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As part of our ongoing Mplify Member Spotlight series, Mplify spoke with Abilash Menon, CEO and co-founder of MaiaEdge, about the company’s vision for federated networking, how the shift to distributed AI infrastructure is creating real opportunity for network operators and why collaboration across the ecosystem is the key to capturing it.
Mplify: Welcome, Abilash. Please tell us about yourself and what makes MaiaEdge unique?
Abilash Menon [AM]: I’m the CEO and co-founder of MaiaEdge. Before starting the company, I worked at Cisco and later at a startup, 128 Technology (acquired by Juniper Networks), focused on SD-WAN, where we were helping enterprises connect branch locations and data centers more efficiently. Through that work, I realized there was a much bigger problem that hadn’t really been solved – what happens in the “big middle” of the network.
Enterprises can connect their endpoints, but the infrastructure in between, the many networks, fiber operators, and interconnections across providers, is still largely manual and slow to provision. In some cases, it can take months to establish connectivity because of contracts, coordination between operators, and engineering work.
MaiaEdge was created to solve that problem. We are building network infrastructure that enables providers to deliver instant private connectivity with end-to-end visibility across multi-provider networks. By deploying our infrastructure at core locations, operators can transform static network capacity into a programmable fabric and speed provisioning from months to minutes. By federating their networks, providers build their own federated private network, enabling them to deliver private connectivity to any location, instantly.
There are three main outcomes we help enable.
- First, operators can monetize unused capacity. Many providers have fiber deployed with underutilized bandwidth. With a programmable platform, that capacity can be advertised and consumed instantly, creating new revenue opportunities.
- Second, we help operators extend their reach by enabling instant interconnection with other providers. Instead of complex negotiations and slow integrations, operators can federate their infrastructure and connect across networks much more easily.
- Third, our solution enables operators to capitalize on the emerging connectivity requirements of AI infrastructure, where secure, low-latency private connectivity is becoming critical.
Mplify: What led you to Mplify, and what inspired your engagement in the ecosystem?
AM: What stood out to me about Mplify is that it’s more than a traditional standards body. It’s an ecosystem of operators that genuinely want to interoperate. When service providers adopt common standards, it signals something important: they want to work together and enable federation across networks. That aligns perfectly with MaiaEdge’s vision. Many large carriers have the resources to build their own solutions, but smaller operators often don’t have the same capital or engineering capabilities. That creates a gap in the ecosystem.
Our goal is to help bridge that gap by providing infrastructure that allows smaller operators to participate in federated networking and comply with Mplify standards. With the right platform in place, they can interoperate with larger carriers, connect with data centers, and participate in a broader digital ecosystem. This not only benefits smaller operators, but larger carriers as well who can easily extend their footprint to areas where they may not have fiber infrastructure.
When we attended last year’s Global NaaS Event in Dallas, Texas and started interacting with operators, it became clear that Mplify was already working toward the same goal: enabling federated networking and automation across providers. That alignment made joining the ecosystem a natural fit.
Mplify: How does your work align with Mplify’s focus on NaaS, automation, AI, and cybersecurity?
AM: The alignment is quite strong. MaiaEdge is building the infrastructure that can bring many of those ideas to life in operational networks. For example, Mplify is working on initiatives around secure infrastructure, automation, and emerging AI networking requirements. Our platform enables those capabilities across different operator domains, allowing networks to interconnect and automate services while maintaining security and trust.
Mplify: What key industry trend is having the biggest impact on the network ecosystem today?
AM: Without question, it’s the shift toward AI inference infrastructure. For the past few years, most of the focus has been on training large AI models in massive, centralized data centers. But we’re now entering the next phase of AI – inference – where models are deployed and used in real-time applications. That shift is changing how infrastructure is built.
AI workloads require enormous amounts of power and cooling, which means they can’t always be concentrated in a single location. As a result, we’re starting to see distributed AI infrastructure, with smaller AI “factories” or GPU clusters deployed wherever power and resources are available. This creates a new networking challenge.
These distributed AI environments must communicate with users, applications, and data sources across different locations. That means networks must deliver deterministic performance, low latency, and secure connectivity between multiple domains. AI connectivity isn’t just a bandwidth problem. It’s also a latency, programmability, and sovereignty challenge, particularly as organizations become more sensitive about where their data travels and how it is protected.
Mplify: How should operators position themselves to win in an AI-driven network economy?
AM: Operators are sitting on one of the most valuable assets in the AI economy: fiber infrastructure. However, fiber alone is no longer enough. Networks must become programmable, automated, and capable of supporting secure, sovereign connectivity across multiple providers. Operators that want to take advantage of the AI opportunity should focus on three key areas.
- First, they need to embrace federation. No single operator can reach every location or serve every AI workload. By collaborating and connecting their networks, providers can create a broader, more valuable connectivity fabric.
- Second, they must automate their infrastructure. AI ecosystems move at software speed, and connectivity services need to be provisioned just as quickly.
- Third, operators should focus on sovereign and trusted connectivity. As AI expands globally, organizations will increasingly demand guarantees about where their data flows and how it is protected.
The operators that build programmable infrastructure and participate in these ecosystems will benefit the most from the AI wave. Those that continue to sell only raw bandwidth risk being left behind.
About the Mplify Member Spotlight
The Mplify Member Spotlight series offers Mplify members the opportunity to share how they are leveraging Mplify standards, LSO APIs, and certifications to expedite their innovation cycle, address critical issues for service providers, and offer value-added solutions to their customers.
In each Q&A session, members share their experiences, challenges, and successes, offering insight into best practices that result in a more collaborative and innovative Mplify ecosystem.
Interested in participating in a Mplify Member Spotlight? Contact us!
Learn More
- Visit the MaiaEdge website.
- Read more Mplify Member Spotlights.