BEYOND CONNECTIVITY: FROM AI AMBITION TO INFRASTRUCTURE REALITY

In an AI-fueled, data-saturated and compute-intensive world, networks need to evolve from a utility into a strategic value platform. Join industry leaders from the IOWN Global Forum to discuss the intelligent infrastructure required to deliver the speed, sustainability, and resiliency critical for the next technological revolution.

The session will examine enterprise challenges and opportunities, lessons learned from early adoption use cases, and the importance of global ecosystem collaboration in moving from development to deployment, to drive economic value and enable sustainable growth.

This program will include three components: 

Part 1: Scaling the digital backbone: From vision to commercial reality

The future of global infrastructure is being built today. In this session, executives from the world’s most influential technology organizations reveal the roadmap for transitioning next-generation networks from technical validation to business reality. 

The IOWN Global Forum Members will demonstrate how an all-photonics approach is solving the critical power, latency, and capacity bottlenecks of the AI era – unlocking new revenue streams and enabling a sustainable digital backbone that can support the demands of today and tomorrow.

Part 2: The AI infrastructure shift: Capitalizing on the decentralized cloud economy 

An explosive demand for AI is fragmenting the landscape, giving rise to “neo-cloud” providers, sovereign clouds, and specialized local services. While this has spurred a rise in private fiber networks, supported by Managed Optical Fiber Networks (MOFN), these architectures historically favor hyperscalers.

In this session, experts will discuss why All-Photonics Networks (APNs) are a viable alternative. We will explore how APNs democratize access – enabling new cloud providers to compete while allowing hyperscalers to extend their reach. APNs offer a solution to orchestrate this complex environment, lowering total cost of ownership, while boosting performance for the next generation of AI services.

Part 3: The unified path to 6G: How global alignment is unlocking value

The industry is converging on a unified path forward for the 5G Advanced and 6G era. With validation from major consortia like the O-RAN Alliance and MOPA, it’s clear that deep coordination between radio and optical technologies is vital to scale.

This session moves beyond technical specifications to early adoption use cases, discussing the market implications of global alignment. It will outline how the reliable, ultra-low latency networks needed for game changer applications, from autonomous mobility and drones to intelligent AI agents, will drive revenue.