Charter's AI strategy starts with reliability: Spectrum bets on network resilience as edge computing grows. * Charter sees network reliability as one of AI's most important near-term use cases * Spectrum is extending compute resources deeper into its network to support low-latency applications and operational automation * Executives said AI success will require tight coordination among operators, vendors, partners and customers across the entire technology stack SCTE TECHEXPO26, ATLANTA - As much of the telecom industry focuses on how artificial intelligence could enable new applications and revenue streams, Charter Communications executives are increasingly focused on a more foundational objective: network reliability. Speaking at SCTE TechExpo, Charter President and CEO Chris Winfrey argued that AI's biggest opportunity may not be consumer-facing applications but improving how networks operate and perform. "Partners, vendors, clients all need to be looking at the end-to-end," Winfrey said, stressing that network performance increasingly depends on collaboration across the broader technology ecosystem. The comments come as Spectrum expands investments in edge computing infrastructure designed to support next-generation AI workloads. Earlier this week, Charter announced new partnerships with Cast AI, HP, Hydra Host and World Wide Technology centered on its Edge Compute Infrastructure (ECI) platform, which uses NVIDIA-accelerated computing resources distributed throughout Spectrum's network. According to Charter, the company can reach more than 1,000 edge locations and place computing resources within roughly 10 milliseconds of hundreds of millions of connected devices across the U.S. But while much of the industry's AI discussion centers on robots, automation and advanced applications, Charter executives made clear that network resiliency remains a core priority. Rich DiGeronimo, Spectrum's president of product and technology, said operators increasingly need to think about reliability across every layer of the technology stack as networks become more dependent on AI-driven systems and distributed infrastructure. The emphasis reflects a broader shift occurring across telecom networks. AI can help providers identify service degradations before customers notice them, automate network remediation, optimize traffic flows and reduce downtime. Those operational benefits could ultimately prove more valuable in the near term than many of the emerging AI applications attracting headlines. Charter's edge computing strategy. Charter's edge computing strategy is also tied to that reliability mission. In one of its SCTE TechExpo announcements, the company said ECI is designed to move compute resources closer to where data is generated and decisions must be made. Charter argues that applications involving robotics, sensors, real-time video and sensitive data require lower latency than centralized cloud infrastructure can always provide. The distributed architecture is intended to reduce delays while supporting more responsive services and network operations. The approach highlights how operators are increasingly viewing AI infrastructure and network infrastructure as interconnected investments rather than separate initiatives. For Charter, that means building a network capable of supporting new AI workloads while using AI itself to strengthen operational performance. As operators evaluate where AI can deliver measurable returns, Charter's message was notably pragmatic: the industry's most important AI breakthrough may not be the next application, but a network that stays up, performs consistently and resolves problems before customers ever know they existed.

Seven Tech Trailblazers alumni making waves in the news. Posted by rax lakhani | 31/07/2026 Here at Tech Trailblazers, Tech Trailblazers is proud to celebrate the continued momentum of the startups and scaleups recognised by the Tech Trailblazers Awards. From AI-powered security and embedded global connectivity to autonomous cloud management, warehouse robotics and agentic developer tools, the team here at Tech Trailblazers Towers has spotted seven standout alumni stories published or shared between 24 and 30 July 2026. Robust.AI brings collaborative robotics to two O'Neill Logistics facilities. Congratulations to Robust.AI, which has announced a new partnership with O'Neill Logistics to deploy 24 Carter collaborative mobile robots across distribution centres in Monroe, New Jersey, and Savannah, Georgia. The deployment, planned for the fourth quarter of 2026, will support fulfilment operations spanning retail, direct-to-consumer and omnichannel customers. Carter is designed to work alongside existing warehouse teams and infrastructure, helping organisations introduce automation without rebuilding facilities around the technology. Robust.AI was named the 2025 Robotics Trailblazers winner, making this a particularly fitting next chapter for a company recognised for advancing practical, collaborative robotics. Abnormal AI expands its behavioural security platform. Abnormal AI has unveiled a significant expansion of its Behavioral Security Platform, introducing Identity Threat Protection, AI Governance and Infiltration Prevention alongside an AI App Store. The additions are designed to help security teams address identity attacks, govern the use of AI applications and detect threats attempting to gain an initial foothold inside an organisation. The new capabilities are due to become generally available from 3 August 2026. Originally recognised as Abnormal Security, the company was the 2020 Security Trailblazers winner and subsequently a 2023 runner-up in both the AI and Security categories. Its latest platform expansion brings those two areas of expertise together as AI adoption creates new identity, application and data-security challenges. Gigs powers travel eSIMs inside the Starling app. Congratulations also go to Gigs, which is powering a new travel eSIM service from UK digital bank Starling. Starling customers can purchase and manage mobile-data plans directly within the banking app, with packages covering more than 130 countries. Customers can choose from 1GB, 3GB, 5GB or 10GB plans, each valid for 30 days. It is a compelling example of embedded connectivity moving into a familiar financial-services environment, reducing the need for travellers to arrange a separate physical SIM or use another application. Gigs was a 2024 Telecoms Trailblazers runner-up, recognised for its work in making mobile connectivity programmable and easier for companies to integrate into their products. IRONSCALES exposes a two-stage phishing technique. IRONSCALES has published proprietary threat research detailing a two-stage banking scam designed to evade traditional email-security scanners. According to its analysis, the attackers used legitimate ServiceNow outbound infrastructure and divided the malicious journey across two messages. The first email avoided including the dangerous link, helping it pass authentication checks and appear clean to a legacy gateway. The malicious destination was introduced later in the exchange. The research provides a useful warning that authentication signals alone do not establish whether the intent behind an email is trustworthy. IRONSCALES was a 2017 Security Trailblazers runner-up, and its continuing work on evolving social-engineering and phishing techniques remains closely aligned with that recognition. CAST AI receives a 2026 CloudX Award. CAST AI has been named the Cloud Management winner in the 2026 CloudX Awards, presented by DevNetwork. The award recognises technology helping organisations manage and optimise increasingly complex cloud environments. CAST AI is due to be recognised at the official CloudX Awards ceremony in Santa Clara on 1 September 2026. CAST AI was a 2024 Cloud Trailblazers runner-up, and this latest recognition reflects the company's continued progress in cloud and Kubernetes optimisation. Congratulations to the CAST AI team on adding another industry accolade to the cabinet. StackHawk takes its AppSec Wingman to Black Hat USA. Developer-security alumnus StackHawk has been introducing its new AppSec Wingman ahead of Black Hat USA, taking place from 3 to 6 August. Designed to work inside AI coding environments and agents such as Claude Code and Cursor, Wingman supports a continuous "find, fix and verify" application-security workflow. Rather than leaving security testing until the end of development, the approach is intended to give developers security guidance while code is being created and changed. StackHawk will demonstrate the technology at its Black Hat booth. StackHawk was a 2023 Developer Trailblazers runner-up. Its latest work reflects a major shift in the developer-tooling sector as security vendors adapt their products for AI-assisted and agentic software development. Kong data highlights the rise of multi-model AI estates. Kong has amplified fresh observations from AI Gateway usage across hundreds of enterprises, indicating that multi-model AI deployments are rapidly becoming the norm. The company's public LinkedIn feed reported that 62 per cent of organisations in the dataset were using at least two models, while 20 per cent were running six or more. One customer environment had recorded 602 distinct model identifiers. These company-reported figures underline the governance and operational challenge emerging as organisations combine commercial, open-source and specialised models rather than standardising on one provider. AI gateways are increasingly becoming a control point for routing, observability, security and cost management across these environments. Kong was a 2020 Developer Trailblazers runner-up, recognised well before today's generative-AI boom for technology that helps organisations manage connections between applications and services. Celebrating continued alumni momentum. Tech Trailblazers congratulate all of its previous Tech Trailblazer Awards winners and runners-up on the progress they continue to make across their respective industries. These seven updates demonstrate the breadth of innovation within its alumni community - from robots working alongside warehouse teams and connectivity embedded inside banking apps to security platforms responding to identity attacks, AI-generated code and increasingly sophisticated phishing campaigns. For founders building the next generation of cloud, AI, cybersecurity, developer, telecoms, robotics or other enterprise technologies, entries for the Tech Trailblazers Awards 2026 offer an opportunity to join this global community of innovators. Entrants should be privately held technology startups or scaleups, generally at Series C funding or below, less than ten years old at the time of entry, and operating in - or directly relevant to - one of the Tech Trailblazers Awards categories. Please check the latest eligibility details before submitting an entry. Rose Ross Chief Trailblazer and Founder Tech Trailblazers Awards