The WAN Connectivity API Working Group Overview
AI-Enabled WAN Connectivity API Working Group
In an increasingly cloud-first, AI-driven world, enterprise networks are expected to deliver faster, more reliable, and more dynamic connectivity than ever before. Yet the procurement of WAN services—a foundational component of enterprise infrastructure—remains painfully manual, opaque, and inefficient.
This Working Group is a collaborative initiative between enterprise IT leaders, network vendors, cloud providers, and carriers to change that. Our mission: design and drive adoption of a standardized Connectivity API that enables real-time discovery, evaluation, and procurement of WAN connectivity services.
Why Now?
With the rise of hybrid multicloud environments, edge computing, and AI workloads, enterprises are under pressure to ensure resilient, low-latency connectivity between users, data centers, clouds, and applications. But the process to procure connectivity—especially from carriers—is slow, fragmented, and inconsistent.
It’s time to modernize the WAN buying process—and ONUG is building the framework to make that possible.
The Vision: A Vendor-Neutral Connectivity API
A standardized, vendor-neutral API that allows IT teams and sourcing professionals to:
- Query available WAN connectivity options (fiber, SD-WAN, private backbone, etc.) in real time
- Compare providers side-by-side based on cost, latency, availability, path diversity, and SLAs
- Automate procurement decisions via integration with orchestration or infrastructure-as-code tools
- Streamline deployments with standardized metadata and faster contract execution
This is not just about improving procurement—it’s about making connectivity programmable, agile, and on-demand, like compute and storage in the cloud.
Who Should Participate
- Enterprise IT leaders and sourcing professionals
- Network equipment vendors, SD-WAN providers, and carriers
- Cloud providers and hyperscalers
- Procurement, FinOps, and network architects
What Members Gain
- Influence over the API design and early access to frameworks and prototypes
- Visibility as an innovation leader in the AI-era enterprise infrastructure community
- Opportunities to pilot and showcase solutions at ONUG conferences and use case presentations
- Networking with peers across IT, network engineering, procurement, and vendor organizations
Upcoming Milestones
June 23 Kickoff Informational Session – Introduction to the API, initial use cases, and working group charter
Summer 2025 – Design of initial data models and reference architecture
Fall 2025 (AI Networking Summit, NYC) – Live demonstrations and enterprise/telco showcases
Winter 2025 – Draft specification and request for feedback from broader ONUG community
Interested? Apply to Join Here or Join us at the Informational Kick Off Call on June 23
