NTT DATA and Cisco Support AI Expansion Across Middle East and Africa with Network Modernization

NTT DATA , a global leader in digital business and technology services, and Cisco  unveiled a new co-sponsored IDC InfoBrief, Wired for Intelligence: A CIO Guide to Enterprise Networking for AI. The study shares strategic guidance for organizations seeking to accelerate transformation by modernizing their network infrastructure.

As organizations integrate AI into more applications, from manufacturing and healthcare to financial services, the demand for high-speed, low-latency, and secure networks is surging. Legacy infrastructure is no longer sufficient to support the scale and complexity of AI workloads. NTT DATA and Cisco are responding to this shift by helping clients evolve from outdated architectures to intelligent, adaptive infrastructure that can power AI-driven innovation.

“As two market leaders, NTT DATA and Cisco are well positioned to help clients modernize their digital infrastructure foundations for the AI era. The network exists as a catalyst for growth and organizations can unlock powerful new capabilities and achieve AI-driven business transformation at scale.”

– Dilip Kumar, Global Head, Technology Solutions, NTT DATA, Inc.

“Across the Middle East, governments and enterprises are embracing AI to drive national visions and digital transformation agendas. But without modern, secure, and intelligent networks, these ambitions risk being constrained. Our collaboration with Cisco ensures that clients in the region have the infrastructure foundation needed to scale AI responsibly and effectively unlocking new possibilities for innovation, efficiency, and economic growth.”

– Hani Nofal, SVP Technology Solution, Middle East and Africa, NTT Data, Inc.

The Critical Foundation Empowering AI-Driven Growth

The study highlights that network modernization is at the heart of AI success. More than 78% of companies say that networking capabilities are either important or very important when selecting providers for GenAI infrastructure — underscoring the need for networks that can handle and secure ever-scaling AI workloads while running complex AI training, inference, and storage clusters with ease. At the same time, modernization also infuses AI into network operations through AI-driven configuration, anomaly detection, self-healing, and intelligent monitoring to accelerate issue resolution and elevate user experience. Already, industries like manufacturing, healthcare, and financial services are leveraging AI in networking to improve operational efficiency, ensure secure connectivity and reduce costs.

“Network modernization is about more than replacing old hardware—it’s about allowing enterprises to lead in an AI-driven world. Our partnership with NTT DATA equips clients with the technology and expertise needed to build secure and connected networks.”

– Brink Sanders, Senior Vice President of Global Networking Sales, Cisco

“Your network will make or break your AI transformation. Overcoming the challenges of legacy networking technologies is essential. This IDC InfoBrief gives organizations the steps to transform enterprise networking from a bottleneck into a business advantage.”

– Chris Barnard, Vice President, European Telecoms and Infrastructure, IDC

NTT DATA is Enabling Network Modernization Through Intelligent Services

NTT DATA’s comprehensive suite of intelligent services helps clients modernize their digital infrastructure and build secure networks. These services span the full lifecycle from advisory to sourcing, professional services, support and managed services to enable organizations to modernize and unlock the full potential of AI.

With many companies undergoing hardware refresh cycles due to the emergence of AI, NTT DATA’s services are designed to meet this critical moment:

• Advisory: Strategic guidance to align network modernization with AI goals.
• Strategic Technology Sourcing: Recommending and procuring the right technology to transform network to be AI-ready.
• Professional Services: Architecting and deploying scalable, secure and high-performance networks.
• Software-Defined Infrastructure Services: Driving business outcomes through adoption of automation and AI agents into infrastructure operations and license optimization.
• Adoption Services: Maximizing value from infrastructure investments through greater adoption of software, continuous improvement and change management.
• Managed Network Services: End-to-end network management to ensure seamless data flow from edge to cloud, minimizing latency and enhancing application responsiveness.

NTT DATA recently launched AI-powered Software Defined Infrastructure (SDI) services for Cisco products to deliver intelligent automation and real-time insights to optimize infrastructure, reduce costs, and drive business outcomes.