Aging Networks Are Putting Critical Infrastructure At Risk
Summary
Aging networks struggle to meet the demands of the AI era, highlighting the urgent need for modernizing digital infrastructure. The publication emphasizes that this modernization is crucial for enhancing public safety, health, and overall resilience.
Key Insights
How do "aging networks" actually make public safety and health systems more vulnerable?
Aging networks often rely on obsolete hardware, unsupported software, and legacy protocols that were not designed for today's interconnected, high-demand environment; these weaknesses increase the chance of failures, reduce visibility for operators, and create easy entry points for cyberattacks that can disrupt services such as power, water, and emergency communications, directly affecting public safety and health systems.
Why is modernization of networks urgent for supporting AI and other new digital loads?
Modern AI workloads and other large digital consumers (e.g., data centers, electrification) demand much higher bandwidth, low-latency control, and stronger cyber-physical coordination than legacy networks can guarantee; without upgrades, these increased loads and tight control requirements can overload equipment, create cascading failures across interdependent sectors, and enlarge the attack surface for malicious actors—making modernization essential for resilience.