NEWS
AXL and RSM Canada partner to accelerate AI commercialization in the middle market
AXL, a Canadian venture studio transforming world-class applied AI research into high-growth companies, and RSM Canada LLP( RSM), a leading global provider of assurance, tax and consulting services, have entered into a strategic collaboration.
Together, the two organizations are driving innovation by challenging existing models and reimagining what’ s possible in professional services by integrating AI advancements with real-world business needs.
RSM will serve as the exclusive provider of accounting, tax and consulting services to AXL, offering strategic guidance, compliance expertise and growth planning support. Additionally, RSM will act as a preferred provider of these services to AXL’ s portfolio of start-up companies.
RSM is also one of several leading Canadian organizations participating in AXL’ s AI Catalyst program, a corporate partnership initiative designed to validate and accelerate breakthrough ideas driven by real industry demand. The goal is to fasttrack the commercialization of high-potential AI applications and ensure Canadian innovations are built into the country’ s economic future rather than being exported before they scale.
“ Canada doesn’ t have an innovation gap, it has a commercialization gap,” said Dr Daniel Wigdor, co-founder and CEO, AXL.“ With RSM, we’ re taking demand signals from the market and moving fast to turn that into scalable, enterprise-ready solutions. This is execution over hype. This is how Canada leads – not just in ideas, but in outcomes.”
Backblaze announces expansion of its data center presence in US-East region
Backblaze, the cloud storage innovator providing a modern alternative to traditional cloud providers, has announced a significant expansion of its data center presence in its US-East region.
The expanded capacity is also connected to Internet2’ s network as part of the Internet2 peer exchange( I2PX), which means it is designed to enable Internet2 members to move data in and out of Backblaze US-East and US-West regions at high speeds.
This strategic growth further strengthens Backblaze’ s commitment to the open cloud and enhances the high-speed data transfer capabilities available for B2 Overdrive customers, the Backblaze Cloud Storage platform and members of the Internet2 community.
With this expansion, Backblaze adds more capacity for complex workflows, especially those leveraging AI, high-performance compute( HPC) and media and entertainment.
“ Expanding our US-East presence is a significant step for our open cloud vision,” said Gleb Budman, CEO of Backblaze.“ We’ re all about giving customers the freedom to pick the best service providers for their needs, instead of getting stuck in those complicated and often pricey hyperscaler systems that hit you with surprise charges. This expansion helps us deliver more amazing cloud storage performance with best-of-breed flexibility.”
Enterprises leveraging these technologies have increasingly felt the pressure of walled garden pricing structures that limit their capabilities and growth, driving the shift to a true multi-cloud architecture that leverages best-of-breed providers like Backblaze.
Doubling the data footprint in Backblaze’ s US-East region expands their ability to meet growing demand. This investment underscores Backblaze’ s dedication to providing customers with geographically diverse options for data storage, high-performance cloud storage and cloud-first disaster recovery strategies.
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