Latest news with #SHIInternationalCorp
Techday NZ
5 days ago
- Business
- Techday NZ
Cohesity Gaia brings AI-powered backup search to Microsoft 365
Cohesity has announced the integration of Gaia, its AI-powered enterprise search assistant, into Microsoft 365 Copilot, enabling corporate users to securely extract insights from backup data across emails, documents, spreadsheets, and more within the familiar Microsoft 365 interface. The move is set to provide employees across various departments with the ability to search and derive value from backup data, incorporating retrieval augmented generation (RAG) artificial intelligence and large language models (LLMs). This integration allows users to maintain strict access controls while benefiting from deeper organisational insights. The integration marks the availability of Cohesity Gaia for Microsoft 365 Copilot subscribers, allowing organisations to leverage generative AI while prioritising data security. Through conversational queries within the Copilot interface, employees can access both surface-level and in-depth information stored within backup systems, supporting more informed and timely decision-making across departments. "Generative AI is opening a world of opportunities, but to effectively tap into this, organisations need to be able to dive deep into their data. Without a single plane of data visibility, many organisations are unaware of the power of backup data in unlocking new business insights," said Paul Henaghan, Managing Director, Cohesity, Australia and New Zealand. "In bringing Cohesity Gaia together with Microsoft 365 Copilot, organisations can benefit from easy and secure extraction of both surface-level and deeper data and harness the full potential of AI technologies." Cohesity Gaia operates by combining generative AI with LLMs and RAG techniques, offering a search experience that trawls large datasets to deliver relevant, department-specific insights based on natural language queries. This functionality is reinforced by granular, role-based access controls, restricting system responses in line with individual user permissions and ensuring ongoing protection of sensitive information. Chantrelle Nielsen, Group Product Manager for Microsoft 365 Copilot at Microsoft, described the integration as reflecting wider trends in enterprise AI use cases. "Generative AI has created a tipping point for enterprise AI deployments. The next phase of this journey will involve more AI-to-AI communications and expectations for transformative business outcomes," Nielsen said. "Microsoft 365 Copilot integration with Cohesity reflects this progression, giving enterprises more ways to take advantage of AI from the convenience of a single interface with a consistent user experience." The partnership between Cohesity and Microsoft continues to be highlighted by developments such as this, which are aimed at enhancing organisational cyber resilience and offerings around data security. Jared Crowley, Senior Director of Security & Software Partners at SHI International Corp, commented on the impact of the new integration. "Cohesity and Microsoft continue to build on their partnership, working together to safeguard data and strengthen organisations' cyber resilience. This integration extends the value proposition even further to bring new benefits by instantly putting high-quality backup data at the fingertips of users across the enterprise," Crowley said. "The end result is faster, better decision making and fresh opportunities for maximising customers' investments in Cohesity and Microsoft." Cohesity Gaia operates on a subscription basis, and the new capabilities within Microsoft 365 Copilot are currently available at no extra cost to organisations subscribed to both services. The integration is available to users in Australia and New Zealand, with further information accessible for those interested in exploring the service in depth. Cohesity reports that over 13,600 enterprise customers, including a significant number of companies from the Fortune 100 and Global 500, rely on the company's solutions to protect, secure, and extract insight from large volumes of organisational data. The company formed through the recent combination of Cohesity with the Veritas enterprise data protection business and is backed by several major technology partners. Follow us on: Share on:
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
License plate readers on the agenda for city council
Two dozen cameras capable of reading license plates may soon be in operation at locations selected by the police department across the City of Niagara Falls. City council members have been asked by Mayor Robert Restaino's administration to consider approval of a $300,100 grant-funded contract with SHI International Corp., a New Jersey company that offers surveillance equipment to municipalities in partnership with another firm, Flock Safety. The proposed agreement is on the agenda for consideration by city lawmakers during today's council meeting. Under the proposed contract, the city would pay SHI International Corp. $12,100 to install 24 new, outdoor, solar-powered surveillance cameras capable of recording and reading license plates at 'locations selected by the Niagara Falls Police Department.' Under the agreement, camera installation would be performed by Flock Safety or its subcontractor and the equipment would be supported by the company's cloud-based automated license plate recognition software at an annual cost of $72,000 over a period of four years. The council resolution indicates that funding for the project is available from the New York State Law Enforcement Tech Grant previously awarded to the city's police department. Flock Safety technology has been used by law enforcement agencies in other communities to trace stolen vehicles, track criminal suspects tied to shootings and other crimes, and enhance recovery efforts under Amber and Silver alert systems which are employed during searches for children who have been kidnapped and elderly adults who have been reported missing. The company's system has drawn criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union, which has described it as 'dangerously powerful and unregulated.' The Niagara County Sheriff's Office entered into a similar agreement with Flock Safety in 2023 for the installation of 67 license plate readers at what was described as 'strategically located' spots throughout the county. An announcement accompanying the installation of those cameras indicated that they were capable of providing law enforcement with the make, model, color and license plate from the rear of vehicles traveling throughout the county. At the time, the sheriff's office said the readers would allow law enforcement to collect 'actionable evidence' while sending 'real-time alerts' 'within seconds' if a wanted or stolen vehicle passes by the cameras. The sheriff's office said in 2023 that the plate readers would not be used to enforce traffic law violations or to 'track citizen movement' or to take photos of vehicle occupants or to employ facial recognition technology. The sheriff's office release noted that all data collected through the system would be stored in the cloud, deleted every 30 days on a rolling basis and not sold or shared with third parties. According to the ACLU, a non-profit organization that advocates for the protection of individual rights and liberties across the country, as of mid-February, Flock Safety automatic license plate recognition systems were in place in more than 2,000 cities in 42 states. On its website, the ACLU encourages residents living in communities where Flock Safety systems are not in place to 'pump the brakes' on the company's license plate readers. The ACLU does not object to every use of license plate readers, including using them to locate stolen cars or for AMBER alerts involving child abduction cases. It does, however, advocate for fair use subject to 'proper checks and balances' to ensure the devices are not being disproportionately used in low-income and minority communities.
