CIO OPINION
Key takeaways
• No one knows the full extent of the changes Generative AI will bring, nor the form they will take, only that change is guaranteed.
• Generative AI is only as powerful as the infrastructure that underpins it, so organisations are at least planning, largescale improvements to their IT estates.
• Many organisations are either undertaking, or at least planning, large-scale improvements to their IT estates.
• Generative AI means vast amounts of data ingested by language models, large and small within your network.
• For best results, AI relies on diverse data inputs and a variety of information that is both deep and wide.
• The source of data inputs and their size are dictated by an organisation’ s AI strategy and use cases, plus its data governance framework.
• In a study with Microsoft, leaders described how data security and data sovereignty are prompting major network upgrades across organisations.
• Hyperscalers help organisations deal with flexible cloud computing resources but the same flexibility is required for connectivity.
• The telco edge can be considered the Goldilocks location, providing the ideal conditions to straddle edge and cloud.
• Providing seamless, dense interconnectivity at the telco edge, drives improved user experience for accessing digital apps and services.
For UK enterprises the results were even starker, 21 % marking it as their top priority, 22 % placing it second and 8 % third.
A great example of this is the Network-as-a- Service, NaaS approach, which simplifies multicloud connectivity, security and infrastructure for organisations, with resilient and sustainable design. It is scalable and flexible, both in the quality of connectivity and the convenience of pay-as-you-use.
LLM integrity requires robust security. LLMs process large amounts of sensitive and confidential data, meaning data security is critical to prevent unauthorised access from bad actors, as well as accidental or deliberate data breaches.
Security measures like encryption and robust access controls are vital for maintaining data integrity and reliability; such measures help to ensure data accuracy and consistency, and prevent data tampering, model poisoning and theft.
The importance of this is particularly stark given recent research encompassing UK enterprises and multinational corporates, MNCs, which found cyber security a pressing concern for both groups.
Some 19 % of MNCs cited digital defences as their top technology priority heading into 2025, while 16 % place it second and 9 % third. For UK enterprises the results were even starker, 21 % marking it as their top priority, 22 % placing it second and 8 % third.
Moreover, in a separate study conducted in conjunction with Microsoft, business and IT leaders described how data security and data sovereignty are prompting major network upgrades across organisations.
More than nine in ten, 91 % leaders identified security and sovereignty as the number one technical reason for a future upgrade.
However, overall effectiveness will be hindered if your connectivity partner only offers a traditional telco experience, for example, lacking dense peering with your security from the cloud, SSE partners.
The Generative AI revolution is already reshaping what businesses need from their networks. Success will hinge on interconnectivity that can evolve with demand, stay resilient under pressure, and stay secure at scale. That is why, as companies invest in AI, they must also rethink who they partner with – and how those partnerships are built for the future. p
42 INTELLIGENTCIO MIDDLE EAST www. intelligentcio. com