California – October 31, 2026 -- Switching off Gemma 4's default reasoning with a single flag raised accuracy by up to 48 points, cut cost 6x to 8x and made a correct answer up to 19x faster on short verifiable tasks, according to a 27-model local benchmark run on a Strix Halo machine with a power meter attached. The 12B and 26B variants rose from about 52% to 100% on the easy suite.

Global – October 31, 2026 -- CIQ has released Stratum Kubernetes Engine (SKE), an Apache 2.0-licensed distribution that packages the roughly ten upstream projects a Kubernetes cluster needs into one signed file for installing, joining, upgrading and maintaining clusters on Enterprise Linux.

CIQ built SKE to cut the upkeep cost that AI workloads add, since training and inference spread across many systems and capacity moves with demand. The company is the team behind Rocky Linux, Fuzzball, Warewulf and Apptainer.

Berlin – October 31, 2026 -- Vertiv and NVIDIA modeled up to 30% more cumulative token output in the first 12 months at equal installed capacity. The gain comes from a combined design-and-deployment approach for AI factories, introduced at NVIDIA GTC Berlin. Polar Data Centers is applying the factory-built element to the first 41 MW phase of its multiphase AI data center at Herøya, Norway.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – October 31, 2026 -- Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE: VRT) has completed its acquisition of King Environmental Services Ltd. (KES), extending its thermal and fluid management services into Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Financial terms were not disclosed, and Vertiv does not expect the deal to be material to its financial results.

Columbus, Ohio – October 31, 2026 -- Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE: VRT) launched SmartIT, a factory-validated AI infrastructure platform that combines rack, power, liquid cooling and monitoring in one pre-engineered design, and made it available globally from day one.

The platform targets enterprises, research institutions and colocation providers. It deploys in existing facilities and new data centers. Vertiv says it also covers commercial spaces and hyperscale environments, in each case without redesign.

COLUMBUS – October 31, 2026 -- Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE: VRT) has completed its acquisition of Utility Innovation Holdings, Inc., which operates as UtilityInnovation Group (UIG), for about $1.45 billion in upfront cash. The deal also carries up to $1.15 billion in contingent cash consideration, tied to EBITDA targets over 12- and 24-month periods.

COLUMBUS – October 31, 2026 -- Vertiv (NYSE: VRT) has launched a global ecosystem offering that combines an expanded collaboration with Dow and a new partnership with Solenis to manage liquid cooling as a single, integrated thermal system for AI-scale data centers.

The initiative pairs Vertiv's infrastructure, monitoring and global service capabilities with fluid chemistry, coolant and water treatment expertise from the two partners. Dow supplies advanced coolant technologies, while Solenis contributes specialty chemicals and water treatment solutions.

SAN FRANCISCO – October 31, 2026 -- Branded data center Ethernet switch revenue rose 7% year-over-year in calendar Q3 2024 to the highest quarterly level on record, according to Crehan Research. The result ends two consecutive quarters of decline.

SAN FRANCISCO – October 31, 2026 -- Combined data center Ethernet switch and NIC market revenue will double within five years to surpass $50 billion, according to Crehan Research's latest Data Center Networking Long-Range Forecast Reports.

Back-end AI Ethernet networking revenue to grow eight-fold

Generative AI is expected to be a major driver of the expansion. Crehan forecasts that back-end AI Ethernet networking alone will increase eight-fold and account for over one-third of total market revenue.

SAN FRANCISCO – October 31, 2026 -- The data center Ethernet switch market exceeded $20 billion in revenue and 100 million port shipments in 2024, a record year for both measures, according to Crehan Research.

Branded and ODM-direct segments both grow as late-year branded sales accelerate

A late-year acceleration in branded switch sales lifted the full-year total. Both branded and ODM-direct data center Ethernet switching posted annual growth.