Akamai joins WWT AI security model for NVIDIA systems

Akamai has been selected as a strategic partner for World Wide Technology's AI Readiness Model for Operational Resilience. The partnership places Akamai within the security architecture used in AI systems developed by World Wide Technology and supported by NVIDIA.

The agreement combines Akamai's security products with World Wide Technology's vendor-neutral framework for securing artificial intelligence deployments. The framework covers governance, risk and compliance, model security, secure AI operations, infrastructure security, data protection and secure software development lifecycle processes.

World Wide Technology, often known as WWT, said its ARMOR model is designed to give companies a structured approach to AI security as they expand their use of large language models and other AI tools. Akamai's role focuses on network segmentation, API security and distributed denial-of-service protection.

A key part of the arrangement is the integration of Akamai's software with NVIDIA BlueField data processing units. This is intended to reduce the computing burden that traditional security agents can place on systems running AI workloads.

Akamai said the approach creates an enforcement layer separate from the host operating system, helping contain ransomware and limit the spread of threats across AI clusters. Its API Security product is designed to protect the connections between AI applications and the data lakes used to train and run large language models.

Another part of the partnership is the use of Prolexic, Akamai's DDoS mitigation service, to protect AI infrastructure from attacks designed to overwhelm network resources. Together, the products are being positioned as a layered security setup for what the companies describe as AI factories.

Security focus

The move comes as technology providers and their customers try to resolve a growing tension between AI performance and cybersecurity. AI systems often require significant compute resources, while many security tools rely on those same resources for monitoring and enforcement.

WWT said its framework is designed to address that issue without tying customers to a single cloud provider. That matters for large organisations building AI systems across a mix of on-premises, private cloud and public cloud environments.

The company's Advanced Technology Centre acts as a testing environment for AI architectures, where partners and customers can validate designs before wider deployment. By placing Akamai in the reference model, WWT is giving customers a defined security option throughout that testing and deployment process.

Competition in AI security has intensified as vendors seek to establish themselves in the infrastructure stack supporting enterprise AI. Companies are increasingly looking for ways to secure not just models and applications, but also the data pipelines, networking layers and operational environments around them.

PJ Joseph, Executive Vice President, Global Sales and Services, Akamai, said the framework offers a more joined-up security model for AI deployments.

"Before ARMOR, organisations were often forced to piece together fragmented security strategies," said PJ Joseph, Executive Vice President, Global Sales and Services, Akamai. "By aligning our portfolio with this framework, we are providing a proactive methodology to isolate large-scale AI clusters and prevent the lateral movement of threats without sacrificing the performance that AI training and inference demand."

Partner model

The partnership also reflects a broader pattern in the AI market, where infrastructure, networking and security vendors are building joint reference architectures to win enterprise spending. Rather than selling standalone tools, vendors are increasingly aligning products within common deployment models that customers can adopt more quickly.

For WWT, which works with large enterprise, service provider and public sector customers, the model provides a way to package AI security guidance across multiple domains. For Akamai, the selection offers a route into AI deployments assembled through WWT and linked to NVIDIA hardware.

Chris Konrad, Global Vice President of Cybersecurity, WWT, said the partnership is intended to make AI security more practical for customers.

"No single vendor can secure the AI frontier alone," said Konrad. "Through our close partnership with Akamai, we are turning the hype of secure enterprise AI into a tangible, scalable reality for customers."