Comcast Business has struck the first deal of its kind with SpaceX subsidiary Starlink to offer satellite connectivity to enterprise customers, especially in rural or underserved areas.

The partnership, first shared with Tech Brew, will allow customers to buy one package that includes access to satellite connectivity without a separate satellite subscription, Jon Friedman, an SVP at Comcast Business, told us.

“We have a number of customers that have a need for a complete solution, and that means [at] all their sites, wherever they’re located, they want to make sure that they’re having amazing connectivity,” he said. “Typically, we’ve got a great solution for the vast, vast majority of them. But every now and again, we’ve run into a situation.”

That situation might look like a state government that has chosen Comcast Business as its contracted internet provider, Friedman said. The company’s hardwired infrastructure has no problem serving the state capitol building, but that same infrastructure isn’t in place to connect the state’s park system. That’s when a satellite network like Starlink’s can fill in the gaps, he said.

“You can imagine a Department of Natural Resources site in the middle of a state park, and it’s really, really hard to get there. Yet, having wi-fi for the customers is a great solution and a great offer,” according to Friedman. “When we think about solutions like that, Starlink is a really great opportunity.”

Keep reading here.—KG

We’re just two days away from an epic event this Wednesday, June 26, in NYC, all about incorporating AI into your company (and whether that’s even necessary). You still have a chance to join us and tech leaders—including execs at Mozilla, IBM, Brex, and Mastercard—to discuss what’s real about AI and what’s an imposter. Snag your virtual or in-person ticket here. See you there!

For Mark Surman, there’s nothing more punk rock than an open and free internet.

The Mozilla Foundation president first started working in the media space at the end of the Cold War, coaching activists on the craft of making documentaries before becoming an internet advocate and eventually stepping into his current role.

In a recent interview with Tech Brew, Surman attributed his interest in open-source media—including Mozilla’s popular Firefox browser and its recent foray into AI—to “punk rock and the peace movement.”

“The idea that people need to be in control of how they communicate has always been central to me,” he said. “I’ve always worked on kind of just making sure that internet technology falls into the right hands.”

Surman will join Tech Brew onstage Wednesday morning at “Onboarding Your New Favorite Coworker: AI” to talk about the next technology revolution that’s changing the ways we live, work, and communicate.

Keep reading here.—KG

Thousands of US car dealers were grappling with disruptions to key services after a pair of cyber attacks hit a major software provider last week.

The incident affecting CDK Global caused widespread disruptions at car dealerships across the country, Bloomberg reported.

CDK spokesperson Lisa Finney told Tech Brew on Wednesday that the company was “actively investigating a cyber incident” and that “we have shut down most of our systems.” Its dealer management system and digital retailing solutions were restored later in the day, but then on Thursday, the software provider experienced “an additional cyber incident and proactively shut down most of our systems.”

“In partnership with third-party experts, we are assessing the impact and providing regular updates to our customers,” Finney said. “We remain vigilant in our efforts to reinstate our services and get our dealers back to business as usual as quickly as possible.”

Keep reading here.—JG

Where are you headed this summer?

beach
mountains
island
city

Stay connected, wherever you go. Whether you’re taking out the prop plane for a remote island getaway or driving to the mountains for some hiking, you gotta stay connected with In-car Wi-Fi. Want the scoop? Perfect! We teamed up with AT&T to give you all the deets on connected cars. Peep the article.

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