AGENDA
AI Networking Summit Dallas – Spring 2026
May 12 : Pre-Conference Executive Roundtables and AI Training Workshops
8:30 am
Join our Emcees to hear all about the upcoming keynotes and sessions that will explore how to unleash the power of AI in enterprise infrastructure and applications. Get ready for 2 full days of thought leadership from industry leaders across a wide range of major industries. Learn More
Speakers:
9:00 am
For the past several years, enterprises have consumed AI largely through tokens—experimenting with public models, copilots, and SaaS-driven intelligence. In 2026, that model is breaking down. Cost, control, data gravity, security, and performance demands are driving large enterprises to a new phase of AI maturity: building their own agentic AI applications on private and hybrid AI infrastructure. In this keynote, Nick Lippis, Co-founder of ONUG, explores how leading global enterprises are moving beyond AI consumption toward AI ownership. Drawing on real-world enterprise insights, Nick will... Learn More
Speakers:
9:30 am
As enterprise leaders move beyond AI experimentation, the real challenge is turning intelligence into execution at scale. John Feldmeier, CIO & VP Site Engineering at eBay, offers a candid, practitioner-led view of how eBay progressed from early AI exploration to deploying AI-assisted processes that deliver measurable business outcomes.
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10:05 am
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12:20 pm
1:00 pm
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1:20 pm
2:00 pm
Agentic AI overlays promise networks that sense, reason, and act—but the real challenge is treating AI agents as first-class identities in the network. Building on ONUG’s A2A and Agentic Overlay concepts, this session explores how to standardize identity, trust, and messaging among agents, and how those agents interact with the underlying network fabric. Key Questions: – What should an A2A reference architecture look like in a large enterprise (broker vs. mesh, policy dialects, schemas)? – How do we provide Zero-Trust identity and least-privilege capability routing... Learn More
Speakers:
3:15 pm
As enterprises adopt agentic AI, they face a new class of adversary: autonomous, goal-seeking agents that probe controls, data, and policies at machine speed. Building on ideas like “Digital Darwinism” and adversarial agents competing to optimize infrastructure, this session asks: what happens when attackers weaponize agents—and how do we respond? Key Questions: – How will adversarial agents change red-teaming, penetration testing, and threat modeling? – What defensive patterns are emerging for agent endpoint protection, data controls, and PII sensitivity mitigation? – Where do AI guardrails,... Learn More
Speakers:
4:00 pm
By 2026, enterprise AI strategy hinges on one core bet: do we continue to consume tokens from hyperscaler LLMs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Grok, etc.), or do we build and operate private AI stacks powered by open-source models on our own fabrics? This session puts that decision under a microscope. Executives will compare real TCO/ROI of token-only versus hybrid versus private-first approaches, factoring in data residency, GPU FinOps, compliance, and strategic control over models and data. Key Questions: – What are the non-negotiable criteria for when... Learn More
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5:00 pm
Unwind with fellow collegues and business partners at The AI Networking Summit Day 1 Reception and Best in Show Award ceremony. Enjoy cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, lively music, and great conversations! The Best in Show awards recognize standout products that are easily deployable in large-scale enterprise IT environments and deliver tangible business value. Leading industry analysts and ONUG Board Members will judge entries and up to four AI Networking Sponsors will be chosen as award winners. Hear about breakthrough technologies and innovations in a fun relaxed... Learn More
8:30 am
Join our Emcees to hear all about the upcoming Day 2 keynotes and sessions that will explore how to unleash the power of AI in enterprise infrastructure and applications. Get ready for another full day of thought leadership from industry leaders across a wide range of major industries. Learn More
Speakers:
9:00 am
In this keynote, Michael Milligan, CISO of FedEx Freight, spin-off from FedEx Corporation, shares how FedEx Freight is rapidly scaling AI consumption while implementing the necessary governance, risk, and security guardrails in place from day one and moving forward. Joining Michael will be Corey Allert, Managing Director of Security Engineering and together they will outline how FedEx Freight aligns AI security, data, and infrastructure architectures to accelerate time-to-value without introducing unacceptable risk. The session offers a practical blueprint for enterprises looking to move fast with AI—confidently, responsibly, and at scale.
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11:15 am
As enterprise networks become more critical — and more complex — the limits of traditional network performance monitoring are increasingly exposed. In today’s AI-driven digital environment, networks remain one of the most static and risk-averse layers of infrastructure, even as business demands for agility, resilience, and real-time insight continue to rise. Join IDC’s Mark Leary for a data-driven look at how the bar for network observability has been raised — and what IT leaders and suppliers must do to meet the moment Learn More
Speakers:
12:15 pm
1:00 pm
With GPU demand far outstripping supply, enterprises are looking beyond NVIDIA to control cost and risk: alternate accelerators, on-prem GPU clusters, and creative scheduling policies for training versus inference. This session interrogates the “NVIDIA + X” future: performance parity, ecosystem maturity, operational complexity, and what happens to your AI roadmap if you don’t diversify. Key Questions: – How should enterprises frame vendor concentration risk around GPUs and AI accelerators? – What’s the real operational cost of adding a second accelerator stack (tooling, drivers, frameworks, talent)?... Learn More
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1:45 pm
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2:15 pm
Building on the NYC “From NOC to AOC” concept, this session focuses on operational trust: how to evolve from human-centric operations centers to Agentic Operations Centers (AOCs) where AI agents handle most monitoring and remediation—but humans still own accountability. It ties directly into ONUG’s 2026 focus on agentic operations you can trust, including standard identity, guardrails, and observability. Key Questions: – What work should be fully handed to agents in 2026 (Tier-1, Tier-2 incidents, routine changes), and what must remain human-centric? – How do you... Learn More
Speakers:
3:00 pm
Agentic AI systems are useless without provable identity, least-privilege authorization, and strong supervision for non-human actors. This session builds directly on board use cases calling for Zero-Trust identity frameworks for agentic AI in Tier-1/Tier-2 operations, extending those concepts into a full enterprise security model. Key Questions: – How do you assign and manage identity, credentials, and posture for agents that can provision, patch, and reconfigure networks, applications, and data pipelines? – What does capability-scoped, time-boxed authorization look like in practice for AI tools and agents?... Learn More
Speakers:
4:00 pm