More than half the US threatened with ice, snow and cold in massive winter storm

DALLAS (AP) — Freezing rain fell in parts of Texas on Friday as a huge, dayslong winter storm began a trek that threatened to bring snow, sleet, ice, bone-chilling temperatures and extensive power outages to about half the U.S. population. Forecasters warned that catastrophic damage, especially in areas pounded by ice, could rival that of a hurricane.

Schools in Chicago and other Midwestern cities called off classes, airlines canceled thousands of weekend flights, churches moved Sunday services online and the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, decided to hold its Saturday night radio performance without fans. Carnival parades in Louisiana were canceled or rescheduled.

At least 182 million people were under watches or warnings for ice and snow, and more than 210 million were under cold weather advisories or warnings. In many places those overlapped.

Utility companies braced for power outages because ice-coated trees and power lines can keep falling long after a storm has passed.

“It’s going to be a big storm,” Maricela Resendiz said as she picked up chicken, eggs and pizzas at a Dallas store to get her, her 5-year-old son and her boyfriend through the weekend. Her plans: “Staying in, just being out of the way.”

Freezing rain slickened roads in Lubbock, Texas, in the afternoon as temperatures dropped.

After sliding into the South, the storm was expected to move into the Northeast, dumping about a foot (30 centimeters) of snow from Washington through New York and Boston, the National Weather Service predicted.

Frigid air that spilled down from Canada prompted the cancellations of classes at schools throughout the Midwest. Wind chills as low as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 40 Celsius) meant that frostbite could set in within 10 minutes, making it too dangerous to walk to school or wait for the bus.

In Bismarck, North Dakota, where the wind chill was minus 41 (minus 41 Celsius), Colin Cross cleaned out an empty unit for the apartment complex where he works.

“I’ve been here awhile and my brain stopped working,” said Cross, bundled up in long johns, two long-sleeve shirts, a jacket, hat, hood, gloves and boots.

Despite the bitter cold, a protest over an immigration crackdown went on as planned in Minnesota, with thousands demonstrating in downtown Minneapolis.

Nationwide, nearly 5,000 flights were delayed or canceled Friday, many of them in Dallas and Chicago, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. About 2,800 were called off for Saturday.

In Oklahoma, Department of Transportation workers treated roads with salt brine, the Highway Patrol canceled troopers' days off and National Guard units were activated to help stranded drivers.

The federal government put nearly 30 search and rescue teams on standby. Officials had more than 7 million meals, 600,000 blankets and 300 generators placed throughout the area the storm was expected to cross, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

President Donald Trump said via social media that his administration was coordinating with state and local officials and “FEMA is fully prepared to respond.”

After the storm passes, it will take a while to thaw out. Ice can add hundreds of pounds to power lines and branches and make them more susceptible to snapping, especially if it's windy.

In at least 11 Southern states from Texas to Virginia, a majority of homes are heated by electricity, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

A severe cold snap five years ago took down much of the power grid in Texas, leaving millions without power for days and resulting in hundreds of deaths. Gov. Greg Abbott vowed that will not happen again, and utility companies were bringing in thousands of employees to help keep the lights on.

In Atlanta, where temperatures could dip to 10 degrees (minus 12 Celsius) and stay below freezing for 36 hours, M. Cary & Daughters Plumbing co-owner Melissa Cary ordered all the pipe and repair supplies she could get. She predicted that her daily calls could go from about 40 to several hundred.

“We’re out there; we can’t feel our fingers, our toes; we’re soaking wet,” Cary said. “I keep the hot chocolate and soup coming.”

Boston declared a cold emergency through the weekend, and Connecticut was working with neighboring New York and Massachusetts in case travel restrictions are needed on major highways.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont urged people to go grocery shopping now and “stay home on Sunday.”

Philadelphia announced schools would be closed Monday. Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. told students, “It’s also appropriate to have one or two very safe snowball fights.”

Whittni Slater, who has been sleeping in his car in Detroit, got scared when he saw the weather forecast and searched for a place to stay. On Thursday night he slept on one 80 cots set up in a gymnasium at the Pope Francis Center.

“It was very welcoming, very warm,” Slater said the next day.

But in Charleston, West Virginia, visitors and vendors at the three-day Hunting and Fishing Show were not too worried. Ron Blymire was focused on selling South Africa safari trips and not on navigating the roads back home to Columbus, Ohio.

“I have a four-wheel-drive truck, and as long as I’m patient and take my time, I’m not concerned about getting stranded or stuck or anything like that,” he said.

Some universities in the South canceled classes for Monday, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Mississippi's main campus in Oxford.

At the University of Georgia, in Athens, sophomore Eden England stayed on campus to ride things out with friends, even as the school encouraged students to leave dorms and go home because of concerns about losing power.

“I’d rather be with my friends,” England said, “kind of struggling together if anything happens.”

Megnien and Amy reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers around the country contributed.

Work crews stage with de-icing materials in their trucks ahead of expected inclement weather in Plano, Texas, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

A person walks by a vehicle that was plowed in by snow in Grand Rapids, Mich. on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (Joel Bissell/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)

Work crews prepare trucks with de-icing materials ahead of expected inclement weather in Plano, Texas, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

A person walks on an ice covered beach along the shore of Lake Michigan, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

Strong winds kick up snow in Lowville, New York, on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Cara Anna)

A person walks through the cold on the Campau Promenade in Grand Rapids, Mich. on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (Joel Bissell/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)

Ice forms along the shore of Lake Michigan, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

Doug Kunde watches as steam is seen over Lake Michigan as frigid temperatures for the day are not expected to reach zero degrees Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

People walk on an ice covered beach along the shore of Lake Michigan, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

A Nashville Department of Transportation truck applies salt brine to a roadway Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. ahead of a winter storm expected to hit the state over the weekend. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Austin Felts of the Nashville Department of Transportation drives a truck deploying salt brine on roadways Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. ahead of a winter storm expected to hit the state over the weekend. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

A pedestrian bundles up as she crosses a street during a cold weather day in Evanston, Ill., Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

A Nashville Department of Transportation truck applies salt brine to a roadway Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. ahead of a winter storm expected to hit the state over the weekend. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

A Nashville Department of Transportation truck applies salt brine to a roadway Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. ahead of a winter storm expected to hit the state over the weekend. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 11, 2026--

Ingram Micro Holding Corporation (NYSE: INGM) today announced the issuance of two U.S. patentsfor its award-winning Xvantage™ platform, marking a major milestone in the company’s transformation into a platform business and B2B leader for the global information technology industry.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260311242523/en/

The two patents were awarded for proprietary technologies built by Ingram Micro at the platform level, removing longstanding friction in how products are listed and how orders are created and processed. Together, these patented innovations are expected to fundamentally change how speed, intelligence, and scale are delivered across the IT industry.

“This is a big milestone for Ingram Micro, and the industry as a whole,” said Paul Bay, CEO of Ingram Micro. “For decades, the technology ecosystem has operated on static product identifiers and manual, disconnected processes that limit speed and scale. These patents reflect our strategy to build the platform the industry needs and remove friction at its foundation. Ingram Micro is not just improving how business gets done; we’re building a secure, intelligent platform that is redefining how modern B2B organizations operate.”

Dynamic SKUs – Eliminating Friction from Product Identity

Ingram Micro’s patented Dynamic SKU technology represents a breakthrough in how products are represented, discovered and transacted across its AI-powered Xvantage platform. Traditionally, product identifiers are static and fragmented across systems and constrained by ERP limitations, restricting catalog size and slowing scale.

Dynamic SKUs automatically remove traditional ERP limitations that have restricted the number of products companies can offer and manage. Because the system updates automatically with real-time inventory, pricing and customer needs, it solves the “endless aisle” challenge, making it possible to sell a broader, more dynamic range of products without overwhelming their main systems. This is expected to eliminate complexity, reduce errors, and improve speed and scalability across the channel.

While the capability is expected to accelerate vendor onboarding, its impact goes far beyond speed‑to‑market. Partners transact with less friction, customers gain access to a wider and more accurate product selection, and fulfillment accuracy improves at scale, modernizing how B2B operations function end-to-end.

Generative AI–Powered Email-to-Order – Automating the Transaction Core

The second newly issued patent uses generative AI to handle email orders and attachments, one of the most persistent friction points in B2B systems. Instead of relying on manual review and data entry, the patented Email-to-Order system automatically converts incoming emails into structured orders and synchronizes them across enterprise systems. With this patented technology, incoming emails are automatically turned into organized orders and updated, allowing them to get done faster, with fewer errors and enabling scale without adding complexity or cost.

“These patents reflect the kind of innovation that only comes from building, not integrating,” said Sanjib Sahoo, Executive Vice President and President of Ingram Micro’s Global Platform Group. “Xvantage is the intelligent operating system for B2B, one that understands context, automates decisions and continuously learns to help the entire industry operate at a new level of speed and scale. By eliminating ERP bottlenecks, manual steps and system-bound processes that have held the industry back for years, we’re transforming the way distribution works with customer outcomes driving our innovation.”

Recent insight from HyperFRAME Research CEO and Principal Analyst Steven Dickens noted AI is accelerating a structural shift in enterprise IT, driving demand toward scalable platforms that unify infrastructure and data, while capitalizing on automation and customization.

“Within the B2B industry, the real opportunity isn’t simply integrating AI into existing workflows—it’s building platform-led capabilities that reduce friction, improve consistency, drive operational excellence, and result in improved business outcomes for the company and the ecosystem it serves,” said Dickens. “That’s where we’re seeing innovation-first leaders, including Ingram Micro, continue to invest, differentiate and grow using AI to build business advantages."

Xvantage – A Competitive Advantage

Unlike platforms assembled by integrating off-the-shelf products, Xvantage™ was built from the ground up by Ingram Micro and has become a competitive differentiator for the company, its customers and its partners.

Designed as an intelligent operating system for B2B, Xvantage simplifies and accelerates how vendor partners and customers do business by automating key functions, including quote creation, order management, and real-time tracking. The platform enables companies to scale operations, improve service delivery, and make smarter, data-driven decisions.

Currently active in 20 of the 57 countries where Ingram Micro operates, Xvantage continues to expand its global reach. Its purpose-built foundation is reflected in the platform’s architecture:

This architectural depth enables Ingram Micro to innovate at the platform level rather than relying on stitched‑together tools. The platform delivers intelligence, automation, and resilience where B2Bs need it most.

“With more than 35 patents being pursued, this is only the beginning,” added Sahoo. “We’re going to continue to innovate and transform, becoming the platform company leading the industry and reshaping the B2B ecosystem.”

About Ingram Micro

Ingram Micro (NYSE: INGM) is a leading technology company in the global information technology ecosystem. With the ability to reach nearly 90% of the global population, we play a vital role in the worldwide IT sales channel, bringing products and services from technology manufacturers and cloud providers to a highly diversified base of business-to-business technology experts. Through Ingram Micro Xvantage™, our AI-powered digital platform, we offer what we believe to be the industry’s first comprehensive business-to-consumer-like experience, integrating hardware and cloud subscriptions, personalized recommendations, instant pricing, order tracking, and billing automation. We also provide a broad range of technology services, including financing, specialized marketing, and lifecycle management, as well as technical pre- and post-sales professional support. Learn more at www.ingrammicro.com.

Ingram Micro Awarded Two U.S. Patents for Innovations Powering Xvantage™