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CSG and Analysys Mason Study Reveals Growth Opportunities and Potential Pitfalls Facing Communications Service Providers Post COVID-19

CSG

DENVER, July 8, 2021 — CSG ® (NASDAQ: CSGS) and Analysys Mason today released the results from their research collaboration examining how well-positioned communications service providers (CSPs) are to meet future enterprise demand for communications and IT services post COVID-19. Key to the report was the finding that a significant 80+% of the largest global enterprises surveyed will consider buying edge, 5G-slicing and private network services within the next five years. Though opportunities abound, disparities between CSP and enterprise views on the importance of technology solutions and billing and invoicing for supplier selection could lead many CSPs to fall short on capitalizing on the post-pandemic economy. The report - Large Enterprises’ Demand for Communications and IT services – surveyed 16 CSPs and more than 200 multinational corporations between February and May 2021. The report focused on three core areas: identifying changing patterns of enterprise demand for communications and IT services; the opportunity for CSPs; and the role of billing and invoicing. Looking more closely at the findings, 92% of enterprise respondents have accelerated their plans to use more IoT, security, cloud and unified communication services. Though connectivity still accounts for the majority of current revenue for CSPs from large enterprises, cloud, security, edge and IoT services have come out on top as the main drivers of future revenue growth. In fact, 66% of enterprises surveyed expect to increase cloud services spending in the next 12 months, reflecting the growing importance of the cloud for business continuity. “There is significant appetite among enterprises to buy additional IT services from their main communications provider,” said Catherine Hammond, principal analyst, Analysys Mason. “Up to 50% of enterprises today say they already buy cloud, security and IoT services from their main CSP and another 30% would consider buying these services from their CSP in future. This poses an opportunity for CSPs to continue investing in leading edge technologies that not only broaden their portfolio but enable them to deliver a one-stop-shop to meet enterprise IT needs.” “5G, cloud and IoT are disrupting the CSP market in profound ways,” said Ken Kennedy, COO and global head of revenue management and digital monetization for CSG. “It’s no longer purely about voice and data. Today’s enterprises look to their communications provider to deliver a broad ecosystem of products and services that will allow them to unleash the full potential of their business. To deliver on this promise, CSPs need to modernize their technology stacks to create scalable processes that enable them to bring new products and services to market faster and lead to new revenue streams.” Additional key report findings include: CSP revenue from IT services is increasing, but not as rapidly as enterprises are increasing their IT spend. This suggests that the CSP share of this spend is falling. Only a quarter of CSPs surveyed report selling services other than voice and data connectivity to the majority of their enterprise customers. Enterprises rated the importance of technical solutions in supplier selection significantly higher than CSPs at 4.4 vs 4.1 on a scale of 1 to 5. This disparity could be a limiting factor that impacts the number of enterprises choosing to buy more IT services from CSPs if CSPs don’t continue to invest in broadening their products and services portfolio. More than 60% of enterprises reported using at least three different suppliers for their core communications services with nearly all enterprises expressing the desire to reduce this number. The most common reason (69%) cited for multiple suppliers was the need for additional services, suggesting an opportunity for suppliers with a wide portfolio to upsell add-on services. Billing and invoicing are considered to be very important in supplier selection by many enterprises – more so than by CSPs. 77% of enterprises rated it as very or somewhat important as compared to only 58% of CSPs. This gap could lead to customer churn as poor billing and invoicing was cited by 21% of enterprises as a reason for not renewing their contract. The proliferation of cloud and ‘as-a-service’ models is creating demand for more flexible billing, and this trend is only likely to increase in future. Many CSPs currently use work-around solutions for new services, which is unsustainable. Automation will be key for CSPs to scale and grow for the future. For more insights into enterprise trends impacting CSPs and to view the full report, visit https://www.csgi.com/resources/large-enterprises-demand-for-communications-and-it-services-survey-results-2021/. # # # About CSG For more than 35 years, CSG has simplified the complexity of business, delivering innovative customer engagement solutions that help companies acquire, monetize, engage and retain customers. Operating across more than 120 countries worldwide, CSG manages billions of critical customer interactions annually, and its award-winning suite of software and services allow companies across dozens of industries to tackle their biggest business challenges and thrive in an ever-changing marketplace. CSG is the trusted provider for driving digital innovation for hundreds of leading global brands, including Airtel Africa, América Móvil, AT&T, Charter Communications, Comcast, DISH, Formula 1, Hutchison 3 Indonesia, Inmarsat, Mastercard, Maximus, Microsoft, Mobily, MTN, New Leaf Service Contracts, State of California DMV, TalkTalk and Telstra. To learn more, visit our website at csgi.com and connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter. Copyright © 2021 CSG Systems International, Inc. and/or its affiliates (“CSG”). All rights reserved. CSG® is a registered trademark of CSG Systems International, Inc. All third-party trademarks, service marks, and/or product names which are referenced in this document are the property of their respective owners, and all rights therein are reserved. Contacts: Tammy Hovey Global / North America / Asia-Pacific Public Relations CSG +1 (917) 520-2751 tammy.hovey@csgi.com Kristine Østergaard CSG Europe / Middle East / Africa Public Relations +44 (0)75 0051 8412 kristine.ostergaard@csgi.com John Rea Investor Relations CSG +1 (210) 687 4409 john.rea@csgi.com Contact Details CSG Tammy Hovey +1 917-520-2751 tammy.hovey@csgi.com Company Website https://www.csgi.com

July 08, 2021 06:30 AM Mountain Daylight Time

WellSaid Labs Announces $10M Round Led by Fuse to Build “Voices for Every Brand”

WellSaid

WellSaid Labs, the artificial intelligence text-to-speech technology company, announced a $10 million Series A round led by FUSE, with participation from previous investor Voyager, as well as Qualcomm Ventures LLC, and GoodFriends. The Series A was oversubscribed with interest from VCs given the record year-over-year growth in revenue and incredible customer demand. WellSaid Labs plans to use these funds to drive further AI and product innovation, scale go-to-market functions, and grow the team. With a mission to offer businesses and brands the highest quality Text-to-Speech (TTS) service imaginable, WellSaid Labs empowers content creators and product teams to create engaging voice content for infinite use-cases in streaming services, radio, programmatic advertising, digital marketing, and corporate training content. WellSaid Labs has rearchitected TTS to resolve business’ toughest content development problems and deliver an easy way for content creators — big or small — to develop all their desired content in one consistent voice that represents their brand. WellSaid Labs’ Voice Avatar library provides access to multiple read styles and tones anyone can use for their productions. In addition, brands can create their own AI Voice Avatars to spec — capturing the likeness, style, and uniqueness of the voice needed to tell their stories in exactly the right way. “Plain and simple, WellSaid is the future of content creation for voice," said Cameron Borumand, General Partner at FUSE. "This is why thousands of customers love using the product daily with off-the-charts bottom-up adoption. Matt and Michael have assembled a world-class team and we couldn’t be more thrilled to be a part of the WellSaid journey.” Creating natural-sounding speech from text is considered a “ grand challenge ” in the field of AI and has been a research goal for decades. Over the last three years, WellSaid Labs has consistently researched and developed tremendous breakthroughs in the quality, speed and reliability of neural text-to-speech systems. In June 2020, WellSaid Labs' TTS became the first to achieve human parity for naturalness on short audio clips across multiple voices. "We’ve added AI Voice to the toolkit of thousands of content creators and their teams," said Matt Hocking, CEO of WellSaid Labs. "Our human-parity AI voice can be produced faster than real-time, and updated on-demand. Opening up new and exciting opportunities to 'add voice' where never before perceived possible. AI voice easily ensures every production can be created and updated efficiently at scale." “Content creators or product experience designers were previously faced with difficult tradeoffs between quality and scalability when using TTS tools or human voiceover. WellSaid’s incredible voices, which are accessible through a studio application or a scalable API, removes the need to choose whether you want natural, lifelike speech or infinitely scalable and easily editable voice content. WellSaid provides both and delivers it however your team would like to consume it,” said James Newell, Partner at Voyager Capital. “Creative teams have found it to be extremely useful when they need to produce multiple pieces of high-quality content in a consistent voice in hours instead of weeks.” “Recent developments in TTS technology using generative AI have enabled synthetic voices to sound very human-like, finding exciting new applications for voice including e-learning, advertising and news readers," said Carlos Kokron, Vice President at Qualcomm Technologies Inc. and Managing Director at Qualcomm Ventures Americas. “WellSaid Labs provides an industry leading product that generates highly accurate human-like voices. We look forward to working with WellSaid Labs to help fuel the creator economy with human-parity AI voices across mobile and IoT.” "WellSaid's team has applied deep technical expertise to build a platform that enables easy creation and editing of incredibly life-like audio," said Dave Gilboa of Good Friends and co-CEO of Warby Parker. "We see meaningful growth potential in the use of high-quality audio in giving brands the ability to communicate with customers and creators the ability to engage with audiences." WellSaid Studio eliminates the complexities traditional text-to-speech technologies present to creatives — making the production, updating, and publishing of voiceovers extremely simple and cost effective. Product developers access WellSaid Labs’ core AI engine via real time APIs to power up digital experiences with a reliable and scalable voice infrastructure. About FUSE FUSE is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in Pacific Northwest-based companies that are reinventing the modern economy with software. FUSE is committed to supporting the next generation of B2B technology entrepreneurs building category-defining businesses of lasting value. General Partners Kellan Carter, Cameron Borumand and Brendan Wales are joined by Venture Partner and Seattle Seahawks captain Bobby Wagner, as well as Senior Operating Partners John Connors and Satbir Khanuja. Their strategic LP base includes current and former executives at the Pacific Northwest’s top companies, including Microsoft, Amazon, Nike, Starbucks, Costco, T-Mobile, Boeing, Avalara, DocuSign, Smartsheet and many more. For more information about FUSE, please visit fuse.vc. About Voyager Capital Since 1997, Voyager Capital has focused on first-round venture investments to help entrepreneurs in the Pacific Northwest create winning businesses. Built on the team's extensive experience with startups and its exceptional network across the industry, the firm's entrepreneur-centric approach accelerates the pace at which companies can build, execute, pivot and scale. Voyager has $520M under management investing in B2B software, cloud infrastructure, and applications driven by AI and machine learning. With offices in Seattle, Wash., Portland, Ore., and Vancouver, BC, Voyager provides its portfolio the unwavering support and stage-appropriate connections needed to disrupt markets and create sustainable competitive advantage. About Qualcomm Ventures Qualcomm Ventures, acting through Qualcomm Ventures LLC or its affiliated entities, has been making strategic investments in technology companies that have the potential to dramatically transform our world since 2000. As a global investor, we look to help entrepreneurs build revolutionary businesses that reshape the world around us. For more information please visit: www.qualcommventures.com. About GoodFriends Good Friends is a venture capital firm that was started in 2019 by the founders of Warby Parker, Harry's, and Allbirds. Good Friends invests in early stage businesses with a consumer lens. About WellSaid Labs WellSaid Labs is the leading AI text-to-speech technology company and first synthetic media service to achieve human-parity in voice. Creators, product developers, and brands alike power up their stories and digital experiences with a wide variety of voice styles, accents and languages — at scale. For more information go to www.wellsaidlabs.com Contact Details Forrest Carman +1 206-859-3118 forrestc@owenmedia.com Company Website https://wellsaidlabs.com/

July 07, 2021 09:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time

Cyvatar Takes Home Top Prize in 2021 Fortress Awards

Cyvatar

Cyvatar today received more industry accolades as it was named a winner in network security by the Business Intelligence Group for its innovative Cybersecurity-as-a-Service (CSaaS) offering as part of the 2021 Fortress Cybersecurity Awards. The Fortress awards program identifies and rewards the world’s leading companies and products that are working to keep data and electronic assets safe among a growing threat from hackers. “2021 is rapidly becoming the toughest year for cybersecurity professionals and as our reliance on networks continues to accelerate, our identities and data have quickly become global currency, so security is more important than ever,” said Maria Jimenez, chief nominations officer at the Business Intelligence Group. “We are proud to recognize all of our winners and finalists who are on the frontlines of the effort to prepare, defend and respond to this growing threat.” Cyvatar’s proprietary ICARM method guarantees proper installation, configuration, assessment, remediation, and maintenance for every Cyvatar technology solution so that organizations actually achieve better protection and resilience from their investments And because Cyvatar’s method is continuous, it protects against attack vectors that haven’t even surfaced yet. “It’s continued validation of our unique CSaaS model that industry peers recognized Cyvatar again for exceptional leadership and innovation,” said Cyvatar Co-Founder and Chief Product and Strategy Officer Craig Goodwin. “As the first subscription-based CSaaS company to deliver effortless, affordable cybersecurity, we enable our members to protect confidential information with the people, processes, and technology essential to ensure they get value from their security tools, from conception and strategy to implementation and maintenance. No other provider delivers holistic security at price points that work for any size customer and guaranteed value that allows customers to cancel anytime.” Cyvatar CSaaS levels the playing field by democratizing cybersecurity and making the best protection accessible and affordable for every size organization, even if they have no cybersecurity expertise in-house. If your organization needs award-winning cybersecurity, Cyvatar can help. About Cyber Defense Magazine With over 5 Million monthly readers and growing, and thousands of pages of searchable online infosec content, Cyber Defense Magazine is the premier source of IT Security information for B2B and B2G with our sister magazine Cyber Security Magazine for B2C. We are managed and published by and for ethical, honest, passionate information security professionals. Our mission is to share cutting-edge knowledge, real-world stories and awards on the best ideas, products and services in the information technology industry. We deliver electronic magazines every month online for free, and special editions exclusively for the RSA Conferences. CDM is a proud member of the Cyber Defense Media Group. Learn more about us at https://www.cyberdefensemagazine.com and visit https://www.cyberdefensetv.com and https://www.cyberdefenseradio.com to see and hear some of the most informative interviews of many of these winning company executives. Join a webinar at https://www.cyberdefensewebinars.com and realize that infosec knowledge is power. About Cyvatar Cyvatar is committed to effortless cybersecurity for everyone. As the industry’s first subscription-based, cybersecurity-as-a-service (CSaaS) company, it’s our mission to transform the way the security industry builds, sells, and supports cyber solutions. We empower our members to achieve successful outcomes by providing expert advisors, proven technologies, and a strategic process roadmap to guarantee results that map to their business drivers. Our approach is rooted in proprietary ICARM (installation, configuration, assessment, remediation, maintenance) methodology that delivers smarter, measurable security solutions for superior compliance and cyber-attack protection faster and more efficiently, all at a fixed monthly price. And because we’re a subscription, members can cancel anytime. Cyvatar is headquartered in Irvine, California with locations around the world. Begin your journey to security confidence at CYVATAR.AI and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter. Contact Details Cyvatar KC Higgins +1 303-434-8163 kc@cyvatar.ai Cyber Defense Magazine April Palanca +18338449468 Company Website https://cyvatar.ai/

July 07, 2021 11:51 AM Eastern Daylight Time

SIPPIO Taps Rick Green to Lead Carrier Channel

SIPPIO

Telco channel and UCaaS veteran tasked with helping CLECs, MSOs, ISPs, wireless carriers and MVNOs capitalize on demand for voice-enabled, cloud-native UCaaS, expanding customer footprints and creating new streams of recurring revenue SIPPIO, the only company to offer a 100 percent, Azure-native based cloud platform, today introduced telecom veteran, Rick Green, as its Channel Development Manager for Carrier Partnerships. In this post, Green is charged with expanding SIPPIO’s Carrier Channel program, implementing processes and proven best practices that foster development and successful partnerships. “For carriers looking to reinforce and extend their customer relationships by bundling connectivity with unified communications and advanced collaboration services, SIPPIO is an end-to-end cloud platform that can scale globally and provide the fluid experience for hybrid work environments that enterprises covet,” said Rick Green. Designed and architected for Microsoft Azure, SIPPIO is a global platform that empowers CLECs, wireless carriers, mobile virtual network (MVNOs) and multiple-system operators (MSOs), and internet service providers (ISPs) to capitalize on demand for voice-enabled collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams. Partnering with SIPPIO allows carriers to activate users in minutes, not weeks, and with minimal support. Automation eliminates the cost, complexity, and time of building direct routing as a one-off. These efficiencies not only ensure reliability and redundancy on a global scale, but also support the highest levels of security, compliance, and data privacy. “I am excited to join SIPPIO, a company that clearly has its finger on the pulse of business communications and which, in terms of innovation and partner-centricity, is markedly ahead of its competitors,” added Green. Prior to joining SIPPIO, Green was Mitel’s National Sales Manager for service provider sales. Also of note is his tenure as Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales at Voice Carrier, and as Vice President of Sales for leading resellers, Vigilar and Solunet, Inc. While at Solunet, he led business development, sales and marketing initiatives that increased company revenue by more than 50 percent; new income was a direct result of expanding partnerships with Juniper Networks, Foundry, and MRV. “The network and breadth of expertise he brings to SIPPIO accelerates our ability to empower carriers worldwide with value-added services that attract new customers, fueling new revenue growth and higher per user margins,” said SIPPIO CEO, Adam Cole. “With more than 20 years’ experience, Rick possesses a unique understanding of how carrier and channel business models have evolved, and the knowledge to augment portfolios with solutions that prevent churn while attracting new customers.” Last month, the company unveiled SIPPIO Partner Portal, a single application for carriers to sell, deploy, manage, and support entire customer portfolios. With automated tenant provisioning, account activation, number porting, and DID assignment, SIPPIO Partner Portal is a launchpad for healthy new voice practices and recurring revenue. SIPPIO minimizes resource consumption from end-to-end, making it economically viable to pursue companies of all sizes and in all markets and, by extension, expands the universe of potential customers. About SIPPIO Headquartered in Annapolis, MD, SIPPIO is the largest platform provider to enable voice in Microsoft Teams. As a Co-Sell Preferred partner, SIPPIO provides partners and carriers with a fully automated, Azure native, end-to-end solution. Available globally with toll free and emergency services, SIPPIO does not require any code, build or maintenance. SIPPIO activates full calling capabilities in minutes and scales with business needs to enhance communications and collaboration to unify the modern workplace experience. Visit www.sippio.io for additional information. ### Contact Details SIPPIO Mostafa Razzak +1 917-912-0623 m.razzak@jmrconnect.net Company Website https://www.sippio.io

July 07, 2021 11:11 AM Eastern Daylight Time

happiTV chooses CIPIO’s Next-Gen Subscriber Experience Platform to Meet Demand of Subscription Growth

CIPIO.ai

CIPIO, an AI company that is Humanizing Subscriptions TM, today announced happiTV adopts CIPIO’s Next-Gen Subscriber Experience (SX) Platform TM to fuel growth. The LGBTQ+ community continues to play a pivotal role in shaping modern society. As a leading voice of the community, happiTV curates and delivers cutting-edge and award-winning content across major streaming devices and services including Roku, Amazon Fire, Android TV, and iOS. In anticipation of exponential growth of viewership and engagement, happiTV looks to CIPIO to lead efforts to drive a deeper relationship between Subscriptions and Subscribers. “Based on the overwhelming support of Pride Month, we have experienced a massive shift in thinking and mindset around acceptance of LGBTQ+ specific content programming. Our growth is directly tied to this shifting mindset and we need to effectively scale with the demand,” said Daniel Bort, CEO of happiTV. “Through their cutting edge AI platform and to meet the demand for our content, CIPIO provides us the ability to provide world-class user experiences for our subscribers as if we were one of the media giants of the world. As a result of the collaboration, happiTV is equipped and prepared for exponential subscriber and revenue growth.” By Humanizing Subscriptions TM, CIPIO empowers modern digital businesses to significantly enhance subscriber experiences throughout the subscriber’s journey from the trial to paid to proactively retaining subscribers and optimizing content acquisition costs. “CIPIO is proud to support happiTV’ s mission to impact society through groundbreaking content and programming for the LGBTQ+ community. This relationship embodies our mission around Humanizing Subscriptions TM,” said Sundeep Sanghavi, CEO of CIPIO. “Our team is obsessed with supporting content businesses like happiTV and their ability to thrive in an ever-changing digital world. Our primary objective is to create a lifelong connection between happiTV subscribers and their subscriptions which ultimately will exceed business objectives and fuel growth.” Digital businesses continue to proliferate society globally. As content subscriptions grow, businesses like happiTV are faced with common challenges: churn, conversion from free to paid and optimizing content acquisition costs. Through CIPIO’s Subscriber Experience Platform TM, digital organizations can address these challenges head-on to keep pace with dynamic market pressure. CIPIO is rapidly gaining momentum in the media and entertainment space and is leveling the playing field by providing the enhanced AI capabilities with augmented data to any and all size media and entertainment organizations. About CIPIO CIPIO Inc. provides the leading patent-pending AI platform that Humanizes Subscriptions TM for digital organizations. By bringing together human, machine, and domain data, CIPIO arms organizations with capabilities to sense, learn, predict and recommend digital experiences to strengthen the subscriber and subscription relationship. CIPIO impacts both the top and bottom-line financials for some of the world’s leading brands such as happiTV, Zype, InteliVideo, and Jonas Fitness. Learn more about CIPIO here. About happiTV happiTV is a new entertainment app dedicated to streaming content of interest to the LGBTQ+ community. Delivering feature films, TV series, non-fiction, or short-form videos, happiTV serves as an anchor for positive role models and powerful messages for the queer population. Unlike any other, happiTV is a place where the community can find powerful entertainment and resources that will better their lives. We are a 100% minority-owned and operated enterprise (LGBTQ+ and Latino) in the United States of America. Please patronize our sponsors and enjoy the work of our partners and creatives. Together, we can bring smiles and big grins around the world. That's what we are all about. We are happiTV. Contact Details CIPIO Media Relations +1 315-398-9541 pr@cipio.ai Company Website https://cipio.ai/

July 06, 2021 08:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time

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‘Forge Ahead’ podcast provides inside look at future of work

Velocity Global

Hosted by Velocity Global founder and CEO Ben Wright Features conversations with forward-thinking business and tech leaders Debut episode with “Shark Tank’s” Robert Herjavec “ Forge Ahead,” a new podcast uniquely focused on the future of work through insights from forward-thinking business leaders, launched today. Hosted by Ben Wright, Velocity Global founder and CEO, “Forge Ahead” explores how the world embraces and overcomes challenges of new ways of working, from remote work to distributed teams. The debut episode is a conversation with Robert Herjavec, founder and CEO of global cybersecurity firm, Herjavec Group, and a lead investor on the Emmy Award-winning show, “Shark Tank.” “Now is the perfect time for these conversations about how people want to work, and how us as business leaders must blaze a new path,” said Herjavec. “My conversation with Ben allowed me to look inward at what I’ve learned. One topic we touched on was that the true driver of remote work is that customers now accept it like never before. Employees have proven able to embrace remote work, and the tech tools have been available, but now that the customer cadence is not disrupted, we’ll never look back.” “In ‘Forge Ahead’ we go beyond the buzzwords and get inside the heads of business leaders who shape the future of work,” said Wright. “Robert is the first of many leaders I am humbled to learn from as listeners get to hear his personal story and how he runs a business.” “Forge Ahead” will release a new episode every two weeks on leading podcast platforms. In subsequent episodes, Wright speaks with thought leaders such as USA Today’s “Gratitude Guru” Chris Schembra, and 6-time PGA TOUR champ Billy Horschel. Listeners will hear a mix of personal stories and actionable insights from successful leaders so they are prepared to embrace the future of work. Ben Wright founded Velocity Global in 2014 and applies two decades of experience supporting companies’ global business growth and remote teams. As the largest Employer of Record in 185 countries and all 50 United States, brands rely on Velocity Global’s expertise and global infrastructure to employ a compliant workforce without the cost or complexity of setting up their own foreign legal entities or state registrations. Listen and subscribe to the “Forge Ahead” podcast at forgeaheadpodcast.com, or search for it on leading podcast platforms including Spotify, Google Podcast, and Apple Podcast. ABOUT VELOCITY GLOBAL Velocity Global accelerates the future of work beyond borders. Its platform helps companies compliantly employ distributed teams and expand internationally through best-in-breed technology, global expertise, and scale. As the largest global Employer of Record (also known as International PEO) in 185 countries and all 50 United States, more than 700 brands rely on Velocity Global to build global teams without the cost or complexity of setting up foreign legal entities or state registrations. Named a "Leader" in Global Employer of Record services by prominent analyst firm NelsonHall, Velocity Global offers additional services including Immigration, Independent Contractor Compliance to assess a workforce, and Agent of Record (AoR) to streamline payments to contractors. Founded in 2014, Velocity Global has hundreds of employees in 16 countries. For more information visit velocityglobal.com. Contact Details Velocity Global Eli Rice +1 720-650-4348 news@velocityglobal.com Company Website https://velocityglobal.com/

July 06, 2021 07:02 AM Mountain Daylight Time

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Comcast Establishes 50 WiFi-Connected Lift Zones in Houston and Surrounding Areas

Comcast Houston

As part of its ongoing commitment to help connect low-income families to the Internet so they can fully participate in educational opportunities and the digital economy, Comcast today announced it has equipped 50 locations in Houston and surrounding areas with free WiFi enabled Lift Zones. Working with its network of nonprofit partners, Comcast is providing robust WiFi hotspots in safe spaces designed to help students get online, participate in distance learning and do their homework. This initiative provides free connectivity inside partner community centers for the next three years. “We are proud to partner with community organizations across Houston and surrounding areas and equip them with free internet service to provide safe, fast, and reliable connectivity,” said Ralph Martinez, regional senior vice president, Comcast Houston. “The COVID-19 crisis put many at risk of being left behind, accelerating the need for comprehensive digital equity and Internet adoption programs to support them. We hope these Lift Zones will help those who, for a variety of reasons, are unable to connect to effective distance learning at home.” Each Lift Zone location will be outfitted with a robust WiFi solution, powered by Comcast Business, at no cost. The sites are equipped with a combination of Comcast Business’ award-winning Business Internet, WiFi Pro and SecurityEdge solutions; customized based on the size and unique connectivity needs of each location. Some of the Houston and surrounding area community organizations that have established Lift Zones in their respective facilities include Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Houston, the City of Houston, and the City of Galveston. A full list of Comcast Lift Zones in Houston and surrounding areas, can be found here. Earlier this year, Comcast announced a $1 billion commitment over ten years in continued support of digital equity, including its Lift Zones initiative, which aims to establish WiFi-connected safe spaces in 1,000+ community centers nationwide for students and adults by the end of 2021. Lift Zones complement Comcast’s Internet Essentials program, which has helped connect approximately 10 million low-income people to the Internet at home since 2011, including almost one million Texans. Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is a global media and technology company that connects people to moments that matter. We are principally focused on broadband, aggregation, and streaming with over 56 million customer relationships across the United States and Europe. We deliver broadband, wireless, and video through our Xfinity, Comcast Business, and Sky brands; create, distribute, and stream leading entertainment, sports, and news through Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, Universal Studio Group, Sky Studios, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, multiple cable networks, Peacock, NBCUniversal News Group, NBC Sports, Sky News, and Sky Sports; and provide memorable experiences at Universal Parks and Resorts in the United States and Asia. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information. Contact Details Comcast Misha McClure +1 832-547-6783 Misha_McClure@cable.comcast.com Company Website https://houston.comcast.com/

July 06, 2021 05:00 AM Central Daylight Time

Summer Home Maintenance To-Do List

YourUpdateTV

Summer is a great time to tackle your to-do list, but with seemingly endless lists it is hard to know what project is a “must-do” or what can be delayed. It is easy to put off home maintenance projects, but there are a few projects that shouldn’t wait. Recently, Home Care Expert at Angi, Bailey Carson, shared her top maintenance projects for the summer and tips on saving money and time. A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://youtu.be/fm8VglbsBJM If you only do a few home projects this season, make them these—you’ll save yourself a lot of time, money and despair down the road. Weather Proofing - A home that can withstand all seasons is critically important and key to a four seasons home are weather proofing projects like caulking and weather-stripping doors and windows and implementing passive design can make a huge difference. Leaky Roofs or Windows - Leaks in the short-term are a nuisance, but in the long-term leaks create huge problems for your home. At Angi, major roof repair is one of the most common tasks and according to our cost data can easily cost in the thousands. To avoid the total replacement, be proactive and take care of weak spots. Call a professional to do an assessment. In addition to saving money, leaks can cause water damage and buildup of hazardous mold. Cleaning gutters & downspouts - Fall leaves, followed by winter weather and spring showers, can cause major buildup in your gutters and downspouts. Cleaning these each year can prevent roof problems, water damage and flooding in and around your home. Annual HVAC servicing - A hot summer day is the last time you want an unexpected AC outage. Servicing your HVAC units can help prevent those, while also determining if there are any inefficiencies that could be driving up your energy bills and costing you more and more each month. Cleaning out dryer vents - We may be good at cleaning out the lint trap each time we use the dryer, but most of us tend to put off dryer vent cleanings because they’re out of sight, out of mind. No more – these are a major fire hazard, and they cause your dryer to work harder each time, wasting energy and driving up your monthly utility bills, and replacements can be costly. For more information and to find an expert near you, visit Angi.com About Bailey Carson: Bailey Carson is a Home Care Expert at Angi and Head of Book Now. In this role, she oversees all aspects of Book Now services from product and operations to sales and marketing. She transitioned from her prior role as General Manager of Everyday Services for Angi. Previously, Bailey was the SVP of Growth for Handy, an Angi sister brand, where she led the expansion of its cleaning business, overseeing marketing, operations and customer support. In addition to her 15+ years of work experience, Bailey is also a seasoned homeowner and just completed a move to Virginia including a remodel – all with three kids (including twins)! She has dedicated countless hours of personal and professional time to understanding the ins and outs of everyday home care including cleaning, lawncare and more. Bailey earned her MBA from Harvard Business School and her BS in Business Administration and Accounting from Washington and Lee University. About YourUpdateTV: YourUpdateTV is a social media video portal for organizations to share their content. It includes separate channels for Health and Wellness, Lifestyle, Media and Entertainment, Money and Finance, Social Responsibility, Sports and Technology. Contact Details YourUpdateTV +1 212-736-2727 yourupdatetv@gmail.com

July 01, 2021 11:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Pocono Organics Becomes World’s First Regenerative Organic Certified Hemp Grower

Pocono Organics

Pocono Organics, one of the largest regenerative organic farms in North America, has received its Regenerative Organic Certification (ROC), becoming the first source grower of Regenerative Organic Certified hemp in the world. The Regenerative Organic Alliance (ROA) is the governing body for the Regenerative Organic Certification standards and criteria and was created by three global pioneers in the organic and regenerative organic industries – Patagonia, Rodale Institute, and Dr. Bronner’s. The ROA has meticulously developed the revolutionary ROC designation for farms and products that meet the highest standards in the world for soil health, animal welfare, and social fairness. This new label goes beyond the existing USDA Certified Organic standards and does not include hydroponic growing practices. “This is an absolute game-changer for our farm as well as for companies and consumers searching for ROC produce and hemp that they can trust,” said Ashley Walsh, founder and president of Pocono Organics. “There is a vital link between the health of our soil, the health of the crops we grow, and ultimately human health.” Walsh and her team have recently launched their USDA Certified Organic full-spectrum hemp extract product line. Now with the new designation, these will become the first products in the world made with ROC hemp. It’s important to know how your hemp is grown and the true potency of the products. Independent, third-party testing shows that there are no heavy metals or pesticides and also reports accurate potency for Pocono Organics’ products. Pocono Organics’ CBD is the only line to carry the respected Rodale Institute logo on its products and packaging. The two global leaders have conducted extensive research on the potential uses of industrial hemp for the last three years. Pocono Organics’ wellness products are CBD-abundant and harness the power of full-spectrum hemp extract to deliver a broader range of health-promoting cannabinoids that contain well under.3% THC. New York Magazine recently named Pocono Organics’ bath bombs one of the Best CBD Bath Products to buy. The product line - available online and carried in retail outlets, spas, and numerous doctors’ offices across multiple states - is formulated in Pocono Organics’ in-house lab to create artisanal, small-batch items including tinctures, creams, body oil, salve sticks, lip balms, and bath bombs. The Global Center for Research, Education, and Discovery, which opened to the public in June of 2020, spans more than 380 acres atop the iconic Pocono Mountains and is a source grower of regenerative organic certified produce and hemp for retailers, distributors, restaurants, and consumers. Regenerative organic agricultural practices make soil health the priority and include low-till methods and zero-use of synthetic chemicals, pesticides and GMOs. Pocono Organics’ farming approach, in partnership with Rodale Institute, produces some of the cleanest and most nutrient-dense crops grown on earth – making them better for consumers – while also strengthening and healing the soil in which they are grown – which is better for our planet. In fact, Rodale Institute released a White Paper in September, 2020 illustrating the science that a global switch to regenerative crop and pasture systems could drawdown more than 100 percent of annual CO2 emissions. “For more than 70 years, our partners at Rodale Institute have led the world in regenerative organic science and research that shows how healthy soil grows more nutrient-dense food,” Walsh continued. “Our vision, as a health and wellness organization, is to inspire people and heal the earth. The United Nations has reported that we have less than 60 farming cycles left before our soil is completely depleted of the nutrients needed to grow the food we need. So, we are not only facing issues of human health, but of soil health that will further impact humanity and the food we eat. The ROC designation is proof of our commitment to this mission, to our communities, and our planet.” The USDA’s 2020-2025 food guidelines also highlight the need for Americans to eat more nutrient-dense foods to promote better health and fight the risk of chronic disease. “I can attest to the power of using food as medicine and plant-based wellness products, like hemp, from my own personal health journey. I was diagnosed with gastroparesis in my late ‘20s, which is a paralyzed stomach. Essentially, I can’t digest food like normal people. So, when doctors suggested cutting out parts of my stomach, inserting feeding tubes, and putting me on a regiment of medications to make me well, I leaned into organic food as a source of nutrition that drastically improved my health and changed my life. That is where the vision of Pocono Organics originated, which makes our mission extremely personal for me.” Pocono Organics is also an agritourism destination with a boutique 56-room hotel adjoining the farm property. Guests can get their hands dirty on the farm and enjoy freshly picked vegetables and fruits as well as prepared meals from its market and café. There are also regular in-person and virtual experiential series ranging from cooking classes with Executive Chef and Food Network Chopped Champion, Lindsay McClain to wellness and food education programs for children. -30- About Pocono Organics Pocono Organics Pocono Organics is a health and wellness organization with a mission to inspire people and heal the earth. The Global Center for Research, Education, and Discovery is one of the largest Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC) farms in North America and grow the world's first and only ROC hemp. Located in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, Pocono Organics has more than 380 acres of farm land and, at full build out, will have 120,000 square feet of greenhouse. Pocono Organics has a strategic partnership with Rodale Institute, the global leaders in Regenerative Organic Agriculture science and research and is one of their largest research satellite facilities. Awarded the 2019 Environmental Innovator of the Year by the Green Sports Alliance, sustainability is a hallmark of Pocono Organics. The farm draws power from a 3MW, 25-acre solar farm and reclaims rain water from 70,000 square feet of roofs for irrigation. Pocono Organics also serves the local community through its Clean Food, Dirty Hands school education program and veterans in transition through a Veteran Farmer Training Program. In addition, the property includes an organic farmer's market and cafe, and with a 56-room adjoining hotel, is an agritourism destination, and host location for annual festivals. Please visit www.PoconoOrganics.com to learn more about Pocono Organics' mission and work. Contact Details Pocono Organics Mike Mooney +1 704-361-9499 mike@poconoorganics.com Company Website https://www.poconoorganics.com/

July 01, 2021 09:15 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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