Is your enterprise network ready to capture the AI opportunity?

With so much focus on the chipsets and data centers enabling artificial intelligence (AI), what’s network connectivity’s role? AI is defining the future – adoption has exceeded all expectations and AI workloads are set to increase dramatically over the next five years. But AI is only as good as the real-life connectivity it depends upon. Is your network ready?

Enterprise networks are implementing AI-based solutions at a furious rate. According to Arelion’s 2024 Disruption report, change is happening fast. A global survey of 2,000 senior decisionmakers showed that nine out of 10 respondents believed they would be using AI-based tools and/or systems to support their network management within 18 months, with half doing so by now.

Organizations competing in the AI race must ensure seamless connectivity to power real-time data processing and management. The ability to transmit and analyze vast amounts of data without delay is a fundamental requirement for all industry segments. “With such high stakes, the underlying connectivity infrastructure enabling AI cannot be the weakest link,” says Arelion’s Johan Ottosson in The Fast Mode.

According to research and advisory firm ISG, “to position themselves for success today, network leaders need a clear understanding of the diverse applications of AI, from enhancing customer experiences to streamlining technology operations.”

The use cases for AI within the network backbone – and its benefits to global enterprises – are myriad. Ben Wodecki of Capacity Magazine writes, “Communication network operators are increasingly turning to AI-driven solutions to streamline a wide range of processes, enhancing both operational efficiency and service quality.

AI can help network providers to enable an improved and more personalized end-user experience by helping them to better understand customer behavior and preferences. It can also mitigate security threats in the network by proactively detecting potential attacks, network failures and vulnerabilities.

Challenges of AI and solutions for enterprises evaluating network operators

Like any emerging technology, AI presents both risks and challenges for network operators. These include widespread fears that AI is making network operations more complex, leading to a loss of competency and skills, and resulting in increased bandwidth consumption.

Most strikingly, the biggest AI-related threat for network operators is cybersecurity. Leaders in every region and industry sector surveyed in the Disruption report cited AI-related cybersecurity threats as their number one network challenge, while almost two-thirds expect DDOS attacks to be largely driven by AI (as opposed to humans) within four years.

This finding suggests that the role of human cybersecurity experts will remain critical – alongside the need to maintain and upgrade their skills.

Given these considerations, enterprise network decisionmakers need their network provider to offer:

• Cybersecurity support – with sufficient scale, experience, expertise, flexibility and speed of response to help react fast to manage fast-moving cybersecurity threats effectively. It’s essential to select a suitably large and capable network provider who can absorb the physical impact of DDoS (or any attack).
• Independent advice and expertise – including cross-industry perspectives, resources and clear thinking to unravel increasing complexity in network operations.
• Support on skills – helping to nurture in-house workforce talent and offering supplementary external advice and services where necessary.
• Scalable bandwidth – offering sufficient network capacity, with flexibility to scale up when required.
• Geographical spread – with local knowledge to provide guidance and support in specific markets.
• A partnership approach – with a willingness to work collaboratively.

Is your network ready for AI? Introducing AI Direct

Designed specifically for large enterprises, hyperscalers, content delivery networks (CDNs), and AI-as-a-Service (AIaaS) providers, AI Direct from Arelion delivers dedicated, low-latency, and scalable network connections to support modern AI workloads—across data centers, cloud platforms, and global sites.

Whether an enterprise requires private, public, or hybrid connectivity, a customizable suite of network options allows them to choose the level of security, speed, and capacity that aligns with their specific operational environment.

AI Direct is powered by highly resilient infrastructure that spans multiple regions for uninterrupted connectivity across the world. Arelion’s network architecture is built with multiple failover mechanisms, providing enterprises with peace of mind and ensuring operational continuity in all circumstances.

With AI Direct, organizations have full control over capacity, speed, security, and connectivity—whether private, public, or hybrid—all backed by Arelion’s fiber network, the world’s most powerful network backbone.

Why Arelion?

We built our backbone on our own fiber network, with almost unlimited capacity – avoiding congestion and allowing for future growth. We have more than three decades of experience from providing the world’s biggest content distributors, ISPs, service, and hyperscalers with high-bandwidth, mission-critical IP transit capacity.

• Arelion solves global connectivity challenges for multinational enterprises whose businesses rely on digital infrastructure. Our global internet services connect more than 700 cloud, security, and content providers with low latency.
• Established in 1993 – with 30+ years in the carrier industry – Arelion is an internet pioneer with more than 2,700 customers worldwide. It provides the world’s best-connected Tier 1 internet backbone (Kentik ranking 2025), including 77,000 km of optical fiber in North America, Europe and Asia.
• Arelion achieved an outstanding Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 70 for 2024.
• Arelion has won ChannelVision’s Visionary Spotlight Award for “Most Responsive Channel Supplier Team” for the sixth year running.

The AI surge means enterprises need a more powerful network underlay, with higher bandwidth, greater scalability, and uncompromising security – not to mention the lowest possible latency.

With the stakes never higher, one thing is certain: The promise of an AI future is not possible without a reliable network backbone provider.