—Building an Intelligent Connectivity Foundation to Accelerate Intelligent Transformation
SHANGHAI, Sept. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On September 17, 2026, during HUAWEI CONNECT 2026, a high-profile session themed “Intelligent WAN, Building an Intelligent Connectivity Foundation” was held in Shanghai. Dozens of infrastructure managers, industry leaders, and experts gathered to discuss the importance and urgency of building a foundation for intelligent connectivity and the planning and deployment of intelligent WANs in the AI era.
Colin Hu, Vice President of Huawei’s Global Public Sector BU, stated in his opening remarks that global networks across diverse sectors face the dual challenges of extending coverage and enabling agile AI deployment. AI integration across all sectors is accelerating, which is placing higher demands on network security, coverage, real-time performance, and deterministic assurance. Meanwhile, issues such as network coverage gaps and digital service disparities persist, particularly in remote and underserved areas. To meet evolving needs, network deployment must strike a balance between inclusive coverage and intelligence, building a solid intelligent WAN foundation.
Dustin Kehoe, Head of AMEA Tech Research, GlobalData, highlighted that AI demands a fundamental modernization of WAN architecture to handle explosive and unpredictable traffic spikes. Legacy networks cannot cope with the massive, real-time data flows AI requires. AI workloads call for highly distributed, edge-enabled frameworks that process data closer to the source, reducing latency and optimizing bandwidth. Intelligent WANs must also deliver a deterministic experience, backed by granular performance guarantees. This trend redefines the requirements for intelligent WANs.
Ado, CEO of Huawei’s Wide Area Network Domain noted that the advent of the agentic AI era is shifting the network paradigm: network connections are shifting from humans to agents; traffic patterns are shifting from heavy downlink traffic to massive uplink traffic; and network experience assurance is expanding from specific applications to the entire agent workflow. Conventional connectivity pipelines need to evolve and provide an intelligent connectivity foundation in the AI era. He recommended that top-level planning be prioritized across sectors, with a focus on upgrading backbone network experience, security, and devices. Improved experience requires intelligent awareness, proactive prediction, and precise flow-level scheduling to deliver intelligent, uninterrupted deterministic experiences for users and agents. Security requires a comprehensive approach including devices with built-in security, end-to-end encryption, quantum-resistant links, network-security collaboration, and automated closed-loop management. Devices must be equipped with AI-native capabilities to enable intelligent, robust connectivity and strengthen the network foundation.
Ethan Liu, Vice President of the Router Domain of Huawei’s Data Communication Product Line, said the Stellar AI Integrated Data WAN Solution offers four capabilities to support intelligent transformation: converged ultra-broadband, which eliminates bandwidth bottlenecks for a highly efficient multi-purpose network; multi-dimensional awareness, which optimizes computing power delivery to support the efficient rollout of AI computing services; security and resilience, including proactive defenses for networks; and network autonomy to transform traditional O&M to enable self-healing within minutes.
Nick Liu, Vice President of Huawei’s Enterprise Optical Domain, delivered a keynote speech. He noted that Huawei has proposed a national fiber target network, characterized by ultra-broadband, flexibility, security, reliability, and intelligent O&M. Cutting-edge technologies—including 400G/800G, all-optical cross-connect (OXC), OTN-QKD integration, 50 ms WSON, AI-DAS, and NOEMate—can be used to build national information highways. Huawei calls for collaborative efforts to deploy national all-optical backbone networks, ultimately enabling inclusive connectivity and advancing national digital and intelligent strategies.
At the session, leading experts across relevant fields shared best practices and forward-looking insights regarding network planning and deployment. During the event, Huawei, in collaboration with GlobalData, released the Intelligent WAN White Paper in AI Era, offering a systematic analysis of industry trends, WAN target architecture, and evolution roadmap in the AI era to help customers accelerate their transition to the agentic AI era.
Looking ahead, Huawei will continue to leverage its strengths in network infrastructure, collaborating with partners and customers to drive AI-era intelligent transformation across industries.
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