Cisco has highlighted significant technological advancements that are creating immense opportunities for service providers. During a recent event at MWC 2025 in Barcelona, Colin Bannon, CTO of BT Business, emphasized that in today’s altered work environment, the network underpins computational capabilities and is essential for artificial intelligence (AI) functionality.
Global Fabric Network Launch
Shortly before this presentation, BT revealed that customer traffic had commenced on its AI-ready Global Fabric network-as-a-service (NaaS) platform. This innovative system aims to integrate various cloud services utilized by businesses for their applications and data management, enabling them to leverage cutting-edge digital automation and AI technologies.
AI-Powered Infrastructure
The foundation of the Global Fabric incorporates an AI-driven digital orchestration layer. This feature provides customers with a reliable application experience by optimizing end-to-end paths for their applications and workloads as they navigate across multiple clouds and endpoints. Service options will encompass a range of connectivity solutions, including BT-enhanced internet service, point-to-point Ethernet, multi-point Ethernet, and MPLS, with bandwidth options from 1 Mbps to 100 Gbps. Notably, this connectivity will be interchangeable on the same port, offering flexibility unavailable in existing networks.
International Reach and Coverage
Once fully operational, Global Fabric will serve customers globally through 140 points of presence located in cloud environments across 40 countries. It is projected to offer direct coverage to 74% of hyper-scaler clouds and provide high-bandwidth connectivity to over 700 data centers.
Challenges for Enterprises
Bannon acknowledged the pressing need for BT to evolve in response to the challenges its customers face, particularly international businesses, governments, and multinational corporations. Addressing these challenges requires a reevaluation of how business priorities are met amidst increasingly distributed workloads and sophisticated cybersecurity threats.
Importance of Trust and Network Performance
Despite the promising opportunities brought by the new infrastructure, Bannon stressed the importance of maintaining trust and ensuring robust network performance. In a landscape where performance lags can hinder operations, he asserted that organizations must achieve comprehensive observability of both network performance and application behavior.
Mobile Networks and AI Workloads
Enterprises are increasingly scrutinizing mobile networks, particularly in relation to the capacity of 5G to handle AI workloads. The trend of embedding AI models directly onto devices is leading IT leaders to reconsider their policies regarding data generated by AI services and their security implications. Bannon indicated that many CIOs are contemplating the suspension of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies due to concerns over potential data loss stemming from the use of third-party AI applications.
Strategies for Data Security
Instead of outright bans, Bannon suggested that companies should utilize overlay services for AI protection and data loss prevention. He anticipates that within the next year, AI will become the standard interface for mobile devices, necessitating collaboration with manufacturers to develop effective network capacity models that accommodate AI traffic.
Data Sovereignty and Network Intelligence
Bannon also pointed out the critical need for BT to focus on elements like SD-WAN and data sovereignty, which addresses data both at rest and in motion. The inherent design of the internet can complicate geolocation of data flows, making it vital to incorporate intelligent layers in both the overlay and underlay to maintain data sovereignty.
Future-Ready Network Design
BT’s Global Fabric was developed before the recent explosion in AI, which Bannon noted fortuitously aligned with the shift towards a hyper-distributed workload model. This approach enables programmability, allowing greater control over network management than was previously feasible. He recognized that the demand for AI necessitates a network capable of handling increased complexity and distribution.
Conclusion and Future Vision
Bannon summarized the urgency for a network that is adaptable, programmable, and capable of offering on-demand bandwidth. He articulated the belief that the network serves as the computational backbone for AI, positioning itself as a crucial facilitator for future advancements in technology.