Tech News
Exelixi AI announces AI Advisory Board
Exelixi AI is pleased to announce the establishment of its world-class Advisory Board with immediate effect. This AI advisory board unites world-renowned academic and industry leaders to provide strategic counsel our firm towards the development of responsible AI solutions and drive innovation in financial services and other verticals.

“Our Advisory Board represents the pinnacle of AI and financial leadership. Their collective knowledge will help shape the future of AI in enterprise, and ensure our technology is aligned with industry best practices, client needs, and evolving regulatory expectations.” said Suren Vedantham – Group CEO for Exelixi AI.
The Advisory Board will play a vital role in guiding Exelixi AI’s strategy as it pioneers in AI innovation across financial services and other key sectors. By drawing on their deep domain expertise, the board will support Exelixi AI in developing cutting-edge AI-driven solutions that unlock’s new revenue opportunities, enhance operational efficiencies, and create transformative business outcomes for clients.
Meet the AI Advisory Board
Dr. Edward Altman

Dr. Altman is the Max L. Heine Professor Emeritus of Finance at the Stern School of Business, New York University, and Director of the Credit and Fixed Income Research Program at the NYU Salomon Center. Dr. Altman has an international reputation as an expert on corporate bankruptcy and credit risk analysis. He was named Laureate 1984 by the Hautes Études Commerciales Foundation in Paris for his accumulated works on corporate distress prediction models and awarded the Graham & Dodd Scroll for 1985 by the Financial Analysts Federation for his work on Default Rates and High Yield Corporate Debt. Dr. Altman is the creator of the world-famous Altman Z-Score Model, perhaps the most popular analytic method for determining the probability of default of global corporations.
In 2005, Dr. Altman was named one of the “100 Most Influential People in Finance” by Treasury & Risk Management magazine and is frequently quoted in the popular press and on network TV.
Dr. Altman has been an advisor to many financial institutions including Merrill Lynch, Salomon Brothers, Citigroup, RiskMetrics Group, (MSCI, Inc.), Paulson & Co., and Franklin Templeton. Dr. Altman was a Founding Trustee of the Museum of American Finance and was Chairman of the Board of the Interschool’s orchestras of New York, and current advisor to Golub Capital, a prominent private debt lender.
Dr Walter Gontarek – Chair

Dr. Walter Gontarek serves as chairperson of the AI Advisory Board. Walt is the CEO/Chair of Channel Digital, the parent of a FCA regulated provider of non-dilutive capital to the innovation economy. He also serves as Chair of Wiserfunding, which provides automated data-driven underwriting, portfolio management and regulatory solutions for confident SMElending decisions. He is also on the Board of Apollo-backed Catalina Holdings UK regulated insurer. He is a visiting fellow at Cranfield University and an Honorary Professor for Fintech at the University of Aberdeen. He holds a doctorate from Cranfield University in Finance.
Gary Haase

Gary brings over two decades of leadership experience in financial services. He was most recently Chief Operations Officer of CNA, a $13B publicly traded U.S. insurer. Prior to that, he spent 13 years at Apollo- backed Catalina Holdings in a range of roles, including Group COO, where he oversaw 30 completed transactions.
A Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society since 2006, Gary brings deep expertise in data and analytics, M&A and integration, and operational transformation. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa and an MBA from NYU Stern, where he has also taught graduate-level courses in statistics and data analysis. He currently serves on the boardof Bermuda-based Fleming Insurance Companies and advises global insurance and technology firms on strategy, acquisition and execution.
Tech News
SAP and Snowflake Unleash the Power of Data and Enterprise AI Across the Business Data Fabric
Snowflake, the AI Data Cloud company, and SAP SE, a global leader in enterprise applications and business AI, today announced a new collaboration to enable organizations to seamlessly leverage Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud and SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC) with semantically rich data. The joint effort will make Snowflake’s data & AI platform available as a SAP solution extension for SAP BDC customers. The new offering, SAP Snowflake solution extension for SAP Business Data Cloud, unites SAP’s deep expertise in mission-critical business processes and semantically rich data with Snowflake’s unified platform capabilities for building AI and machine learning solutions. SAP and Snowflake are also enabling zero copy sharing between SAP BDC and Snowflake to help customers get richer insights, build enterprise-grade intelligent applications and unlock AI-powered innovation that fuels business transformation.
“By tightly integrating SAP and Snowflake, we’re making it simple for enterprises to connect their critical business data with its rich context in SAP with the power of seamless AI app and data agent development at scale in Snowflake,” added Christian Kleinerman, EVP of Product, Snowflake. “Enterprises can now innovate faster with Snowflake and SAP BDC and seamlessly share data between the platforms —zero-copy and fully governed.”
SAP Snowflake brings Snowflake into the open data ecosystem of SAP BDC and the business data fabric–empowering customers with greater openness and choice, while extending SAP BDC with Snowflake’s AI, analytics, data engineering, Marketplace, and collaboration capabilities. Customers can use SAP BDC with SAP Snowflake as a cloud-scale compute and storage option to extend the value of their data. Leveraging bidirectional, zero-copy data access, data and AI teams can work with semantically rich SAP data products in real time, within a unified governance framework. As a result, customers can harmonize SAP and non-SAP data while optimizing total cost of ownership across workloads and build agents and AI applications in SAP Snowflake fueled by trusted SAP data products.
“Bringing Snowflake to SAP Business Data Cloud empowers our customers with openness and choice,” said Irfan Khan, President and Chief Product Officer for SAP Data and Analytics, SAP SE. “Together, we combine SAP’s decades of leadership in mission-critical business applications with Snowflake’s modern data platform to deliver a unified, enterprise-ready, and SAP-supported experience that extends the value of business data across the entire ecosystem.”
With SAP Snowflake, customers can:
- Build a trusted, AI-ready data foundation to harmonize SAP and non-SAP data: Unify their data landscape with an integrated business data fabric—enabling more seamless zero-copy sharing, enriched modeling, and a complete, business-ready view of their data in real time for all data engineering, analytics, and AI and machine learning workflows across the enterprise.
- Accelerate AI business value with semantically rich data: Simplify AI governance, ground AI in organizational knowledge, and build tailored agents—helping to ensure more secure, context-rich, and intelligent applications across the enterprise.
- Develop intelligent applications grounded in mission-critical business data: Build, deploy, and continuously optimize intelligent applications faster with a harmonized and democratized data foundation powered by semantically rich, trusted data products that accelerate the pace of innovation and production.
In addition to SAP Snowflake, the partnership also includes SAP Business Data Cloud Connect for Snowflake, a capability enabling bidirectional, zero copy data sharing with Snowflake. Enterprises already using Snowflake can leverage SAP BDC Connect to integrate their existing instances of Snowflake with SAP Business Data Cloud for more seamless, zero‑copy access, providing Snowflake users with real-time access to semantically rich SAP data products—without duplication.
SAP and Snowflake are supporting thousands of customers, including industry leaders like AstraZeneca, as they transform their industries with this partnership.
“AstraZeneca is constantly pushing the boundaries of science and is pioneering in life-changing medicines,” said Russell Smith, Vice President of ERP Transformation Technology, AstraZeneca. “Data and AI are central to achieving this aim, and our close collaboration with SAP and Snowflake complements our ability to access, process and analyze real-time data. This announcement will accelerate our mission and recognizes that every minute matters to make breakthroughs for patients.”
SAP Snowflake is planned to be generally available in Q1 2026. SAP BDC Connect for Snowflake is planned to be generally available in H1 2026.
Tech News
HONOR Celebrates Everyday Heroes in a Cinematic Tribute to Resilience, Courage, and the Human Spirit
HONOR, unveils its latest campaign film, “Everyday Heroes” – a cinematic tribute to resilience, courage, and the human spirit. The short film marks the launch of the HONOR X9d – the Unbreakable AI Smartphone – a device designed to endure challenges and keep people connected even in the most demanding conditions.
Through this campaign, HONOR continues its mission to merge innovation with emotion, celebrating individuals who reflect the brand’s belief in human-centric technology and everyday strength. The film tells the story of a high-altitude window cleaner — an unsung hero whose daily work symbolizes perseverance and optimism.

A Tribute to Everyday Strength
“Everyday Heroes” is part of HONOR’s broader storytelling approach, showcasing authentic human experiences that reflect the values of perseverance and hope. The campaign positions HONOR not merely as a technology brand, but as a partner in the human journey — recognizing that the greatest innovations are those that serve people.
From the sunrise that marks the beginning of the worker’s day to the emotional final shot of connection and relief, every frame of the film reflects HONOR’s message: strength, empathy, and innovation belong together. The campaign also honors the invisible heroes of modern cities — those whose contributions often go unnoticed but whose dedication keeps the world running smoothly.
Technology Inspired by Real Life
The HONOR X9d combines robust engineering with thoughtful innovation. Its durable structure and water-resistant design are matched by AI-powered features that make communication seamless and secure. This new device represents HONOR’s continuous efforts to build technology that complements human resilience — technology that keep up with life.
By focusing on real stories and relatable moments, HONOR reaffirms its commitment to creating devices that connect people emotionally, not just digitally. The “Everyday Heroes” campaign builds on the brand’s growing reputation for blending empathy with engineering — bringing to life a message that resonates deeply with consumers across the GCC region.
The campaign film “Everyday Heroes” is available to watch on HONOR Arabia’s official social media channel, accompanied by behind-the-scenes content showcasing the production process and the real-life inspirations behind the story.

Tech News
KINGSTON FURY ADDS ITS LARGEST CAPACITY CLIENT PCIE 5.0 NVME SSD
Kingston Digital Europe Co LLP, the flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today announced it has rounded out the Kingston FURY Renegade G5 line with an 8192GB full capacity option for high-power uses from video editing, 3D rendering, to gaming and more.
Optimized for those who need a system that can keep up with their workflow or gaming needs, Kingston FURY™ Renegade G5 PCIe 5.0 NVMe M.2 2280 SSDutilises the latest PCIe Gen5 x 4 controller and 3D TLC NAND to reach speeds up to 14,800/14,000MB/s read/write1 and over 2M IOPS to provide extreme performance and endurance, and now with over 8TB to store more of your favorite games and media without losing system responsiveness.
“Whether for work or play, users need more power and space,” said Liny Cheliyan, Business Manager – Prosumer Flash and SSD Kingston EMEA. “We’re happy this 8TB addition to Kingston FURY Renegade G5 SSD can provide high-power users and hardware enthusiasts both.”
Kingston FURY Renegade G5 is available in full capacities2 from 1024GB to 8192GB and is backed by a limited five-year warranty3, free technical support, and legendary Kingston reliability.
-
Tech News1 year agoDenodo Bolsters Executive Team by Hiring Christophe Culine as its Chief Revenue Officer
-
VAR7 months agoMicrosoft Launches New Surface Copilot+ PCs for Business
-
Tech Interviews2 years agoNavigating the Cybersecurity Landscape in Hybrid Work Environments
-
Tech News4 months agoNothing Launches flagship Nothing Phone (3) and Headphone (1) in theme with the Iconic Museum of the Future in Dubai
-
Tech News2 years agoBrighton College Abu Dhabi and Brighton College Al Ain Donate 954 IT Devices in Support of ‘Donate Your Own Device’ Campaign
-
Editorial11 months agoCelebrating UAE National Day: A Legacy of Leadership and Technological Innovation
-
VAR1 year agoSamsung Galaxy Z Fold6 vs Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold: Clash Of The Folding Phenoms
-
Cover Story8 months agoUnifonic Leading the Future of AI-Driven Customer Engagement


