The Arelion blog

Our thoughts and deeds. From industry trends to geeky network stuff.

The Nordic blueprint for Europe’s AI infrastructure

The race to lead the world in artificial intelligence is no longer theoretical. It is happening now – and Europe is falling behind. While the United States mobilizes hyperscale cloud capability and China coordinates national ambition at industrial scale, Europe spreads its effort across 27 member states, each pursuing a smaller, separate strategy. Yet in […]

How backbone networks support AI infrastructure

AI workloads are rapidly reshaping infrastructure demands and design. Currently, AI model training is mostly concentrated in centralized campuses with access to affordable power, typically with less proximity to network infrastructure. Simultaneously, these workloads are driving data center interconnection traffic, particularly as distributed architectures become more common and latency requirements tighten.

Why this blog still matters ahead of International Women’s Day 2026

This blog shouldn’t be necessary. Gender equality should be a given – in telecoms and in every other sector. But the reality is that women remain underrepresented in STEM and in technical leadership roles across our industry. This blog celebrate the women who power Arelion, but also acknowledge the work still ahead of us.

Why data protection redefines enterprise networking

In today’s volatile digital landscape, data protection now sits firmly at the center of the enterprise risk agenda. Across industries, regions, and business models, organizations are grappling with rising complexity, accelerating technological change, intensifying geopolitical pressures, and an expanding network ecosystem that is increasingly difficult to govern.

A connectivity milestone: 200 Tb/s

At the edge of our backbone, traffic recently reached 200 Tb/s. It took 30 years (from 1993 to 2023) to reach 100 Tb/s of traffic, but only another two and a half years to reach 200 Tb/s today. This exponential growth proves that the public Internet remains the backbone of the global economy.

Connectivity case study: When the unthinkable happens

Our teams were put to the test this past summer when a critical fiber connection between two major cities required immediate replacement. Let’s take a behind-the-scenes look at how our experts protected the connectivity our wholesale, cloud and enterprise customers depend on to keep their operations online, no matter the circumstances.

Extending our AI superhighway into the Nordics and Baltics

After explosive data center expansion in the US, the AI-driven data center boom seems to finally be taking off in Europe. But not all markets are born equal. Many factors are converging to position the Nordics as an AI data center hub.

2026 predictions: From data sovereignty to quantum security

AI has transformed the technology ecosystem over the past year, pushing networks to become faster, more agile and more scalable to support these workloads. In parallel, many operators are working to integrate AI into their own operations, from predictive maintenance to customer service chatbots, to keep pace with the escalating scale of modern infrastructure.

Breaking records together: NPS 79

I’m excited to share Arelion’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) for 2025 which came in at 79 – the highest in our history. That’s not just a number, but a reflection of the trust and partnership we’ve built with our customers over the years. 

NaaS – The backbone of agentic AI

Last month, I had the privilege of attending Global NaaS Event (GNE) 2025 in Arlington, Texas. Over five days, more than 500 leaders across enterprise IT, service providers, technology vendors, cloud and data center operators, cybersecurity, systems integrators, media, and analysts came together to explore one theme: how Network‑as‑a‑Service (NaaS) is evolving to power AI at global scale. Here […]

Balancing AI’s opportunities and challenges to serve enterprises

AI has taken the technology industry by storm, with enterprises deploying emerging applications to create business value. Amid this shift, operators are leveraging network automation, optical innovation and more to support enterprise AI use cases. Still, the technology ecosystem must balance AI’s opportunities with its challenges. While AI can improve operations, it can also leave […]

How enterprises can evaluate their multi-vendor strategy in the age of AI

As AI/ML implementations accelerate, the stakes are higher for enterprises to secure reliable, scalable connectivity that enables these applications’ real-time functionality. Enterprises are increasingly diversifying their connectivity choices to meet these requirements, with local providers supporting access use cases and wholesale operators providing core connectivity. Many operators are maximizing diversity, scalability, physical security and other […]