IBM’s Cloud Multizone Region (MZR) in Montreal opens doors to support Canada’s regulated industries with cloud solutions which prioritize data sovereignty through resiliency, performance, security, and compliance IBM’s watsonx® AI portfolio available on IBM Cloud® at Toronto MZR, enabling Canadian organizations to scale AI solutions in country

TORONTO and MONTREAL, April 3, 2025 /CNW/ — IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced today two key advances in its cloud capabilities in Canada, further strengthening offerings to enable Canadian organizations to scale AI deployments, and to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements for data storage and security including Canadian data sovereignty.

IBM officially opened the doors to its latest Cloud MZR in Montreal, Quebec, adding to its existing Cloud capabilities and investments across North America. IBM aims to help clients address their evolving regulatory requirements and leverage technology such as Generative AI with our secured, enterprise cloud platform.

IBM Cloud offers a high-performance, flexible, AI-optimized infrastructure with bare metal and virtual server Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) options, for IBM watsonx or other generative AI solutions. The availability of watsonx, IBM’s portfolio of AI products, on IBM Cloud at Toronto MZR addresses the growing demand for scalable, safe and responsible AI deployments in Canada. It will enable Canadian organizations to achieve high levels of reliability, scalability and security while ensuring compliance with Canada’s stringent data privacy and residency requirements.

“Our focus is on meeting the evolving needs of our clients across Canada and today is a critical milestone in providing IBM infrastructure and solutions that can help them boost productivity and performance while keeping data in-country,” said Deb Pimentel, IBM Canada President and General Manager, Technology Canada. “While we continue enriching our existing Toronto Cloud MZR with cutting-edge AI capabilities, we’re thrilled to officially open the doors to our new Montreal Cloud MZR. These developments underscore our relentless pursuit to build robust, capable cloud infrastructure across Canada, fostering an ecosystem that drives AI innovation responsibly and securely.”

Both the Montreal and Toronto MZR will offer numerous advantages to clients including access to innovative enterprise cloud-as-a-service capabilities such as IBM Cloud VPC, Red Hat® Cloud Native Products, IBM Power® Virtual Server (VS), VMware Cloud Foundations (VCF) as a Service and more:

Data sovereignty: Enterprises in regulated industries such as government and financial services, can manage and store data locally to comply with Canada’s stringent privacy regulations, ensuring sensitive information remains secure.Low latency connectivity: IBM Cloud’s high-performance network connectivity significantly reduces latency for users across Canada, essential for real-time data processing.Scalable AI: The modular design enables businesses to scale operations seamlessly, provisioning resources quickly based on demand.Access to advanced generative AI models: Clients can leverage a variety of generative AI models including Llama-3-2-11b-vision-instruct and Granite-34b-code-instruct.Open hybrid cloud strategy: The MZRs provide the ability to integrate the best features and functions from any cloud or traditional IT environment and tap the unmatched pace and quality of innovations from the open-source community.IBM Power VS allows enterprises to deploy and manage virtual server instances running AIX, IBM i, or Linux workloads in a hybrid cloud environment, offering a flexible and scalable platform for mission-critical applicationsIBM’s collaboration with Hugging Face aims to bring the best of open-source AI models to the enterprise using the watsonx portfolio.

These in-country IBM Cloud MZRs are designed to enable Canadian clients to deploy AI and mission-critical workloads with high levels of security, and help clients address their data sovereignty and regulatory compliance requirements. This includes helping them on their journey to demonstrate their compliance with the Government of Canada’s Protected B Medium Profile, a security level defined by the government for sensitive information and assets.

“Globally, enterprises, especially those in highly regulated sectors such as financial services, government, and healthcare need solutions that are tailored to their unique challenges,” said Rohit Badlaney, GM for IBM Cloud Product & Industry Platforms. “With our latest advancements in Canada, we are extending IBM’s enterprise cloud platform and sovereign cloud capabilities to Canadian organizations in these sectors, helping them to address their local regulatory requirements, keeping data secured and maintain it in country.”

As Canadian businesses seek to scale AI while ensuring trust and compliance, IBM Cloud and watsonx are poised to provide the necessary tools and platforms to maximize return on investment for AI initiatives. These new capabilities are the latest in IBM investments across North America to support clients on their modernization journeys. Our MZRs and data centers across Washington, D.C., Dallas, San Jose, Toronto, and Montreal strengthen our clients’ ability to deploy locally and scale globally.

For information on IBM’s enterprise sovereign cloud capabilities, please visit https://www.ibm.com/products/blog/ibm-cloud-delivers-enterprise-sovereign-cloud-capabilities 

Explore the power of IBM watsonx and how watsonx Developer Hub can help developers scale AI at speed.

For information on IBM Cloud, please visit https://www.ibm.com/cloud

For information on IBM Canada, please visit https://www.ibm.com/ca-en

IBM Canada Media Contact:
Ruhee Dhar
External Relations Lead
ruhee@ibm.com 

SOURCE IBM

Ligeia Zeruto, Bob Burke, and Louis Marascio appointed to Beyond Identity executive team to accelerate growth via federal practice; secure-by-design initiatives, and product innovation

NEW YORK, April 3, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Beyond Identity, a leading provider of secure identity and access management (IAM) solutions that eliminates identity-based attacks, is pleased to announce the appointment of three distinguished professionals to its executive team, reinforcing the company’s commitment to technological innovation and cybersecurity leadership.

Ligeia Zeruto Joins as Head of Federal, Defense and International Expansion

Ligeia Zeruto joins Beyond Identity as the Head of Federal & Defense, bringing a wealth of experience from both the public and private sectors, and establishing the organization’s Federal Practice under Ms. Zeruto. Prior to this appointment, Ms. Zeruto served in executive roles at Amazon Web Services including Chief of Staff and Global Senior Manager for Technology Partner sales for the public sector. Additionally, her distinguished military career includes 23 years of service as a US Army counterintelligence and cyber-warfare officer, including assignments at U.S. Cyber Command, National Security Agency and the 75th Innovation Command.

“Ligeia’s appointment and her expertise in supporting the development of our national cybersecurity strategies align with our strategic goal to broaden our impact in the federal and defense arenas,” said Jasson Casey, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Beyond Identity. “Her insights and experience will be invaluable as we execute our go-to-market to meet the unique needs of federal agencies.”

Bob Burke Promoted to Chief Information Security Officer

Bob Burke has been promoted to Chief Information Security Officer at Beyond Identity, following his impactful tenure as Vice President of Security and Infrastructure. In his previous role, Burke was responsible for overseeing infrastructure, cloud operations, and security across all products and business lines. His dual focus as both a security practitioner and product architect ensured the availability, performance, scalability, and security of Beyond Identity’s internal corporate systems and SaaS offerings.

“Bob’s promotion to CISO underscores our dedication to maintaining the highest security standards,” commented Casey. “His leadership will ensure that we continue to safeguard our clients against the rapidly evolving cyber threat landscape.”

Louis Marascio Promoted to Chief Technology Officer

Louis Marascio brings over 25 years of experience in building companies, teams, and products across various sectors, including quantitative trading, IP telephony, data analytics, manufacturing, and cybersecurity. Prior to his promotion to CTO, Marascio served as a Senior Product Architect at Beyond Identity, where he played a pivotal role in delivering on the company’s mission to protect the livelihood of its customers.

“Louis’s extensive background and innovative mindset have been instrumental in advancing our technological capabilities,” said Casey. “As CTO, his leadership will be crucial in driving our product development and technological strategy.”

About Beyond Identity
Beyond Identity is the only identity and access management (IAM) platform that delivers zero trust optimal user and device security by default. Built on a secure-by-design architecture, Beyond Identity categorically defends against the most common initial access vectors including phishing, brute force, and MFA bypass attacks with phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication (MFA), continuous device security for managed and unmanaged devices, frictionless passwordless experience on any device, and precise risk-based access controls. Beyond Identity integrates seamlessly with identity providers like Okta, Ping, Microsoft, and OneLogin or can be deployed as a standalone identity provider. Leading organizations, including Snowflake, Cornell University, World Wide Technology, and other Fortune 500 companies, trust Beyond Identity to remove access risks and achieve zero trust maturity. Learn more at beyondidentity.com.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/beyond-identity-appoints-new-leaders-to-support-strategic-growth-initiatives-302419145.html

SOURCE Beyond Identity

Employer clients gain access to more effective ways to drive employee engagement with benefits communication materials year-round

BOSTON, April 3, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Flimp, a premier provider of employee benefits communication solutions, educational content, texting, and decision-support tools, today announced a strategic relationship with Aptia, a specialist tech-enabled administration partner for the highly complex space of health, benefits, and pensions. Aptia clients now have the added benefit of improving benefits education and engagement with Flimp’s robust digital benefits campaigns and white-glove, consultative approach.

Together, Flimp and Aptia will provide their mutual clients with impactful communication packages that help employees choose their benefits, access plan information (anytime from anywhere), and provide the educational content needed to understand and better utilize their benefits throughout the year. The relationship will enable clients to save time on benefits education, while empowering their employees to make the most of their benefits, not only during open enrollment but throughout the year.

“By working with Flimp, we’re elevating how we drive value into the relationship our clients have with their people. We will deliver smarter, more engaging benefits communication solutions to strengthen companies, workers, and their families,” said Jeff Williams, CEO and President of Aptia Group U.S. “Our innovative digital solutions make it easier to deliver clear, engaging information that employees can understand and act on—ensuring they feel informed, confident, and supported every step of the way.”

Flimp offers employer-branded, customized benefits-communication packages for Aptia clients, as well as other add-on solutions including:

Educational benefits videos (custom or out of the box)Microsites and Digital PostcardsDigital benefits guidesBenefits-at-a-glance brochuresTexting, emailing, and more

“Aptia and Flimp have a strong history of working together and, today, we’re formalizing the relationship to make leading benefits-education solutions more accessible and approachable for their clients,” said Wayne Wall, CEO at Flimp. “Our expertise in benefits communication campaigns runs deep and can make a fast and meaningful impact for employers and their employees. We’re excited to bring that efficiency to the many world-class clients Aptia works with.”

About Aptia
Aptia is a trusted provider of employee benefits and pensions administration services, with offices in the U.K. and U.S., supported by shared services in India and Portugal. It manages programs covering over 7 million people and serving more than 1,100 clients. Aptia delivers efficient and reliable solutions that ensure the smooth management of pension plans and employee benefits programs. Our dedicated team of experts combines in-depth knowledge with leading technology to simplify the administration process.

Connect with Aptia on our website or LinkedIn.

About Flimp
Flimp is a premier provider of employee benefits communications, educational content, texting, and decision-support tools for employers, consultants, enrollers, and insurance carriers. Flimp offers customized content combined with white-glove managed services to employers to ensure their benefits offerings are a success. The company’s technology platforms—Flimp Canvas (content creation, distribution, and tracking), Flimp Connect (messaging), and Flimp Decisions (decision support and plan analytics)—offer everything needed to engage, educate, and empower employees to make better, more informed benefits decisions. Flimp serves more than 1,400 corporate clients across nearly every industry, including dozens of Fortune 500 companies, and partners of all sizes, including the top 10 brokers in the United States. For more information or to schedule a consultation to learn about Flimp’s benefits communication solutions, visit: flimp.net/contact.

Media Contacts:

Aptia
mediaenquiries@aptia-group.com

Flimp
news@flimp.net

This press release was issued through 24-7PressRelease.com. For further information, visit http://www.24-7pressrelease.com.

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SOURCE Flimp Communications