Category: Press Releases

Park Place acquires trusted U.S. Government TPM services provider.

CLEVELAND, OH, March 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Park Place Technologies, the world’s leading data center and networking optimization firm, has acquired Virginia-based SDV Solutions, which provides client-centric data center infrastructure solutions exclusively to Federal Government agencies.

Founded in 2004 by Service-Disabled Veteran and current Owners Mike McMahan (U.S. Air Force) and Erin McMahan, SDV is a multi-OEM, independent third-party services provider exclusively to the U.S. Federal Government. Mike McMahan will remain with Park Place to ensure clients have a consistent and trusted team supporting the most critical missions of the U.S. Government.

“SDV has always been about teamwork, efficient service to Government clients, and exceeding performance expectations,” McMahan said. “We will now be able to offer our Federal clients a larger breadth of Hardware Maintenance, Managed Services and Professional Services. Park Place will help government agencies accomplish more with their budgets, get longer life from IT assets, and carry forward SDV’s legacy of trust and high-level security.”

Park Place helps more than 21,000 clients optimize data center budgets, productivity, performance, and sustainability so they can think bigger – and act faster. From procurement to decommissioning, Park Place’s comprehensive portfolio of services and products helps IT teams optimize IT lifecycle management. This frees time and spend so they can focus on transforming their businesses for the future.

Chris Adams, Park Place Technologies President and CEO, said SDV’s reputation and business practices make it an important addition for Park Place’s established Federal client base.

“We have been firmly entrenched in the Federal space and continue to foster long-term relationships at the highest levels,” Adams said. “The trust and unquestioned dedication SDV is known for will be joined with our mission to optimize government data center budgets, productivity, performance, and sustainability.”

SDV’s Channel partners will have access to Park Place’s decades-long platforms of partner incentives, Federal-adherent processes, U.S.-based supply chain and deeper depth of security-cleared field engineers.

“SDV and Park Place will do more than maintain current standards; we will strengthen our services and provide options that will solidify our place as the U.S. Government’s most-trusted data center maintenance and optimization firm,” McMahan said.

Agile Equity provided exclusive investment banking transaction services to SDV Solutions.

About Park Place Technologies

Park Place Technologies is a global data center and networking optimization firm. Park Place’s industry-leading and award-winning services portfolio includes Park Place Hardware Maintenance, Park Place Professional Services, ParkView Managed Services, Entuity Software and Curvature Hardware sales. For more information, visit www.parkplacetechnologies.com. Park Place is a portfolio company of Charlesbank Capital Partners and GTCR.

Attachment

• Park Place Technologies Headquarters

Michael Miller
Park Place Technologies
4409915509
mmiller@parkplacetech.com

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 9079019

The next-generation Apollo pairs vector acceleration with unmatched power efficiency to enable most AI inferencing on-device without a dedicated NPU

Ambiq Apollo510 PR KV

Ambiq Apollo510 PR KV

Feature Highlights

• Apollo510, based on Arm Cortex-M55, delivers 30x better power efficiency and 10x faster performance compared to previous generations
• The ability to do AI/ML workloads concurrent with complex graphics, telco-quality voice applications, and always-on voice/sensor processing
• 4 MB on-chip NVM, 3.75 MB on-chip SRAM, and high bandwidth interfaces to off-chip memories
• 2.5D GPU with vector graphics acceleration for vibrant, crystal-clear, and smooth graphics, a 3.5x overall performance enhancement over the Apollo4 Plus family
• Support for Memory in Pixel (MiP) displays, typically found in the lowest-power products
• Robust security on Ambiq’s secureSPOT® platform with Arm TrustZone technology

AUSTIN, Texas, March 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ambiq, a technology leader in exceptionally energy-efficient semiconductors for IoT devices, is introducing the new Apollo510, the first member of the Apollo5 SoC family, which is uniquely positioned to kickstart the age of truly ubiquitous, practical, and meaningful AI.

The Apollo510 MCU is a complete overhaul of hardware and software that fully leverages the Arm® Cortex®-M55 CPU with Arm Helium to reach processing speeds up to 250MHz. The Apollo510 achieves up to 10x better latency while reducing energy consumption by around 2x, compared to Ambiq’s previous power efficiency leader, the Apollo4. This desirable combination of performance and efficiency allows our customers to deploy sophisticated speech, vision, health, and industrial AI models on battery-powered devices everywhere, making it the most efficient semiconductor on the market to operate with the Arm Cortex-M55.

“We at Ambiq have pushed our proprietary SPOT platform to optimize power consumption in support of our customers, who are aggressively increasing the intelligence and sophistication of their battery-powered devices year after year,” said Scott Hanson, Ambiq’s CTO and Founder. The new Apollo510 MCU is simultaneously the most energy-efficient and highest-performance product we’ve ever created.”

Apollo510 Preliminary AI Results Graph

Apollo510 Preliminary AI Results Graph

“As applications across health, industrial, and smart home continue to advance, the need for secure edge AI is crucial for next generation devices,” said Paul Williamson, SVP and GM, IoT Line of Business at Arm. “Ambiq’s new family of SoCs, built on Arm, will deliver significant performance gains for on-device AI, helping developers and device manufacturers deliver the capabilities required for the AI era.”

With more than 30x energy improvement, the Apollo510 is capable of running a vast majority of today’s endpoint AI calculations, including low-power sensor monitoring, always-on voice commands, telco-quality audio enhancement, and more. Manufacturers of IoT devices that perform AI/ML inferencing, such as next-gen wearables, digital health devices, AR/VR glasses, factory automation, and remote monitoring devices, can greatly expand their power budget while adding more capabilities to their devices through the Apollo510’s SPOT-optimized design.

Apollo510 contains everything needed for driving intelligent systems: ultra-efficient compute, expansive on-chip memories, high-bandwidth interfaces to off-chip memories, and security. Arm Helium technology on Apollo510 supports up to 8 MACs per cycle as well as half, full, and double precision floating point operations, making it ideal for AI calculations in addition to general signal processing operations. Apollo510 also improves its memory capacity over the previous generation with 4 MB of on-chip NVM and 3.75 MB of on-chip SRAM and TCM, so developers have smooth development and more application flexibility. For extra-large neural network models or graphics assets, Apollo510 has a host of high bandwidth off-chip interfaces, individually capable of peak throughputs up to 500MB/s and sustained throughput over 300MB/s.

Building upon Ambiq’s secureSPOT platform, Apollo510 integrates Arm TrustZone technology with a physical unclonable function (PUF), tamper-resistant OTP, and secure peripherals. These enhancements help designers establish a trusted execution environment (TEE) to develop secure, robust applications and scale their products faster.

IoT endpoint device manufacturers can expect unrivaled power efficiency to develop more capable devices that process AI/ML functions better than before. Targeted applications and industries include wearables, digital health, agriculture, smart homes and buildings, predictive maintenance, factory automation, and more.

The Apollo510 MCU is currently sampling with customers, with general availability in Q4 this year. It has been nominated by the 2024 embedded world community under the Hardware category for the embedded awards.

Meet us at the Embedded World Exhibition and Conference on April 9- 11, 2024, for a live product demonstration.

About Ambiq
Ambiq’s mission is to develop the lowest-power semiconductor solutions to enable intelligent devices everywhere and drive a more energy-efficient, sustainable, and data-driven world. Ambiq has helped leading manufacturers worldwide develop products that last weeks on a single charge (rather than days) while delivering a maximum feature set in compact industrial designs. Ambiq’s goal is to take Artificial Intelligence (AI) where it has never gone before in mobile and portable devices, using Ambiq’s advanced ultra-low power system on chip (SoC) solutions. Ambiq has shipped more than 230 million units. For more information, visit www.ambiq.com.

Contact
Charlene Wan
VP of Branding, Marketing, and Investor Relations
cwan@ambiq.com
+1.512.879.2850

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

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GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 9079062

To Bolster Global Efforts in Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria KFSH&RC Scientists Discover New Bacteria Species: Riyadhensis

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, March 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — In a ground-breaking development, scientists at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre (KFSH&RC) have identified a new species of bacteria, referred to as “Stenotrophomonas Riyadhensis” through the application of whole-genome sequencing (WGS) technology. This discovery signifies a major advancement in understanding how bacteria interact with existing drugs, paving the way for innovative therapeutic strategies. Such efforts are essential in the global fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria, highlighting KFSH&RC’s advanced research capabilities and its leading role in fostering scientific discoveries and enhancing patient care.

The discovery of “Riyadhensis” reinforces the potential of genomic tests in innovating promising diagnostic and therapeutic methods, as well as deepening the understanding of bacterial resistance mechanisms, particularly in sensitive environments like intensive care units (ICU) and among patients with compromised immune systems. This represents substantial progress in combating antibiotic resistance, developing pharmaceuticals, and preventing the spread of diseases.

This newly identified bacteria was discovered amid an in-depth investigation into a suspected outbreak in the ICU of KFSH&RC in 2019, highlighting challenges previously unrecognized by the global scientific and medical communities in pinpointing and countering new bacterial strains. Initially thought to be a variant of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a disease-causing bacterium known for its resistance to antibiotics, subsequent WGS analysis revealed it did not share the common characteristics of the Pseudomonas genus. Instead, Riyadhensis was found to belong to the Stenotrophomonas family, with a unique genetic composition and morphological traits, unlike any other scientifically recognized members.

Dr. Ahmad Al Qahtani, Head of the Infectious Disease and Immunity Department at The research center of KFSH&RC stated: “Traditional bacterial identification methods may lead to misidentification, in contrast, WGS analysis offers a precise and targeted approach that ensures accurate identification and provides detailed insights into resistance mechanisms, proving its significance in disease outbreak investigations and patient care improvements.”

Dr. Reem Almaghrabi, Head of Transplant Infectious Diseases at the Organ Transplant Centre of Excellence at KFSH&RC highlighted the discovery’s importance in advocating for continuous monitoring and the use of advanced technologies like WGS in developing faster and more accurate diagnostic methods. Furthermore, this approach lays the groundwork for scientific collaboration at all levels, enhancing global efforts to combat antibiotic resistance.

Understanding the nuances of new bacterial species, particularly their antibiotic resistance, is crucial in modern healthcare and serves as the primary means of combating bacterial infections. As these bacteria continuously evolve their resistance, they pose a significant and ongoing threat to human health.

It is noteworthy that KFSH&RC has been ranked first in the Middle East and Africa, and 20th globally, in the list of the top 250 healthcare institutions worldwide for the second consecutive year, according to the 2024 Brand Finance rankings. Additionally in the same year, it was ranked among the world’s best hospitals by the prestigious Newsweek magazine.

King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre stands among the global leaders in providing specialized healthcare, driving innovation, and serving as an advanced hub for medical research and education. Through strategic partnerships with prominent local, regional, and international institutions, the hospital is dedicated to advancing medical technologies and elevating the standards of healthcare worldwide.

About King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre (KFSH&RC):

King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre (KFSH&RC) stands as a leading healthcare institution in the Middle East, envisioned to be the optimal choice for every patient seeking specialized healthcare. The hospital boasts a rich history in the treatment of cancers, cardiovascular diseases, organ transplantation, neurosciences, and genetics.

In 2024, “Brand Finance” ranked King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre as the top Academic Medical Centre in the Middle East and Africa, and among the top 20 globally. Additionally, in 2024, it was recognized as one of the World’s Best Hospitals by Newsweek magazine, and ranked # 1 in KSA.

As part of Saudi Vision 2030, a royal decree was issued on December 21, 2021, to transform the hospital into an independent, non-profit, government-owned entity, paving the way for a comprehensive transformation program aimed at achieving global leadership in healthcare through excellence and innovation.

CONTACT INFORMATION

For more information, please contact:

Mr. Essam Al-Zahrani, Media Affairs Acting Head, 0555254429

Mr. Abdullah Al-Awn, Senior Media Editor, 0556294232

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c4299c01-0079-498b-8350-bd085d769150

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 9078638