Cybersecurity and cloud computing company, Akamai, has been selected as a strategic security partner for World Wide Technology’s (WWT) AI Readiness Model for Operational Resilience (ARMOR).
This selection positions Akamai as a foundational security architecture for AI factories that are being built by WWT and accelerated by NVIDIA.
Akamai’s software intelligence will integrate directly with NVIDIA BlueField data processing units (DPUs).
Agreement provides a vendor-agnostic AI security framework
WWT’s ARMOR provides a structured blueprint across governance, risk, and compliance (GRC); model security; secure AI operations; infrastructure security; data protection; and secure development lifecycle (SDLC).
Akamai’s position in ARMOR’s framework revolves around three strategic pillars, which include:
- Eliminating the “security tax”: Offloading Akamai Guardicore Segmentation to NVIDIA BlueField allows AI environments to run efficiently, creating an isolated enforcement layer that survives host OS compromises and accelerates ransomware containment by an average of 21.4 percent, while reaching 32.6 percent for large enterprises.
- Securing agentic AI and data lakes: Akamai API Security monitors the “connective tissue” of AI, preventing unauthorized access to the sensitive data lakes feeding LLMs.
- End-to-end defense: Providing a multilayered defense against volumetric attacks designed to overwhelm mission-critical AI architectures.
“Before ARMOR, organizations were often forced to piece together fragmented security strategies,” said PJ Joseph, EVP of global sales and services at 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.”
With Akamai’s addition to the ARMOR reference model, WWT enables enterprises to move beyond baseline compliance to achieve cyber resilience.
“No single vendor can secure the AI frontier alone,” said Chris Konrad, global vice president of cybersecurity at WWT. “Through our close partnership with Akamai, we are turning the hype of secure enterprise AI into a tangible, scalable reality for customers.”
How channel partners can implement ARMOR
According to Kun Chen, director of solutions engineering at Akamai, the organization relies heavily on distributors, resellers, and integrators to contextualize and deliver AI architectures to the global market.
Partnerships with organizations such as Apiiro, Armis, Aqua Security, Kong, MuleSoft, Tufin, and Snyk are key, as Chen detailed in a blog post.
“By aligning our edge and security capabilities and our broader partner network with your proprietary service frameworks, we are equipping you to help organizations innovate fearlessly,” Chen writes, speaking to partners.
“This is your opportunity to lead the market, capture new service revenue, and turn the hype of secure enterprise AI into a reality for your customers.”
ARMOR accelerates AI adoption with NVIDIA
WWT introduced ARMOR through a jointly developed framework with NVIDIA back in January of this year.
The solution provides actionable, holistic guidance that embeds security across the full AI lifecycle from chip to deployment – in the cloud or on-prem.
ARMOR integrates with NVIDIA AI Enterprise for scalable enterprise AI operations, including NVIDIA NeMo Guardrails and NVIDIA NIM microservices.
Further, the solution leverages NVIDIA BlueField and NVIDIA DOCA Argus for purpose-built acceleration, real-time situational awareness, AI-native threat detection, and pervasive, distributed policy enforcement to deploy secure, high-performing AI systems.
“With AI factories scaling at an unprecedented pace, organizations need security that can keep up with the speed, complexity, and sensitivity of modern AI pipelines,” said Arik Roztal, global head of AI Cybersecurity Business Development at NVIDIA. “WWT’s ARMOR, powered by NVIDIA AI, delivers the performance and protection organizations need to confidently deploy and secure AI at scale.”
Critical feedback from the Texas A&M University System has helped shape ARMOR’s development, refining the strategic domain coverage and direction.
“ARMOR gives us a common language and structured approach for managing AI risk. It’s a practical solution for real-world AI security,” said Adam Mikeal, Chief Information Security Officer at Texas A&M University.