Tech News
Microsoft launches new tools and features for developers to accelerate AI innovation at Build 2024; announces updates of Microsoft Copilot stack
Microsoft is empowering developer communities across the region to create and deliver the next generation of differentiated Artificial Intelligence (AI) experiences with a host of new product launches and feature updates to its portfolio of AI solutions announced at the Build 2024 conference.
New updates across Microsoft’s Azure AI Services include Azure AI Studio now being generally available as a key component of the Microsoft Copilot stack. In addition, GPT-4o, OpenAI’s latest flagship model, is now available in Azure AI Studio and as an API. This groundbreaking multimodal model integrates text, images, and audio processing to set a new standard for generative and conversational AI experiences. Also, Phi-3-vision, a new multimodal model in the Phi-3 family of AI small language models (SLMs) developed by Microsoft, is now available in preview in Azure.
Microsoft is also empowering developers to get the most of their data and make more informed decision through updates in Microsoft Fabric. Real-Time Intelligence, currently in preview, within Microsoft Fabric is designed to empower everyday analysts with simple low-code/no-code experiences, as well as pro developers with code-rich user interfaces to act on high volume, time-sensitive and highly granular data in a proactive and timely fashion. Also in preview is the Microsoft Fabric Workload Development Kit, a set of tools designed to extend applications within Fabric, creating a unified user experience for developers and independent software vendors (ISVs).
As part of Microsoft’s mission to support professionals to spend less time on mundane and repetitive tasks and instead focus on more strategic and fulfilling work, the company has also unveiled a series of updates and features to its Copilot stack, starting with Team Copilot. The solution expands Copilot for Microsoft 365 from a behind-the-scenes personal AI assistant to work on behalf of a team, greatly improving collaboration and project management. New capabilities in Microsoft Copilot Studio have also been introduced to support developers in building custom copilots that act as agents which can respond proactively to specific data and events. GitHub is also introducing the first set of GitHub Copilot extensions, developed by Microsoft and third-party partners, in private preview to allow developers to customize their GitHub Copilot experience with their preferred services like Azure, Docker, Sentry and more directly within GitHub Copilot Chat.
Frank X. Shaw, Chief Communications Officer at Microsoft, said: “Since it was first released, Copilot has emerged as a game-changer for many people and organizations across industries, empowering them to improve their efficiency, enhance customer experiences, and tackle complex tasks. Over the past year, we’ve built Microsoft Copilot and released more than 150 updates to it, and we’ve developed the Copilot stack, which takes everything we’ve learned so far and lets developers build their own copilots. And now, as we enter a new phase of innovation where Copilot begins to take more action on behalf of individuals and teams, we are introducing a number of expansions and capabilities to further empower developers to create highly intelligent Copilots that are tailored to their unique and individual needs.”
To ensure that developers are able to run demanding AI and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads like Azure OpenAI Service, a new Cobalt 100 Arm-based virtual machine (VM), based on Microsoft’s custom silicon series announced in November 2023, is now in preview, and the new Azure ND MI300X v5 VM is now generally available. These announcements build on Microsoft’s earlier launch of Copilot+ PCs, a new category of intelligent Windows PCs designed exclusively for AI. With powerful new silicon capable of 40+ trillion operations per second (TOPS), all–day battery life, and access to the large language models (LLMs) running in Microsoft Azure Cloud in concert with small language models (SLMs), Copilot+ PCs are able to achieve a level of performance never seen before.
Copilot+ PCs also unlock a new set of experiences for users such as instantly finding what they have seen or done on their PC with Recall, generating and refining AI images in near real-time directly on the device using Cocreator, bridging language barriers with Live Captions, and translating audio from 40+ languages into English. These experiences come to life on a set of thin and light devices from Microsoft Surface and our OEM partners Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo and Samsung. Pre-orders for the devices, which start from $999, are open, with general availability starting on June 18, 2024. Together with the latest features announced at Build 2024, the devices will be at the forefront of making Windows the most open platform for AI and the best place for developers.
Tech News
Snowflake powers KSA’s Zahid Group’s data and AI transformation to unlock enterprise value
Zahid Group, one of Saudi Arabia’s leading diversified business groups spanning heavy equipment, energy, transport and manufacturing, and others, has selected Snowflake, the AI Data Cloud company, as the strategic foundation for its enterprise data and AI transformation, giving the Group a scalable way to strengthen governance, advance AI adoption, and elevate customer experiences enterprise-wide. The relationship was formalized during a signing ceremony at Zahid Business Park in Jeddah, launching a multi-year investment that will strengthen productivity and support technology-led growth in line with Saudi Vision 2030.
With Snowflake, Zahid Group’s Digital Solutions Division is unifying data from across its business streams and departments on a governed, secure, centralized and scalable lakehouse platform. A modern business intelligence ecosystem will give leaders faster access to information, enabling them to spend less time reconciling reports and more time acting on insights. The next phase will use Snowflake Cortex AI to enable employees to engage with data through natural language, reducing reliance on traditional reporting and shortening the path from question to decision.
Snowflake’s adoption at Zahid Group comes as Saudi Arabia accelerates its goal of becoming the Middle East’s leading AI infrastructure and technology hub. The Council of Ministers has designated 2026 as the Year of AI, and PwC estimates that AI could contribute around 12.4% of the country’s GDP by 2030.
Before adopting Snowflake, Zahid Group’s data was dispersed across multiple systems, requiring extensive manual consolidation and resulting in reporting inconsistencies that slowed decision-making. As an early proof of value, the Caterpillar Helios initiative demonstrated the power of secure, real-time data sharing through Snowflake. Building on this foundation, Zahid Group is now extending Snowflake’s capabilities across its digital ecosystem, enabling real-time data streaming and integration with core platforms such as Infor and Salesforce.
This connected architecture has standardized critical reporting processes, reducing month-end reporting cycles from days to hours, and in many cases minutes. By eliminating manual effort and improving data consistency, it provides leaders with timely, trusted insights that support faster decision-making and strengthen a culture of data-driven innovation.
Suzan Sadek, Group IT Manager, Zahid Group, said: “Data is one of the most valuable assets of the digital economy. By choosing Snowflake, we are building a trusted and scalable data foundation that enables AI-driven innovation, faster decision-making, and improved customer experience. This transformation strengthens Zahid Group’s competitiveness, while supporting Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 ambition to create a data-driven economy.”
Michel Nader, General Manager for the Middle East, Turkey & Africa, Snowflake, said: “Zahid Group is demonstrating how trusted data can become the foundation for enterprise AI at scale. Snowflake brings information closer to customers while providing leading AI capabilities to enable digital transformation across Zahid’s operating environment. We are proud to support the company’s next phase too, where employees can access trusted insights faster and strengthen the Group’s ability to create lasting and scalable value across its businesses.”
Looking ahead, Zahid Group will expand Snowflake’s platform’s role across the Group, extending governed data products, advanced analytics and AI capabilities into more business functions to deliver measurable value for customers, partners and employees.
Tech News
PNY Technologies Joins LEAP 2026 with the Latest AI Technologies – Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | 31 August to 3 September | Booth H3-D10
PNY Technologies announces its participation in LEAP 2026, taking place in Riyadh from 31 August to 3 September, where it will present its latest AI infrastructure and accelerated computing solutions.
The showcase will feature the technologies behind PNY’s AI infrastructure portfolio, from the AI Enterprise Factory to the latest NVIDIA RTX PRO and GeForce graphics solutions, together with networking and infrastructure technologies.
Visitors will also be able to explore the PNY AI Factory Digital Twin Configurator, which allows users to design and configure their own AI factory using digital twins and NVIDIA Omniverse.
PNY will also host live demonstrations developed in collaboration with its technology partners, including SOMOD, DDN, INFINIARC, VERTIV, and F5.
The company’s participation in LEAP 2026 reflects its continued commitment to supporting AI innovation across the Middle East and helping shape the technologies powering the region’s digital transformation.
The PNY team, including regional representatives, will be on-site throughout LEAP 2026 to meet with visitors, partners, and members of the media at Hall H3, Booth D10. Attendees wishing to arrange a briefing or interview are welcome to submit a request below.
Contact request: https://forms.pny.eu/pny-at-leap-2026/
Press contact: sverdier@pny.com / mhamdouche@pny.com
Tech News
Globant Introduces Glob.AI, Reinventing Technology Services for the AI Era
Globant (NYSE: GLOB), a global company focused on driving enterprise reinvention through AI, today introduces Glob.AI, a new AI-native tech services model that fundamentally changes how enterprises access, purchase and deploy AI services. Available online through a self-service model, Glob.AI gives organizations access to enterprise-grade, high quality AI Pods (service units run by a set of AI agents and supervised by humans). Companies are charged for what they produce -per output or per consumption- never per seat or per hour.

“For over 20 years, Globant has stayed ahead of every major technology shift, and AI is no different. Glob.AI is our next step: the one-stop shop where our AI Pods live, each specialized by task and industry. Traditional AI adoption drives token consumption far beyond what efficient output requires, and the real cost is the wasted tokens plus the unstructured, manual supervision of AI. AI Pods introduce a smarter model, running the right AI through parallel agents, loops, workflows, and deterministic processes, representing the true state of the art of what AI can deliver today,” said Martín Migoya, CEO and co-founder of Globant.
Glob.AI brings together AI-native velocity with Globant’s 23 years of enterprise delivery baked into the governance layer. AI agents do the heavy lifting, with Globant’s experts supervising their outputs and guiding every step. Glob.AI works to standards–documented, tested, secure, built for enterprise scale. It’s the speed AI promises, with the rigor and quality that businesses need, by including:
- Well-defined, deterministic, and repeatable processes, supervised end to end by experts
- Optimized AI usage and transparent pricing: customers pay strictly for expert-validated outputs and/or real consumption — not hours, seats, AI hallucinations, retries, or wasted cycles.
- At least 30% more productive than the typical engineer-plus-AI approach
- Full AI sovereignty and governance: total flexibility over which models customers use and where they run them, with zero client data ever used to train external models.
- Token consumption secured in a client’s proprietary Token Vault, providing full traceability and compounding a client’s institutional knowledge over time.
“AI is not just making the same projects faster, it is making thousands of projects viable that never were before,” said Guibert Englebienne, co-founder of Globant. “Until today, enterprises could not buy technology services this way: instantly, transparently, paying only for results. That is the shift Glob.AI delivers, and the strong demand for AI Pods shows enterprises are ready for it.”
Organizations joining the waiting list at Glob.AI will gain early access to a comprehensive catalog of agentic workflows capable of building and deploying solutions for enterprise platforms and specialized industry use cases. The AI Pods in the offering also include partnerships with major organizations including Anthropic, AWS, Vercel, OpenAI, Adobe, Azure, Google Cloud Platform, SAP and Salesforce.
Traditional enterprise tech services require months of discovery, RFPs, and procurement cycles before the work begins. Glob.AI changes that model entirely. Users can log in and immediately start building enterprise grade software. Tech delivery becomes a live, continuous service rather than a fixed-term project — every improvement and release happening on the platform, fully visible to the client, in real time.
Globant released AI Pods in mid-2025, and they are already in use by several Fortune 500 organizations across media, entertainment, professional services, and finance, delivering early results that include:
- FIFA experiencing a 20% efficiency increase in throughput generation while maintaining or improving quality rates
- LALIGA deploying AI across key functions in three months
- YPF reducing contract timelines by up to 40%
- PharmaMar achieving 15x faster insights in oncology research
- A leading commercial bank completing a COBOL migration in 2 months versus 14 as projected with a traditional approach
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