Alkira Inc., a pioneer in cloud-delivered network infrastructure, has enlisted Guru Ramamoorthy, global head of cloud and infrastructure at S&P Global, to its advisory board, signaling a strategic escalation in its AI-native networking offerings amid surging enterprise demands for multi-cloud agility.

The appointment, announced January 27, 2026, positions Ramamoorthy—whose team oversees more than 1,000 professionals managing cloud, network, security, and AI-driven operations at S&P—to guide Alkira’s push into AI-optimized enterprise architectures. With over two decades at institutions including Visa and BNY Mellon, Ramamoorthy brings proven expertise in large-scale transformations, as highlighted in the company’s press release via PR Newswire.

“Guru’s extensive experience managing complex, global and network infrastructures at scale makes him an exceptional addition to Alkira’s advisory board,” said Amir Khan, CEO and founder of Alkira. This move follows the addition of Maria Martinez, former Cisco Systems COO, bolstering a roster attuned to Fortune 100-scale challenges.

From S&P Client to Strategic Advisor

Ramamoorthy’s history with Alkira runs deep; S&P Global has long utilized the platform for multi-cloud connectivity. “With Alkira, our security teams precisely knew which knob to turn on to basically summon the network and distribute the network. That’s the power Alkira brought to the table,” Ramamoorthy stated on Alkira’s customer page at Alkira.com/customers. His prior roles, including global head of network architecture, engineering, and operations, involved building S&P’s India technology center and transforming infrastructure across 80+ offices and multi-cloud setups, per his profile on ONUG.net.

At S&P, Ramamoorthy spearheaded eBPF adoption for invisible networking and partnered with Alkira and Itential for multi-cloud exchanges, as detailed in a 2025 webinar recap on Itential.com. This existing collaboration underscores the seamless transition to advisory duties, where he will counsel on AI integration and resilience.

“Today, modern enterprises demand network infrastructure that can support multi-cloud environments, AI-driven workloads, and evolving security requirements,” Ramamoorthy noted in Alkira’s announcement. “Alkira’s Network Infrastructure as a Service approach bridges traditional and modern networks while enabling the networks of tomorrow.”

AI-Native Platform Fuels Rapid Innovation

Alkira’s Network Infrastructure-as-a-Service (NIaaS) unifies sites, users, clouds, and edges without hardware deployments, delivering instant scalability and zero-trust controls trusted by Fortune 100 firms and integrators. Late 2025 launches of the Network Infrastructure Assistant (NIA) co-pilot and Model Context Protocol (MCP) server enable natural-language management of multi-cloud fabrics, integrating with tools like Claude or ChatGPT, as per Alkira’s September 30, 2025, release on PR Newswire.

These tools address NetOps gaps in AI eras, where distributed apps surge policy scopes and downtime costs soar. NIA provides auditable workflows—interpret intent, simulate, execute—closing the divide between AI deployment and network operations. Ramamoorthy’s input arrives as Gartner predicts XaaS transformations in networking by 2026, per Alkira’s analysis on Alkira.com.

“Enterprise networks must be designed for AI, multi-cloud scale, and resilience from day one,” Khan emphasized in coverage by Enterprise IT World. Alkira’s platform cuts cloud setup time by 96% and management by 47%, enabling edge inference and any-to-any connectivity without rebuilds.

Enterprise AI Hinges on Network Overhaul

AI workloads expose legacy networks’ frailties—unreserved paths collapse under bursts, bolt-on security drifts, flat topologies amplify breaches. Alkira’s AI-ready fabric enforces micro-segmentation, policy proofs, and elastic capacity, powering S&P’s global backbone as shared in an AWS re:Invent talk referenced on Alkira’s site. BetaNews interviewed Khan on January 5, 2026, noting outdated infrastructures delay AI by months, forcing redesigns.

Funding momentum supports this trajectory: Alkira raised $100 million in Series C last year, fueling expansions amid multi-cloud proliferation. Ramamoorthy’s guidance targets these pain points, blending his S&P playbook—cyber recovery via Rubrik, DevOps shifts—with Alkira’s canvas-based provisioning.

Industry watchers see NIaaS as pivotal; Alkira featured among CRN’s hottest networking startups, with Geodesic Capital highlighting its role in AI data management across on-prem and clouds. As enterprises race AI adoption, Ramamoorthy’s board seat positions Alkira to lead the shift to agentic, governed NetOps.

Strategic Implications for Global Enterprises

S&P’s journey exemplifies NIaaS value: Alkira enabled secure partner connectivity, reducing TCO by up to 40% and firewall capacity by 50%, per ONUG sessions. Ramamoorthy’s ONUG profile details his oversight of 20+ data centers and 4+ clouds, aligning perfectly with Alkira’s cloud-agnostic mesh.

Alkira’s X post on January 22, 2026, welcomed Ramamoorthy, emphasizing his 21+ years for AI-era modernization. This bolsters credibility as firms like ContactPoint360 cite Alkira for eliminating global bottlenecks, per testimonials.

With Gartner forecasting WAN backbone services maturity, Alkira—augmented by Ramamoorthy—eyes dominance in AI-native infrastructures, delivering agility where compute meets unyielding connectivity demands.