TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 27, 2025--
Sotereon.AI, a leader in AI-powered spatial intelligence and telemetry platforms, today announced the opening of a new office in Tampa, Florida, embedded within its strategic development partner, Tampa International Airport. The expansion marks a significant milestone in the company’s growth and supports rising demand for the Sotereon.AI Overwatch TM platform which provides real-time situational awareness and data intelligence across transportation, logistics, and critical infrastructure sectors.
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“Tampa Bay is quickly emerging as one of the country’s most dynamic technology corridors,” said Patrick Blattner, CEO of Sotereon.AI. “By embedding with the airport’s operational teams on a day-to-day basis, our product development timeline will accelerate, and our product market fit will be immediate. Being on-site allows us to innovate in real time with our partners—advancing how airports operate and how cities move.”
Sotereon.AI’s move to Tampa underscores its commitment to building the future of intelligent infrastructure and strengthens its presence in a region known for rapid growth in AI, cybersecurity, fintech, health tech, and spatial intelligence. Tampa Bay’s collaborative innovation ecosystem, strong talent pipeline from area universities, and welcoming business community were key factors in the company’s expansion decision.
The new Tampa office positions Sotereon.AI at the center of collaboration opportunities with airports, ports, defense contractors, and smart city projects pursuing next-generation data and AI solutions.
“This collaboration benefits our airport, our customers, and ultimately raises the bar for what defines digital transformation,” said Douglas Wycoff, Director of Digital Technology and Innovation at Tampa International Airport. “We welcome the Sotereon.AI team to Tampa and look forward to expanding use of Sotereon’s innovative LiDAR-based Overwatch system to help Tampa International—and the industry—raise the bar on customer satisfaction.”
By placing its development team directly on airport property, Sotereon.AI will be able to design, test, and deploy new products and services across the entire airport ecosystem, accelerating the pace of innovation in aviation and transportation.
About Sotereon.AI
Sotereon.AI is a privately held, 100% U.S.-based company delivering end-to-end AI-powered LiDAR perception solutions. Our flagship product, the Sotereon.AI Overwatch TM Platform, provides unmatched real-time situational awareness by fusing advanced LiDAR, AI, and telemetry into a unified system. Purpose-built for critical infrastructure, airports, transportation hubs, and high-security environments, Overwatch goes beyond basic analytics, offering actionable intelligence on movement patterns, safety risks, and operational bottlenecks. With a 100% U.S.-based software stack, Sotereon.AI is committed to delivering uncompromised accuracy, reliability, and service to partners who demand the future of perception, today.
For more information, visit www.sotereon.ai.
Sotereon.ai's New Headquarters at the Tampa Skycenter
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Protesters for and against the Trump administration's latest immigration crackdown clashed in Minneapolis on Saturday as the governor's office announced that National Guard troops had been mobilized and stood ready to assist state law enforcement, though they were not yet deployed to city streets.
There have been protests every day since the Department of Homeland Security ramped up immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul by bringing in more than 2,000 federal officers.
A large group of protesters turned out in downtown Minneapolis and confronted a much smaller group of people attending an anti-Somali and pro-Immigration and Customs Enforcement rally. They chased the pro-ICE group away and forced at least one member to take off a shirt they deemed objectionable.
Jake Lang, who organized the anti-Islam and pro-ICE demonstration, appeared to be injured as he left the scene, with bruises and scrapes on his head. He said via social media beforehand that he intended to “burn a Quran” on the steps of City Hall, but it was not clear if he carried out that plan.
Lang was previously charged with assaulting an officer with a baseball bat, civil disorder and other crimes before receiving clemency as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping act of clemency for Jan. 6 defendants last year. Lang recently announced that he is running for U.S. Senate in Florida.
In Minneapolis, snowballs and water balloons were also thrown before an armored police van and heavily equipped city police arrived.
“We’re out here to show Nazis and ICE and DHS and MAGA you are not welcome in Minneapolis,” protester Luke Rimington said. “Stay out of our city, stay out of our state. Go home.”
The state guard said in a statement that it had been “mobilized” by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz to support the Minnesota State Patrol “to assist in providing traffic support to protect life, preserve property, and support the rights of all Minnesotans to assemble peacefully.”
Maj. Andrea Tsuchiya, a spokesperson for the guard, said it was “staged and ready” but yet to be deployed.
The announcement came more than a week after Walz, a frequent critic and target of Trump, told the guard to be ready to support law enforcement in the state.
During the daily protests, demonstrators have railed against masked immigration officers pulling people from homes and cars and other aggressive tactics. The operation in the deeply liberal Twin Cities has claimed at least one life: Renee Good, a U.S. citizen and mother of three, was shot by an ICE officer during a Jan. 7 confrontation.
On Friday a federal judge ruled that immigration officers cannot detain or tear gas peaceful protesters who are not obstructing authorities, including while observing officers during the Minnesota crackdown.
During a news conference Saturday, a man who fled civil war in Liberia as a child said he has been afraid to leave his Minneapolis home since being released from an immigration detention center following his arrest last weekend.
Video of federal officers breaking down Garrison Gibson's front door with a battering ram Jan. 11 become another rallying point for protesters who oppose the crackdown.
Gibson, 38, was ordered to be deported, apparently because of a 2008 drug conviction that was later dismissed. He has remained in the country legally under what’s known as an order of supervision. After his recent arrest, a judge ruled that federal officials did not give him enough notice that his supervision status had been revoked.
Then Gibson was taken back into custody for several hours Friday when he made a routine check-in with immigration officials. Gibson’s cousin Abena Abraham said Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials told her White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller ordered the second arrest.
The White House denied the account of the re-arrest and that Miller had anything to do with it.
Gibson was flown to a Texas immigration detention facility but returned home following the judge's ruling. His family used a dumbbell to keep their damaged front door closed amid subfreezing temperatures before spending $700 to fix it.
“I don’t leave the house,” Gibson said at a news conference.
DHS said an “activist judge” was again trying to stop the deportation of “criminal illegal aliens.”
“We will continue to fight for the arrest, detention, and removal of aliens who have no right to be in this country,” Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
Gibson said he has done everything he was supposed to do: “If I was a violent person, I would not have been out these past 17 years, checking in."
Associated Press writers Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis, Josh Boak in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed.
Garrison Gibson, a Liberian man who has lived in the U.S. for around three decades, shows reporters his shirt reading “Immigrants make America great” during a news conference Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Jack Brook)
A Jake Lang supporter clashes with counterprotesters the March Against Minnesota Fraud rally near Minneapolis City Hall, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Jake Lang, center, who organized the protest March Against Minnesota Fraud, clutches his head as he leaves the rally near Minneapolis City Hall, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
A Jake Lang supporter bleeds from his head as he is chased away by pro-immigration protesters Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
A pro-immigration protester lifts up Jake Lang's vest after an altercation at the March Against Minnesota Fraud rally near Minneapolis City Hall, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
ADDS IDENTIFICATION: Garrison Gibson becomes emotional as he is arrested by federal immigration officers Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
ADDS IDENTIFICATION: Teyana Gibson Brown, second from left, wife of Garrison Gibson, reacts after federal immigration officers arrested Garrison Gibson, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Federal immigration officers prepare to enter a home to make an arrest after an officer used a battering ram to break down a door Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Garrison Gibson, a Liberian man who has lived in the U.S. for around three decades, shows a photo of his arrest on a t-shirt as he speaks with reporters during a news conference Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Jack Brook)
Garrison Gibson, a Liberian man who has lived in the U.S. for around three decades, speaks with reporters during a news conference Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Jack Brook)
