Feliciano Serrano, MD, has built his career around specialized medicine, research, and a commitment to serving the Los Angeles community where he was raised

His path has included advanced training in nephrology and vascular interventions, NIH-supported kidney research, lecturing and research at Harvard Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and years of caring for patients in Southern California. Across each stage, Serrano has maintained a consistent philosophy: patient wellbeing should guide the decisions physicians make and the improvements they pursue.

“People’s health and wellbeing take priority or precedence always. Everything else comes second,” Serrano says. That perspective has influenced both his approach to patient care and his willingness to continue learning throughout his career.

How Los Angeles Shaped Feliciano Serrano’s Medical Career

Growing up in Los Angeles gave Serrano an early understanding of the different challenges families can face when seeking medical care. He credits his parents and family with teaching him the importance of helping those who are less fortunate, a lesson that later became central to his professional life.

Feliciano Serrano began his higher education at the University of Southern California, earning a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences. He later completed a master’s degree in Biological Technology and Genetics at California State University, Dominguez Hills before earning his medical degree from the Keck School of Medicine of USC. He then completed his Internal Medicine residency at White Memorial Medical Center in Los Angeles.

During his residency, Serrano remained focused on serving the community that had shaped him. At the same time, he began to recognize that treating patients with more complex illnesses would require additional expertise. That realization led him to specialize in kidney disease and eventually pursue advanced training in vascular interventions.

Advancing From Kidney Care to Medical Research

Serrano continued his training at the University of Vermont School of Medicine, where he completed a fellowship in nephrology and hypertension. He also received NIH-supported fellowship funding to study thrombosis in kidney disease, including research involving platelet dysfunction and the complications associated with renal disease.

His work eventually included research and lecturing at Harvard Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Serrano’s CV lists research involving platelet function, thrombosis, chronic renal failure, hypertension, and cardiovascular concerns, with work appearing in medical journals and at professional conferences. These experiences helped shape the way he approaches difficult medical questions.

Serrano believes physicians should be willing to examine established practices when there is a responsible opportunity to improve patient care. “Do what is right always even if the status quo, political or popular belief says the contrary,” he says. For Serrano, that principle is closely tied to research, careful evaluation, and the willingness to keep learning rather than accepting that an existing method is necessarily the final one.

One experience in particular reinforced that belief. Serrano recalls receiving scrutiny after helping pioneer a different approach to dialysis at a time when the methodology was considered unconventional. He says the approach later became accepted as a standard method of care.

The experience strengthened his belief that meaningful changes in medicine can require perseverance, especially when physicians are working to improve established processes.

Building Expertise in Vascular and Interventional Care

Following his nephrology training, Serrano pursued an additional fellowship in Interventional Nephrology and Vascular Procedures through the University of Arizona College of Medicine and AKDHC. The program expanded his expertise into procedures involving veins and arteries and allowed him to build on his understanding of the relationship between kidney and vascular health.

His approach to this work places considerable emphasis on process. Rather than measuring success through outcomes alone, Serrano believes professionals should continually examine how those outcomes are achieved. “You measure success by perfecting the mechanism and not by simply assessing outcomes,” he says. “If you do things right and improve on these methods, eventually you will achieve favorable outcomes.”

That philosophy extends to his view of leadership. Serrano emphasizes collaboration with colleagues and community leaders, along with setting increasingly high standards for his own work. He views improvement as an ongoing responsibility rather than a milestone that is reached once.

A Continued Commitment to Los Angeles

After years of advanced training and research, Serrano brought that experience back to Southern California. In 2009, he became Medical Director of Serrano Kidney & Vascular Access Center, where his work has focused on providing nephrology and vascular care in Los Angeles.

For Feliciano Serrano, serving Los Angeles also carries personal meaning. He is fluent in English and Spanish, allowing him to communicate with patients and families across communities in a region he has known throughout his life. His commitment has extended beyond his regular clinical responsibilities as well. Serrano reports receiving two awards from the City of Los Angeles recognizing substantial pro bono medical services provided to underserved and homeless populations.

His career has taken him from Los Angeles to major research and medical institutions and back again, but the principles behind his work have remained remarkably consistent. Serrano credits empathy, compassion, perseverance, collaboration, and continual improvement as important influences on his approach.

As he puts it, “The goal of every day is to simply be better than yesterday.” That focus on steady improvement continues to connect his work as a physician, researcher, community member, and leader in specialized patient care.

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Since ChatGPT’s launch in 2022, public uptake of AI chatbots has been staggering. Over 987 million people and half of US adults reportedly use the technology.

But the first wave of AI development is now over. Gone are the days when LLM’s alone dominated the AI discussion. AI’s new wave is being driven by startups you have not heard of and is increasingly diverse, ranging from agents and infrastructure to specialist professional services tools and robotics.

Rotem Farkash on why AI startups matter

Serial startup founder and AI expert Rotem Farkash sees startups as integral to the AI boom. He explained, “The Big AI players matter. Their infrastructure, research and technology got us to where we are now.”

Farkash continued, “But, the names you recognize such as Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI, cannot do everything. Newer and more nimble companies with fresh ideas are often where true innovation lies.”

Infrastructure powering the AI economy

As AI has boomed, companies have sprung up to develop the extensive infrastructure needed to service the next wave.

Founded in 2022, Together AI is one of these startups. Together AI is a full-stack AI platform which enables companies to train and run AI tasks on open models such as DeepSeek, MiniMax and Kimi at lower costs than closed systems.

By making leading models easier and cheaper to train and deploy, its platform gives customers the foundations to build new AI products and tools, helping drive wider adoption.

Founded in 2018, Crusoe’s rapid rise has demonstrated the growing need for infrastructure to power AI’s growing energy and compute needs.

The company looks for innovative energy sources, builds and manages hyperscale AI factories, and offers a scalable AI cloud platform. This helped Crusoe earn a place on Fast Company’s list of the most innovative companies of 2026.

Specialist AI tools are transforming professions

AI tools are already changing professions, and Anysphere Inc., founded in 2022 by four MIT graduates, is a leading example of a company that has done just that.

Anysphere made Cursor, an AI-driven code editor that can analyze a programmer’s actions and suggest the next few lines. Cursor also offers a chatbot that users can ask code-related questions. The tool has completely changed the day-to-day work of any programmer that uses it.

Describing his company’s own product, Anysphere President Oskar Schulz said, “It just makes a thing that you do every day better and faster.” Big tech has taken notice of Cursor, and in June 2026, SpaceX announced a formal agreement to buy the company for $60 billion worth of stock.

Another company revolutionizing its industry is Harvey, a law focused AI firm, which was founded in 2022 by Winston Weinberg, a former securities and antitrust litigator, and Gabriel Pereyra, a former research scientist at Google DeepMind and Meta.

Its AI solutions help to streamline workflows in areas including contract analysis, due diligence, compliance, and litigation to drive efficiency and value. Over 75% of AmLaw 100 firms employ Harvey, demonstrating that its tools are being adopted extensively by the legal industry.

AI video-generation startup Synthesia has also seen major uptake, and is employed by 70% of FTSE 100 companies.

Its AI avatars are particularly used for training, enablement, onboarding, and internal communication, and the company had a $4 billion valuation after a $200 million Series E raise in January 2026.

AI is entering physical world

Figure AI is the next frontier. Founded in 2022 by serial entrepreneur Brett Adcock, Figure AI develops AI-powered, bipedal humanoid robots, such as Figure 01, designed to perform physical tasks in environments like warehouses and homes.

When AI is not just on your computer or phone, but behaving almost like a human at work or in a house, the future will have truly arrived.

Wooju Ryu: AI is a “transformative force”

Prolific inventor Wooju Ryu said, “AI is not just a tool; it’s a transformative force that will redefine how we interact with the world and each other.”

None of the six companies named in this article existed when OpenAI was founded in 2015. Yet today, they are at the forefront of their niches within AI and are major players in a technological revolution that is changing the world.

From robotics to AI agents, to coding tools to AI-video generators, each company listed here is charting the path to an AI future.

Shares of sugar companies, including Balrampur Chini Mills, Dhampur Sugar, Dalmia Bharat, Shree Renuka, and EID Parry, rallied up to 4% as sugar prices have surged over the past month. According to Central government data, retail sugar prices rose from Rs 48.18 per kg on July 20 to Rs 55.70 per kg on August 20. Retail sugar prices are currently quoted at around Rs 70 per kg.

In today’s session, Balrampur Chini Mills gained over 2% to Rs 665 on the BSE, while Dhampur Sugar Mills gained 4% to Rs 178 per share. Uttam Sugar gained 3% to Rs 306 per share. Triveni Engineering shares rose 2% to Rs 288, while Eid Parry gained over 2% to Rs 815.

What’s behind the sharp rise?

1.) Festive period – India’s sugar demand usually surges from August to November as the country celebrates festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi, Dussehra and Diwali, which leads to heightened demand for sweets, biscuits and other confectionery items.

Also read: Sugar production hit by Red Rot disease, El Nino; govt taking measures: Pralhad Joshi

Last ⁠month, the government ordered dealers to hold stocks for no more than 30 days, in a bid to bolster supplies. Yet, sugar prices have jumped 10% over the past one month to record high levels, and analysts expect them to remain high for at least the next three months. In this background, patchy rains and ⁠dry weather conditions have hit sugarcane crop output, which typically requires copious amounts of water for irrigation, further boosting prices.

2.) Supply worries – A key trigger is the worsening supply outlook in Brazil, the world’s largest sugar producer. The country has warned of a delay in the harvest amid adverse weather conditions. Adding to uncertainty, Brazil has suspended its bi-weekly harvest and production reports, leaving investors with limited visibility on the supply situation.
The shift towards ethanol is further intensifying concerns over a potential sugar supply crunch. In June, 58% of Brazil’s cane juice was diverted towards ethanol, given that it is likely to be more profitable than sugar. Brazil has also raised its mandatory ethanol blending target to 32% in July from 30% in June, significantly higher than the 25-27% mix seen just months earlier.Supply concerns are not limited to Brazil. Intense heatwaves and El Nino conditions across the EU and the UK have added to fears of tighter supplies, with sugar output from the region trimmed to 14.98 million tonnes. In Asia, Thailand, the world’s third-largest sugar producer, has cut its projected output by 15.6% to 9.5 million tonnes. India, the world’s second-largest sugar producer after Brazil, is also projecting lower sugar production. Authorities are physically verifying mill volumes to enforce strict hoarding limits.

Global deficit estimates are also pointing towards a tighter market. Green Pool has projected a global sugar deficit of 3.3 million tonnes, while StoneX has estimated the shortfall at 1.7 million tonnes. The International Sugar Organisation has forecast a deficit of 0.26 million tonnes.

Read more: No ethanol link, decline in sugarcane production and stockpiling driving up sugar price: Experts

With production concerns mounting across major sugar-producing regions and global benchmark prices continuing to climb, the supply outlook has emerged as the key factor driving the sharp move in sugar prices.

Government’s bid to rescue the rise

The government has rejected a request from biscuit and bread makers seeking more time to liquidate the excess stock over the stock holding limit and mandated that the companies sell any excess stocks by August 31.

The limit, recently cut from 30 days, requires bulk sugar users to hold no more than 15 days of their normal requirement. At a meeting with the food secretary, some of the country’s largest companies warned that selling their stocks now and buying from the market later could push sugar prices sharply higher. They also raised concerns about meeting export orders if supplies tighten.

If this stock comes back to the market by August 31, it can substantially suppress sugar prices, said trade officials. The move follows allegations by the Indian Sugar & Bio-energy Manufacturers Association (ISMA) that bulk consumers had hoarded sugar. Consumers have rejected the charge.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

WASHINGTON — NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is scheduled to launch Aug. 30, carrying an instrument designed to directly photograph exoplanets roughly 1,000 times fainter than what has previously been technically possible, a leap researchers say could eventually bring scientists closer to imaging Earth-like worlds orbiting distant stars.

The telescope, developed over roughly a decade under NASA’s leadership, is set to lift off at 7:26 a.m. Eastern time. It is named after Nancy Grace Roman, widely regarded as the architect of NASA’s modern science program and a key figure in the success of the Hubble Space Telescope.

A destination beyond the moon’s orbit

Once launched, Roman will travel to the L2 Lagrange point, a location roughly 1.5 million kilometers, or about 930,000 miles, from Earth along the axis connecting the sun and Earth, positioned on the side facing away from the sun. At that point, the gravitational pulls of the sun and Earth effectively cancel each other out, allowing the telescope to orbit the sun without needing to expend fuel to maintain its position.

A mirror built on Hubble’s legacy

Roman’s primary mirror measures 2.4 meters, or about 7.9 feet, in diameter — a replica of the mirror used aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. The spacecraft carries two scientific instruments. The first, the Wide Field Instrument, has a detector area roughly 100 times larger than Hubble’s and is expected to image an area of the sky 50 times larger than Hubble covered over its entire three-decade mission, accomplishing that feat in just five years. Working alongside the already-orbiting Euclid space telescope, Roman will help scientists search for dark matter, a substance believed to be spread widely throughout the universe.

The Wide Field Instrument’s high resolution and sensitivity will also allow researchers to search broad sections of the sky for cooler, less luminous planets that have historically been far harder to detect than hot, bright gas giants. Scientists plan to use two indirect detection methods: the transit method, which looks for the slight dimming of a star’s light as a planet passes in front of it, expected to reveal roughly 100,000 new planets; and a technique based on gravitational microlensing, projected to uncover an additional 1,000 exoplanets.

Seeing planets directly for the first time

The telescope’s second instrument, the Coronagraph Instrument, or CGI, takes a fundamentally different approach: rather than detecting planets indirectly, it aims to directly image worlds that have already been discovered through other methods. Coronagraphs work by using specialized masks to block the overwhelming brightness of a host star, allowing much fainter objects nearby — such as an orbiting planet — to become visible. Because these distant systems are so far away, the planets typically appear only as tiny points of light next to their obscured host stars.

Previous ground-based coronagraphs have generally only been capable of imaging particularly bright gas giants orbiting far from their stars — planets hot enough to emit detectable infrared light. Roman’s CGI is designed to go further, targeting cooler, smaller planets, similar in nature to Jupiter, that primarily reflect their host star’s light rather than emit their own heat.

The scale of the challenge is significant. As seen from Earth, the planets Roman aims to image appear roughly a billion times fainter than their host stars — comparable to the brightness difference between Jupiter and the sun. The CGI is engineered to detect point sources of light about a thousand times fainter than instruments have previously managed.

Precision engineering from Germany

Achieving that level of sensitivity required extraordinarily precise alignment of the telescope’s internal optical components. The Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, built specialized optomechanical hardware known as Precision Alignment Mechanisms, or PAMs, specifically for this purpose. The institute supplied six flight models permanently installed in the coronagraph, along with six additional engineering models used for ground testing, with support from German firm von Hoerner & Sulger in the construction process.

These mechanisms are responsible for keeping the coronagraph’s internal masks, filters and mirrors from tilting more than 40 milliarcseconds over an eight-hour observation period — a level of stability roughly equivalent to the angle at which a person standing in Los Angeles would appear if viewed from Heidelberg, Germany.

To ensure the hardware could withstand the demands of spaceflight, engineers built a dedicated “service-life” version of the PAM system and subjected it to more than 27,000 movements during testing — roughly double the stress a flight model is expected to endure. That level of scrutiny reflects a basic reality of the mission: once Roman launches, it cannot be physically repaired or serviced the way Hubble was during its multiple astronaut servicing missions.

Oliver Krause, head of the infrared astronomy research group at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, underscored the significance of the instrument’s capabilities. “The CGI aboard the Roman Space Telescope is the most sophisticated optical observation instrument,” Krause said.

Correcting distortions in real time

Even without atmospheric interference to contend with in space, Roman’s optical system still faces internal distortions that must be actively corrected. Engineers addressed this using adaptive optics technology, more commonly associated with ground-based observatories such as the Extremely Large Telescope, which adjusts one of its mirrors a thousand times per second to counteract atmospheric turbulence. Aboard Roman, a small, deformable mirror performs a similar real-time correction — a computationally demanding task given the limited processing power available on a satellite.

What comes next

Following launch, a team of scientists based in the United States, Japan and Europe will spend roughly 90 days gradually bringing the telescope online as it travels toward the L2 Lagrange point, continuously analyzing data transmitted back to Earth throughout the journey. The first scientific images from Roman are expected in early 2027, though some of the mission’s observation programs, including a planned survey of the Milky Way’s galactic plane in search of previously unknown planets and black holes, are expected to take years to complete.

Scientists involved in the project say the coronagraph’s success could pave the way for even more ambitious future instruments, including the proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory, envisioned with a mirror at least 6 meters, or roughly 20 feet, in diameter, aimed at eventually imaging Earth-sized planets around other stars.

The Cardiff based firm has acquired Andover venture Correct Contract Services

Cardiff headquartered building maintenance venture Cardo Group has completed its sixteenth acquisition.

It has acquired Correct Contract Services (CCS), strengthening its compliance and energy services capabilities.

The acquisition, the value of which has not been disclosed, is Cardo’s fourth this year following deals for R. Lewis & Co, EFS Systems and Trident Maintenance Services earlier this year.

Based in Andover and founded in 2007, CCS supports more than 50,000 properties with electrical, heating and retrofit services. The business now boasts a team off over 280 dedicated staff who work with local authorities and social housing landlords across the UK to help ensure homes are safe and energy efficient, delivering a wide range of services from electrical maintenance to large-scale retrofit upgrades.

CCS was founded by former gas engineers Danny Gladwyn and the late Trevor Dempsey. The acquisition further strengthens Cardo’s integrated service offering and supports its long-term growth strategy, combining national scale with local expertise to deliver quality services for customers and communities.

A specialist, multi-disciplinary team at Knights advised Cardo Group on the acquisition. The team was led by Cardiff-based corporate partner, Emma Borrington.

Liam Bevan, chief executive of Cardo Group, said:“CCS has built an excellent reputation for technical expertise, strong customer relationships and commitment to quality. We’re delighted to welcome the entire CCS team into the Cardo Group.

“Though this acquisition comes after his passing, the values and standards Trevor helped establish are exactly what made CCS the right fit for Cardo. It’s an important milestone as we expand our footprint across the south of England and continue to deliver safer and more energy-efficient homes for communities.

“We’re grateful to Emma and the Knights team for their hard work and collaborative approach throughout the transaction. Their ability to bring together the right specialists and work closely with our team helped support a smooth process and a successful outcome.”

Ms Borrington, Partner at Knights, added:“We were delighted to support Cardo Group on yet another acquisition as this exciting period of growth continues for them.

“Correct Contract Services and their strategic objectives are closely aligned with Cardo’s wider growth strategy, and their talented team adds further specialist capability to the Group’s customer proposition.

“It has been a pleasure to work with Liam, Alex and the Cardo team again on a transaction that reflects both strategic ambition and a strong, practical working relationship. We wish everyone at Cardo Group and CCS every success as they take this next step together.”

Manuel Rivera was born on November 27, 1958, and raised in a New York City public housing development. His earliest lessons in advocacy came from watching neighbors organize for better living conditions and fair treatment.

These were not abstract political movements. They were families fighting to keep the lights on and maintain basic dignity.

“I was just a kid watching neighbors fight to keep the lights on,” Rivera recalls. “It taught me that community power isn’t abstract. It’s what keeps families going.”

Those formative years planted seeds that would shape his entire career. Rivera saw firsthand who got heard and who didn’t. He decided early that he wanted to stand with the people who weren’t being heard.

Building a Foundation in Education and Social Work

Rivera attended Sara J. Hale High School in New York City before pursuing higher education at SUNY Stony Brook. He studied political science as an undergraduate and went on to earn a master’s degree in social work from the same institution. This combination gave him both the theoretical framework and practical tools to turn his early observations into tangible action.

“Growing up in public housing, you see quickly who gets heard and who doesn’t,” he explains. “I decided early that I wanted to stand with the people who weren’t being heard.”

His education equipped him with the skills to translate community needs into policy language, but his real classroom had always been the housing development where he grew up.

A Career Focused on Housing and Homelessness

Manuel dedicated his professional life to addressing homelessness and expanding access to affordable housing in New York City. He worked to create housing opportunities for individuals experiencing homelessness, focusing on long-term stability rather than temporary fixes.

His approach was rooted in a simple but powerful belief. “Housing is the start,” Rivera says. “Without it, people can’t stabilize their health, their work, their families. Everything else breaks down.”

He understood that housing was more than shelter. It was the foundation that allowed people to access healthcare, maintain employment, and build stable family lives. Without that base, every other intervention fell short.

“Housing is not just shelter,” he emphasizes. “It’s dignity. It’s safety. It’s the base for everything else.”

Rivera’s work was deeply informed by lived experience. He brought a perspective that policy documents alone could never capture. “When you sit across from someone who has nowhere to go, the issue stops being abstract. You focus on solutions.”

Leading the NYC Black and Latino LGBTQ Coalition

Rivera became Chairperson of the NYC Black and Latino LGBTQ Coalition, a citywide coalition uniting LGBTQ organizations across New York City to promote equity and inclusion. The role allowed him to bridge communities and issues that were too often treated as separate.

“There was too much siloing,” Rivera observed. “You’d have one group fighting for health equity, another for housing rights, and a third for trans justice. But it’s the same people facing all of it. We needed to connect the dots.”

His leadership focused on coalition building and intersectional advocacy. Rivera recognized that LGBTQ individuals, especially those who were low-income or housing insecure, were navigating multiple systems at once.

“When you’re queer, low-income, and housing insecure, you’re not just fighting one system,” he notes. “You’re navigating all of them.”

This understanding shaped his approach to coalition work. He brought together organizations that might otherwise operate in parallel, creating a unified front that could advocate more effectively for the community’s most vulnerable members.

Continuing the Work at GMHC

Now retired from full-time work, Manuel continues to serve the LGBTQ community as Chairperson of the Consumer Advisory Board and a member of the Board of Directors at GMHC (Gay Men’s Health Crisis). The organization has long been a pillar of HIV/AIDS advocacy and LGBTQ health services in New York City.

In his leadership roles at GMHC, Rivera provides guidance on community needs and program development. He ensures that the organization’s work reflects the realities of the people it serves.

“If a policy doesn’t reflect their reality, it won’t work,” he says.

His approach remains grounded in the same principles that guided his earlier career. He listens first. He centers the voices of those most affected. And he insists that solutions come from the community itself.

“Communities know what they need,” Rivera explains. “The role of leadership is to listen and then act.”

He was recognized with the Leadership and Public Service Award from the GMHC Black History Month Committee, an acknowledgment of his dedication to the community he serves.

A Philosophy Rooted in Lived Experience

Throughout his career, Rivera has maintained that the best ideas come from those closest to the problem. “Ideas start with listening,” he says. “Growing up in public housing, I saw that the best solutions came from residents themselves.”

This philosophy has guided his work in housing advocacy, LGBTQ coalition building, and health equity. He brings meticulous preparation to his roles, understanding that effective advocacy requires both data and community perspective.

“Preparation made me productive,” he notes. “If I walked into a meeting without knowing the data or the community perspective, I was not doing my job.”

Rivera’s work has always been about more than policy. It’s about people. It’s about creating systems that recognize the full humanity of those they serve.

“We’re not talking about abstract policy,” he emphasizes. “We’re talking about people trying to find a safe place to live and being turned away, ignored, or priced out.”

A Legacy of Community Power

Manuel Rivera’s career offers a model for effective advocacy. He has shown that lasting change comes from those who live the issues they fight for and who stay in the fight over the long term.

“Change doesn’t come from the top,” Rivera reflects. “It comes from people who live the fight and stay in it.”

His work has connected housing justice, LGBTQ rights, and health equity in ways that reflect the interconnected realities of marginalized communities. He has demonstrated that policy is powerful only when it reflects real lives.

“Policy is powerful,” he says. “But policy only works if it reflects real lives.”

From his childhood in public housing to his leadership at GMHC, Rivera has remained committed to the principle that community power is not abstract. It’s what keeps families going. It’s what creates lasting change. And it’s what continues to drive his work today.

The campaigners are also concerned about the potential impact on the environment.

“The data centre planned would be an environmental nightmare both for the wildlife and the local residents,” said Lizzie Bailey, who lives locally.

“This will be a temporary disruption with the construction but then a permanent disruption because of the diesel generators, the noises, the cooling fans, things like that.”

Curtis Hall Ltd, the company behind the plans, said the development would “not put a strain on the energy grid or water infrastructure”.

The company added: “The data centre’s water and drainage requirements have been developed in consultation with Welsh Water and any connection to the public network requires their agreement.

“This ensures our data centre can be accommodated without impacting the supply of water to residents’ homes.”

It said a “detailed noise impact assessment” concluded the site “won’t have an adverse impact on the nearest homes in terms of noise, including at night”.

Cardiff Council said the proposal was being considered, and that “as with all planning applications, the proposal will be assessed against relevant planning policies and material planning considerations”.

The council encouraged people with “comments, concerns or views” to submit them through the consultation process.

Hardware Asset Management Software exists to close that gap, but picking the wrong one means you’re still chasing ghost assets and untracked devices across your fleet.

The real challenges show up fast: shadow IT creating security blind spots, end-of-life hardware slipping through the cracks, and devices scattered across remote locations that nobody can account for. After reviewing the top platforms in this space, this guide breaks down the five best options to consider.

The research approach for this ranking

Public information formed the backbone of this evaluation: user reviews, case studies, feature documentation from official websites, and ratings pulled from major software directories. Only platforms with a track record of serving enterprise software environments made the cut.

→ See the full research breakdown

• Workwize – Best for global IT asset lifecycle management for distributed enterprises
• Teqtivity – Best for IT asset management and lifecycle tracking
• Work Elevate – Best for enterprise IT operations and service desk automation
• Device42 – Best for IT infrastructure discovery and asset management
• Firstbase – Best for global IT asset management and hardware lifecycle automation

Why Hardware Asset Management Software Matters

Running an enterprise without the right Hardware Asset Management Software is a bit like managing a warehouse blindfolded. You know assets are moving, but you can’t always say where they are, who has them, or whether they’re still under warranty. Shadow IT alone can quietly undermine your security posture, with untracked devices creating vulnerabilities that nobody catches until something goes wrong. End-of-life hardware adds another layer of risk when there’s no system flagging devices before they fall out of support.

The right platform changes all of this by giving IT teams a clear, real-time view of every asset across every location. That kind of visibility directly improves your asset inventory accuracy rate, cuts the mean time to detect unauthorized hardware, and lifts hardware utilization rate across the fleet. Those are the numbers that actually matter when leadership asks about IT spend.

Top 5 Hardware Asset Management Software Breakdown and Comparison

Note: All data in this table is sourced from review platforms and the official websites of the listed companies.

Company Name	Years Operating	Headquartered In
Workwize	Est. 2020	Amsterdam, Netherlands
Teqtivity	Est. 2017	Cerritos, California
Work Elevate	Est. 2018	Noida, India
Device42	Est. 2010	West Haven, Connecticut
Firstbase	Est. 2019	Aberdeen, Scotland and New York

• Workwize – Best for Global IT Asset Lifecycle Management

What Does Workwize Do?

Workwize runs a global IT asset lifecycle management platform built for distributed teams. From a single system, they handle procurement, deployment, tracking, retrieval, and disposal of employee hardware across 120 countries. Their platform connects with 80+ HRIS, MDM, and identity tools to trigger automated asset setup and recovery workflows. Local warehouses cut customs delays and cross-border shipping headaches significantly. They currently manage 120,000+ devices, hold ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II certifications, and have helped IT teams recover up to 98% of devices at asset recovery. That last number is hard to match.

Why Does Workwize Stand Out for Hardware Asset Management Software?

Workwize solves one of the most persistent problems in enterprise IT: most platforms only cover one or two stages of the asset lifecycle, leaving gaps that teams fill manually with spreadsheets and gut instinct. Their end-to-end coverage across 120 countries, combined with automation that saves 80,000+ hours annually, means IT operations teams spend less time chasing assets and more time on work that actually moves things forward.

Summary of Real User Reviews:

Customers consistently point to Workwize’s global reach and lifecycle automation as the features that delivered real results day-to-day. The $13M Series A funding in 2025, along with recognition as LinkedIn Top Startups Netherlands #4 and Deloitte Fast 50 Dutch tech #6, backs up what users are saying. That kind of market validation alongside strong user sentiment is rare at this stage of a company’s growth.

• Teqtivity – Best for IT Asset Management and Lifecycle Tracking

What Does Teqtivity Do?

Teqtivity is an IT asset management and smart locker platform that helps businesses track and manage technology assets across their full lifecycle. Their feature set covers inventory management, asset setup and recovery workflows, dashboard reporting, and compliance and security tracking. Their pricing model is user-based, so organizations pay for actual users rather than device counts. That makes costs predictable as the fleet grows, which is something bigger platforms often get wrong (enterprise pricing that penalizes growth is a real problem).

Why Does Teqtivity Stand Out for Hardware Asset Management Software?

Teqtivity addresses the unpredictability problem that plagues IT asset management pricing, where organizations suddenly face steep cost jumps as their device count crosses a threshold. Their user-based model, combined with customizable workflows built around real customer feedback, gives enterprise teams a platform that adapts to their processes rather than forcing them to adapt to it.

Summary of Real User Reviews:

Users frequently call out Teqtivity’s customer support and willingness to build features based on direct feedback as a real differentiator. The platform’s applicability across multiple industries also comes up often, which suggests it handles varied enterprise environments reasonably well. Responsive support at that level is something a lot of larger platforms promise but don’t always deliver.

• Work Elevate – Best for Enterprise IT Operations and Service Desk Automation

What Does Work Elevate Do?

Work Elevate is a digital workplace platform combining a global service desk with automation for IT and HR teams. Their three main tools are IT Copilot (an assistant for ticket resolution), Digital Employee Experience (DEX), and Endpoint Management. The platform connects with major ITSM tools like ServiceNow, Jira, BMC, ManageEngine, and Freshservice. Their automation layer handles up to 70-75% of repetitive IT tickets without human intervention, and proactive monitoring has driven ticket volume reductions of up to 42% for some customers. That’s a number that tends to get leadership’s attention fast.

Why Does Work Elevate Stand Out for Hardware Asset Management Software?

Work Elevate tackles the ticket overload problem that bogs down IT teams trying to manage hardware assets at scale, freeing up capacity for actual asset tracking and compliance work. Their deep connections with existing ITSM platforms mean enterprise teams don’t have to rip and replace their current setup, which keeps adoption realistic rather than theoretical.

Summary of Real User Reviews:

Customer case studies point to consistent reductions in ticket volumes, with one example showing a 25% drop and another climbing to 42% with proactive monitoring in place. Work Elevate’s recognition on G2’s Best Indian Software Companies list (#23) and Best APAC Software Companies list (#48) adds external credibility to those numbers. Users appreciate that the results show up in real metrics rather than just feature counts.

• Device42 – Best for IT Infrastructure Discovery and Asset Management

What Does Device42 Do?

Device42 is an IT infrastructure discovery, mapping, and asset management platform built for hybrid environments. Their agentless discovery approach covers everything from legacy systems to cloud containers, with capabilities that include CMDB, application dependency mapping, storage discovery, and insights powered by automation. They serve organizations across 70+ countries and have built a reputation for helping customers resolve outages 10x faster. Freshworks acquired the platform for $230M in May 2024, which isn’t the kind of acquisition that happens without serious market validation.

Why Does Device42 Stand Out for Hardware Asset Management Software?

Device42 tackles the hybrid environment blind spot that catches most enterprises off guard, where legacy infrastructure and modern cloud assets sit in completely separate visibility layers that nobody has connected. Their agentless discovery means no agent deployment headaches, and the near-real-time CMDB keeps asset records current without requiring manual updates that teams rarely have time for.

Summary of Real User Reviews:

Device42 carries recognition as a Market Leader with awards for Best CMDB Tools and Best IT Management Software, and trusted names like Imperial College London and Hudson’s Bay Company appear among their customers. Users consistently highlight the depth of discovery capabilities and the reliability of the CMDB as the features that set Device42 apart. That kind of institutional trust is hard to build and even harder to fake.

• Firstbase – Best for Global IT Asset Management and Hardware Lifecycle Automation

What Does Firstbase Do?

Firstbase is an all-in-one IT asset management platform that automates the full hardware lifecycle for global enterprises. They handle IT procurement, user provisioning, inventory management, mobile device management, and asset recovery across 150+ countries. Their zero-touch deployment capabilities and complete audit trails are built for organizations running distributed operations at scale. Their 97%+ device retrieval rates at asset recovery put them close to Workwize’s 98%, and both numbers reflect just how much automation changes what’s achievable here. Manual asset recovery rarely gets close.

Why Does Firstbase Stand Out for Hardware Asset Management Software?

Firstbase solves the cross-border asset recovery problem that typically falls apart when remote employees in different countries need to return hardware at asset recovery, a process that usually involves customs friction, lost devices, and incomplete records. Their operations across 190+ countries and backing from investors like Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins, combined with their acquisition by AppDirect, give the platform both the reach and the resources to deliver on those global promises.

Summary of Real User Reviews:

Enterprise customers including Spotify, Cloudflare, and UiPath show up in Firstbase’s client list, which is a strong signal about what kinds of organizations trust the platform with their hardware operations. Users highlight the automation depth and audit trail completeness as features that make compliance work less painful. When companies like Cloudflare are comfortable with your asset management, that tends to mean the security and visibility story holds up under scrutiny.

Research Methodology and Selection Process

Putting together this ranking required looking across a wide range of platforms operating in the hardware asset management space. The goal was to surface options that actually perform in enterprise environments, not just platforms with polished marketing pages.

Initial Data Collection

The process started by building a broad list of platforms from multiple sources: software directories, review aggregators, vendor comparison sites, and published case studies. Information was gathered from official product pages, feature breakdowns, and customer-facing documentation. This initial sweep cast a wide enough net to avoid missing smaller but high-performing platforms that don’t always show up at the top of a generic search.

Shortlisting Phase

From that initial list, options without verifiable enterprise use cases or consistent review presence were removed. Review patterns were analyzed across platforms to identify signals that pointed to real-world adoption rather than manufactured buzz. Platforms with thin review histories, unverifiable claims, or no evidence of sustained enterprise usage were cut at this stage, regardless of how well-designed their websites appeared.

Verification of Claims

Claims made on vendor websites were cross-referenced against what actual users reported in reviews and case studies. Where a company claimed specific outcomes like device retrieval rates or ticket reduction percentages, those figures were checked against customer-facing evidence rather than accepted at face value. Discrepancies between marketing claims and user-reported experiences were weighted against a platform’s overall score.

Authority and Industry Contribution Layer

Each platform was assessed for signals of external recognition: industry awards, mentions in credible publications, analyst recognition, and enterprise clients with proven track records. Acquisitions, funding rounds, and partner ecosystem breadth were also factored in as indicators of market confidence. A platform appearing on multiple independent authority lists carries more weight than one that only appears in its own press releases.

Hardware Asset Management Software-Specific Evidence

The final filter focused on hardware asset management evidence: dedicated feature pages covering asset tracking, lifecycle management, and asset recovery workflows; reviews that mentioned real hardware outcomes; and case studies showing measurable improvements in asset visibility, retrieval rates, or compliance readiness. Platforms that only touched on hardware as a minor feature were not included, even if their broader IT management capabilities were strong.

How to Choose the Right Hardware Asset Management Software

Choosing a hardware asset management platform is less about finding the most feature-rich option and more about finding the one that fits your actual environment, team size, and compliance requirements. Here’s what to weigh before making a decision.

• Industry/Domain Experience: Look for platforms with documented experience in your industry or a similar operating environment. A platform that works well for a 50-person startup may not hold up across a 5,000-person enterprise with hardware in 30 countries.
• Features and Service Options: Match the platform’s feature set to your lifecycle stages. If you need procurement, deployment, tracking, and asset recovery covered in one place, verify that each stage is actually built out rather than listed as a checkbox.
• Pricing Structure: Understand whether pricing scales by device count, user count, or some other metric. User-based models (like Teqtivity’s) tend to be more predictable as your fleet grows, while device-based pricing can surprise you.
• Results Measurement: Ask how the platform reports on asset inventory accuracy rate, hardware utilization, and audit readiness. If the reporting layer is weak, you’ll still be doing manual reconciliation.
• Industry Knowledge and Compliance: For regulated industries requiring strict asset chain-of-custody, confirm that the platform meets ISO 19770, SOX, GDPR asset data standards, or whatever frameworks apply to your organization.

Bottom Line

Hardware asset management isn’t a back-office concern anymore. It’s a security, compliance, and cost issue that touches every part of an enterprise IT operation. The five platforms in this guide each solve different parts of the problem, from global lifecycle automation (Workwize, Firstbase) to infrastructure discovery (Device42) and service desk productivity (Work Elevate). Pick based on where your gaps are biggest. As distributed workforces keep growing, the platforms that cover the full asset lifecycle in one place will only become more important.