GuideNetwork · 6 min
How do we deploy AI across our network, securely and in every region?
Give AI traffic private paths to the clouds that run your models, put every user behind one security stack, and keep regulated data inside its own region.
The Clectiv team ·
AI is a network project before it's an AI project. The models live in someone's cloud, your people reach them from everywhere, and some of your data can't leave its country. Settle the paths, the security and the regions first.
How does AI traffic reach the models without the public internet?#
Through a private connection into the cloud that runs the model. That's a dedicated line from your site or data center to the cloud, so your traffic skips the shared public internet. Prompts, files and results all travel over it.
| Path | What it is | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud on-ramp | A connection point in the same building as the cloud, so your line plugs straight in | Which clouds and regions it reaches |
| Wavelength | A dedicated channel of light on a carrier's fiber, between two data centers | The distance, the speed, and who repairs it |
| Dark fiber | Fiber you light and run yourself | Whose building it ends in, and who maintains it |
| Public internet with a VPN | An encrypted tunnel (a VPN) over the shared internet | Whether your models can live with speed that changes during the day |
Decide what's moving first. Prompts and answers going to a cloud model need a path to that cloud. Big data sets moving between your data centers, or to where a model is trained, need a path between buildings.
If you use more than one cloud, a path into one isn't a path into the others. Some providers reach several clouds from a single connection.
Megaport, Zayo, Lumen and GTT sell private paths into the clouds, and Zayo and Lumen sell wavelengths between data centers. They're among the network providers we work with, and Clectiv AI runs the process with them on your behalf: start a project.
Before you call anyone#
Hold every call until Clectiv AI has your sites, your clouds and the models you run. From there Clectiv AI runs the process, bidding it out to the providers that fit so they compete, and you choose the one you like. Call one first and the path you get is the one it sells.
How do people reach AI apps safely from anywhere?#
Put every user behind the same security stack, wherever they sit. SASE does this: it delivers the network and the security together, from the cloud, for every site and every person. The office, a laptop at home and a branch all follow one set of rules.
An AI app is a web app like any other. The same stack can filter which apps people reach, and apply data rules to what they send. Two stacks mean two sets of rules, and data slips out in the gap.
Cato Networks, Aryaka, Zscaler and Cloudflare sell SASE or its security half. Each is one of our network providers, and Clectiv AI runs the process for you from start to finish: start a project.
The work's been done before. Clectiv AI runs the process we've used before, so you start where other buyers left off. The best pricing, terms and contract we can get come from taking the plan straight to these providers.
Public AI apps need an edge too. A content delivery network (CDN) serves an app from close to each user, and DDoS protection absorbs floods of junk traffic aimed at it. Cloudflare and Fastly sell both.
Ask each proposal where your traffic gets inspected. Also ask whether people working from home get the same rules as the office. Count your users and sites with Clectiv AI, and the providers that fit price the same stack.
What has to stay in the region, and how do we keep it there?#
Decide which data can't leave which country, then check three places it could slip out.
- Where the private path lands. The cloud region it ends in.
- Where the security stack inspects your traffic. Some services inspect at a point near the user, and that point may sit in another country.
- Where the model runs. The region you pick for it.
Your legal team or your regulator sets the rule. The network's job is to follow it, in every country you operate.
One country's answer doesn't cover the others. Paths, inspection points and cloud regions differ by country, so each one needs its own check.
Write down each kind of data with Clectiv AI: where it lives, where it may go, and which sites touch it. Every proposal then has to answer for all three places.
Common questions#
Do AI workloads need a private connection to the cloud?#
What's a cloud on-ramp?#
Do we need SASE to use AI safely?#
How do we keep regulated data in one region?#
What's a wavelength?#
How does Clectiv AI get this done?#
Clectiv AI is step one. Tell it which clouds run your models, where your sites and data centers are, and which data has to stay in its region. It scopes the rollout with you and writes your plan: the private paths, the security for every user, and where each kind of data stays.
Then the Clectiv team takes your plan to the network, cloud-connectivity and SASE providers that fit, all at once, through our partner network of 620+ providers. They compete for your business with real bids, the team pushes on terms, and you choose.
Companies like yours did this before you. Clectiv AI runs the process other companies used, so you start where they finished. With the plan straight in front of the providers that fit, you get the best pricing, terms and contract we can.
All of this is free to you, and it's days, not months. The network page has everything we cover in network.
Worried about your people, not just the pipes? Read how to give employees safe access to AI.
Sources and method. No prices appear in this guide. Provider names are examples of who sells private connectivity and SASE, from Clectiv's provider directory, not a ranking.