Modern networks for modern demands: How CIOs are building for what’s next

Enterprise networks weren’t built to support today’s demands, from artificial intelligence (AI) model training and real-time edge analytics to distributed work styles and cloud-first architectures. To keep pace, CIOs need new infrastructures designed for speed, scale, and security.

Compounding challenges in enterprise networks

Years of deferred upgrades and patchwork solutions have created brittle networks that increase complexity and inhibit business growth. MPLS architectures, hardware-heavy security stacks, and disparate tools make it challenging to provide the visibility and responsiveness that AI, edge, and cloud workloads require.

In a world where 44% of mission-critical infrastructure is at or nearing end-of-life, according to the Kyndryl Readiness Report, many leaders recognize that their aging environments hinder their ability to pivot. With AI-driven competitors making strategic moves in a matter of weeks, a legacy network that takes months to provision new capacity is a liability.

Meanwhile, enterprises are also dealing with organizational roadblocks. Infrastructure and security teams often work in silos, making it hard to drive operating model transformation. Skills shortages, long provisioning cycles, and rising cloud egress costs further compound this challenge.

Improving network performance with SASE

To overcome these challenges, enterprises are shifting toward cloud-based, software-defined architectures that unify networking and security — with secure access service edge (SASE) playing a central role. SASE provides the technical pretext for CIOs and CISOs to finally merge their agendas. The question for leadership is no longer, “How do we fix the network?” but, “How do we restructure our teams to manage a unified, cloud-native environment?”

SASE combines SD‑WAN, zero-trust access, secure web gateways, cloud access security brokers, and other critical capabilities in a single platform. Increasingly, these frameworks also integrate AI to detect threats in real time, enforce policies dynamically, and route traffic intelligently. This creates a secure, high-speed data fabric necessary for AI model training and real-time edge analytics. By offloading heavy compute tasks to an AI-powered SASE framework, leadership can ensure that the infrastructure actually increases AI’s return on investment, rather than draining budget through egress fees and latency.

Enterprises adopting SASE are seeing stronger security postures, fewer false positives, improved uptime, and better user experiences. In fact, 82.9% of organizations that have adopted SASE report a noticeable improvement in network performance or threat detection, according to IDC. And because it’s delivered as a service, SASE reduces cost and complexity while providing the scalability needed for future growth.

Network modernization from Palo Alto Networks and Kyndryl

Palo Alto Networks and Kyndryl provide the right combination of technology and expertise to make network modernization a reality. Palo Alto provides Prisma SASE, an AI-powered, zero-trust platform that unifies networking and security in the cloud. And Kyndryl’s services help large organizations plan, deploy, and manage at scale.

Kyndryl’s own modernization journey — replacing a legacy network with Prisma SASE — gives it a unique perspective on the challenges enterprises face. That firsthand experience informs every engagement, from assessments and roadmap planning to phased rollouts and 24/7 management.

By integrating Prisma SASE with Kyndryl Bridge — a digital operations platform that connects IT and business systems — organizations can also solve the talent crisis. Automating mundane tasks such as threat monitoring and traffic optimization allows skilled workers to focus more on higher-value, business-critical innovation.

AI, edge, and cloud workloads demand more from your network. Kyndryl and Palo Alto Networks offer a practical, proven path to network modernization. Visit us here to learn more.