker breached the perimeter. It’s a great day for cyber-defenders!”

Tech News

The Executive Health Upgrade: Why Personalized Prevention Is the UAE’s Next Premium Category

Published

1 week ago

February 20, 2026

Integrator Web-Editor

How Prana AI + SindyXR Want to Make Personalized Health Routine in the UAE

By Integrator Web Editor

Most healthcare is built for emergencies. But the biggest risks to long-term health often develop quietly—sleep debt, metabolic drift, chronic stress, early cardiovascular strain. Prana AI and SindyXR are building a UAE-first model that treats health like a modern dashboard: establish your baseline, detect drift early, and guide course-correction through an AI “longevity OS” paired with concierge support.

The UAE is rapidly becoming a proving ground for next-generation, consumer-friendly health models that blend premium services with data-driven personalization. This article explores a shift underway in Dubai and the wider Emirates: moving from reactive, appointment-led care toward continuous, proactive “health operating systems.” Prana AI and SindyXR are among the emerging players aiming to productize prevention—making personal health measurable, understandable, and easier to follow through on.

“Most healthcare is built for emergencies. Personalized health is built for trajectory.” – Christopher M. Hill, Board Chair, President, and CEO of SindyXR

From Firefighting to Flight-Checking

Most of us treat health like a fire alarm: we respond when it’s loud enough to ignore. A symptom appears, we book an appointment, get a prescription or advice, and move on. That model isn’t “bad”—it’s just built for a different job.

Reactive healthcare is excellent at handling acute problems. But the biggest threats to long-term wellbeing often don’t arrive with sirens. They creep in quietly: chronic stress patterns, sleep erosion, metabolic instability, early cardiovascular risk, burnout. By the time something becomes obvious, the fix is harder, slower, and more expensive.

This is why “personalized health”—often described as preventive, longevity-focused, or precision wellness—is accelerating globally. The promise is simple and non-medical: know your baseline, track changes over time, and act early with clarity.

In the UAE, where performance, pace, global mobility, and high expectations are everyday realities, that promise is especially relevant. People want health experiences that match how they actually live: fast, discreet, premium, and practical—with minimal friction and real follow-through.

Personalized Health, Explained Without the White Coat

Personalized health doesn’t require a medical degree to understand. It’s a system that does four things well:

Establishes your baseline — a clear snapshot of how your body is functioning today.
Detects drift over time — what’s improving, what’s stuck, what’s slipping.
Translates data into action — simple, tailored steps you can actually do.
Keeps you consistent — so improvements don’t fade after a “good month.”

The goal isn’t perfection. It’s trajectory. You’re not trying to “win health.” You’re trying to reduce risk and increase resilience—month after month.

“Think of it as a health command center: baseline, drift detection, and guided course-correction.” – Charles Cavo, DO Co-founder, Pounds Transformation

Why the UAE Is Ready for This Category

Dubai and the wider UAE are fertile ground for this model for three reasons:

High intent: Many professionals already invest in fitness, nutrition, mental performance, recovery, and longevity practices.
High friction: Even motivated people struggle to stay consistent when travel, deadlines, and family responsibilities pile up.
High expectations: Premium experience isn’t a “nice to have” in the UAE; it’s a baseline for adoption.

Most people don’t need more information. They need a system that makes follow-through easier than falling off track.

That’s the core thesis behind Prana AI + SindyXR: the real disruption isn’t “one more health test.” It’s a repeatable operating model around the person that converts insight into sustained action.

Prana AI + SindyXR: A Hybrid ‘Longevity Concierge’ Built for Busy Lives

The Prana AI + SindyXR approach can be understood as three layers working together—each solving a different part of the real-world problem.

Layer 1: Precision diagnostics (the baseline)

This is the “what’s happening inside my body?” layer—advanced diagnostics designed to establish a meaningful baseline across key health domains. Not just a basic annual check, but a deeper view intended to help identify risk patterns early and prioritize what matters now.

Crucially, the output has to be readable, not intimidating: scores, trends, and plain-language insights that allow non-medical professionals to understand what they should focus on—without getting buried in numbers.

Layer 2: Prana AI as the Personal Longevity OS (the daily system)

This is where personalization becomes real. Many wellness apps can nudge, but they often lack context—your baseline and your changes over time.

Prana AI’s role is to function like a health command center:

Daily routines that fit real schedules (sleep, movement, recovery, nutrition prompts)
Wearable integration where available (to track trends, not obsess over single readings)
Progress tracking that emphasizes trajectory (what’s changing, what isn’t)
Quarterly and annual comparisons to identify drift early

The design intent is simple: reduce decisions. When people are busy, friction kills follow-through. The “OS” needs to feel like a co-pilot—not a second job.

Layer 3: SindyXR concierge + expert ecosystem (the follow-through engine)

The uncomfortable truth about health is that many people already know what to do. The problem is friction:

booking
scheduling
follow-up
accountability
decision fatigue

SindyXR’s concierge layer aims to handle the “life admin” of better health—connecting users to curated experts, creating structured sessions, enabling community learning (webinars and roundtables), and coordinating next steps so momentum doesn’t fade.

This is the difference between:

“I should do something about this,” and
“It’s scheduled, guided, and underway.”

“The innovation isn’t one more test—it’s the operating model around the person.” – Sumit Puri, CEO & Co-Founder, Prana AI

The Closed Loop Most Health Experiences Don’t Deliver

Here’s what separates a premium testing service from a real system: the loop.

Most offerings stop at “test + report.” Some add “test + report + generic advice.”

The Prana AI + SindyXR model is designed to deliver a full cycle:

In other words:

you don’t just learn your numbers,
you change the trajectory, and
you prove it over time.

That loop is the true product: a repeatable “operating model” for personal health.

Who It’s For First: The Executive Longevity Circle

The initial positioning is clear: this is built for people who are time-poor, performance-driven, and outcome-focused—CXOs, founders, board-level leaders, and globally mobile professionals (often 45+).

It’s a pragmatic wedge. High-touch membership models can:

protect quality while the system is refined,
build trust through experience rather than marketing,
generate credible outcomes stories (the only marketing that matters in health).

From there, the model can expand into broader segments and partnerships—especially in an environment like the UAE where premium experience and measurable outcomes are powerful adoption catalysts.

The Trust Test: No Magic Claims, Just Clear Guardrails

AI in health is powerful—and sensitive. Adoption depends on trust:

What is informational vs diagnostic?
How is data stored and consent managed?
How are recommendations explained?
Where does clinician oversight come in?

The healthiest framing is simple: AI doesn’t replace doctors. It reduces noise, spots patterns, and improves follow-through. It helps people act earlier, more consistently, and with fewer blind spots.

What Success Looks Like in the UAE

If Prana AI + SindyXR execute well, the UAE could become a flagship market for a new category: personalized preventive health that feels as seamless as concierge banking.

Success won’t be measured by how “advanced” the tech sounds. It will be measured by:

consistent engagement over months (not weeks),
measurable improvement in key markers,
fewer health surprises,
better energy, sleep, recovery, and resilience.

Because the future of health won’t be another appointment.

It will be a smarter system around you—quietly keeping you on course.

“The UAE is uniquely positioned to lead this shift: people here value time, discretion, and outcomes. Personalized health will win when it feels as seamless as concierge banking—and as measurable as a performance dashboard.” – Subrato Basu, Global Managing Partner, The Executive Board

Tech News

AL OSTAD PALLET FACTORY APPOINTS ZAYSTACK INTELLIZENCE TO ADVISE ON DIGITISATION AND AUTOMATION PROGRAMME

Published

1 week ago

February 20, 2026

Integrator Web-Editor

Process digitalisation programme set to create another industry benchmark for Dubai Industrial City-headquartered Al Ostad Pallet Factory

Al Ostad Pallet Factory, based in Dubai Industrial City, has appointed ZayStack Intellizence to deliver a groundbreaking programme to digitise and automate core business processes across sales, procurement, production, inventory, and delivery.

Under the agreement, ZayStack will support an initial three-month phase focused on “quick wins and foundations”, including current-state assessment, process mapping and advanced software and AI tool recommendations. The project will also see rollout of practical templates, dashboards and minimum viable automations, designed to improve visibility and accountability across operations.

The recently inked agreement is part of Al Ostad’s continuing evolution, ensuring it keeps delivering value to its ever-growing customer base, building on more than 25 years in business with strong investment in the technology-driven future of the logistics sector.

The engagement aims to help Al Ostad reduce manual, person-dependent workflows and move towards a more digitally enabled, data-driven operating model that supports long-term growth, improved decision-making, and stronger customer communication. The project will help employees understand how to use cutting-edge AI tools to increase productivity.

Alex George, Managing Director, Al Ostad Pallet Factory, said: “Al Ostad Pallet Factory has grown on the strength of operational know-how and a hands-on approach. Now, we need to ensure our team is AI prepared, and that we all understand how to make best use of AI across our business.

“This programme is about putting the right digital foundations in place so we can improve visibility, reduce friction in day-to-day workflows, and scale with confidence, all while continuing to deliver reliably for our customers.”

Alex is keen to implement cutting-edge technologies at his 8,000 square meter DIC manufacturing facility, and is intent on becoming “best in class” for logistics and packaging solutions, aiming for the number one position regionally.

“We’re on track,” Alex says with confidence. “It’s about being ready for the future – a future where technology, sustainability, and supply chain resilience define the leaders in manufacturing. We want to be at the forefront of that shift.”

Alex believes the new workflows Zaystack will deliver will create a new industry benchmark in the region.

Tarun Malik, Partner, ZayStack Intellizence LLP, said: “Manufacturing businesses don’t need ‘digital’ for its own sake, they need practical systems that improve speed, accuracy and accountability. We’ll be working closely with Al Ostad to identify critical workflows and establish the dashboards, templates and ‘intelligent’ automation foundations that support sustainable, long-term adoption.”

The programme also includes a review of document management and IT readiness (hardware and network), with training and change-management support to help teams adopt new ways of working.

Tech News

BOLT GAINS GROWTH MOMENTUM AS 1,823 NATIONAL TAXIS JOIN PLATFORM

Published

1 week ago

February 20, 2026

Integrator Web-Editor

Marking another milestone towards shaping the future of urban mobility in the UAE, Dubai Taxi Company (DTC), together with its strategic partner Bolt, has entered into a strategic alliance with National Taxi LLC to enhance the ride-hailing experience for residents and visitors across Dubai.

The partnership was formalised through the signing of an agreement between Mansoor Rahma Alfalasi, CEO of Dubai Taxi Company, and Toufic Mitri, Managing Director of National Taxi LLC, marking a significant milestone in Dubai’s journey toward smarter, more accessible, and customer-centric transport solutions.

Under the agreement, 1,823 National Taxi vehicles will be seamlessly integrated into the Bolt platform, significantly expanding fleet capacity and service coverage. The integration will increase availability, reduce waiting times, and enhance overall operational efficiency, delivering faster ETAs and a more reliable customer experience, particularly during peak periods. The expanded fleet also supports higher driver earnings through increased trip volumes, while reinforcing Bolt’s position as a trusted and growing e-hailing platform in Dubai.

Mansoor Rahma Alfalasi, CEO of Dubai Taxi Company, said: “At DTC, we are committed to building strategic partnerships that enhance customer experience while strengthening Dubai’s mobility ecosystem. Through this collaboration, and with the addition of National taxis to our existing fleet of over 10,000 taxis on the Bolt platform, we are expanding access to taxis and embedding them more deeply into the digital ride-hailing experience. This integration brings us closer to reaching 80 percent target set by Dubai Government of converting street hailing trips to e-hailing.”

“The growing demand for taxi services in Dubai is being driven by rapid digital transformation, sustained urbanisation, strong tourism growth, and ongoing fleet modernisation, key pillars of a thriving city’s economy. By aligning our services with these drivers, we are building a resilient, future-ready mobility network that supports economic growth, improves driver opportunities, and delivers seamless journeys for residents and visitors alike.”, he added.

“We are glad to have our fleet of 1823 taxis on one of the UAE’s leading e-hailing platforms, Bolt. This partnership represents a significant step forward in optimising fleet utilisation and enhancing operational efficiency. With the smart technology and real-time demand matching capabilities of the Bolt platform, we are able to reduce idle time, improve driver productivity, and deliver faster, more reliable service to customers. Beyond efficiency, this collaboration enables us to elevate service quality while supporting more sustainable mobility through better route optimisation and reduced unnecessary mileage.”, said Toufic Mitri, Managing Director of National Taxi LLC.