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Global Backbone-
as-a-Service

Alkira delivers enterprise-class connectivity across every cloud region, data center, and edge environment, enabling a faster, more cost-effective global network

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What is Global Backbone-as-a-Service?

Traditional global WAN is expensive to provision, slow to scale, and ill-suited to cloud-first architectures. Alkira’s Global Backbone-as-a-Service delivers a programmable network: cloud-native, on-demand global connectivity delivered through Alkira Cloud Exchange Points (CXPs) and governed from a single control plane, eliminating the cost, complexity, and rigidity of legacy WAN infrastructure.

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Use Cases

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MPLS Replacement

Achieve high-performance, secure connectivity worldwide in minutes at a fraction of the cost of MPLS.

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Multi-Region Connectivity

Quickly connect regions with encrypted IP connectivity and manage your entire network through one portal.

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WAN Modernization

Upgrade legacy WANs and integrate existing SD-WAN networks into a seamless global backbone.

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Solution Highlights

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Leverage Alkira’s Cloud Infrastructure

Build a secure, low-cost, high-speed, and highly available backbone across regions using Alkira’s cloud infrastructure.

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Extend Regional SD-WAN Meshes

Utilize Alkira’s cloud network to expand SD-WAN meshes globally, ensuring seamless connectivity across regions.

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Extend Segmentation Across Regions

Seamlessly extend segmentation to isolate users and workloads, enhancing security across regions.

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How Does Alkira Global Backbone
Compare to Legacy WAN?

Capability Alkira Zero Trust Network Access VPN / Traditional Access Control
Access Model Identity-based, least-privilege per application Broad network-level access on authentication
Lateral Movement Eliminated, users access only what policy permits Unrestricted once inside the network perimeter
App-to-App Control Enforced across all service-to-service communication Typically uncontrolled or managed separately
Performance Direct-to-app routing via nearest PoP Backhaul through centralized VPN concentrators
Policy Consistency Unified across cloud, on-premises, and hybrid Fragmented per environment and per tool
Deployment Native to the network, no separate product stack Point products requiring separate integration and management

Better Together

Alkira and Lumen: Powering the Programmable Network

Alkira and Lumen have come together to deliver the programmable, secure, and AI-ready network enterprises need to connect applications, clouds, data centers, users, and AI workloads, with greater agility, visibility, and control.

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One network. Every cloud. Total Control. Globally.
Featured Testimonial

Rethinking the WAN: How Alkira Enabled the Biggest Network Evolution of Our Decade

“The impact has been transformational: – 2000% increase in WAN bandwidth – Cost-neutral compared to MPLS – Simplified global and cloud-to-cloud connectivity – Deeper visibility into WAN backbone traffic flows – insight MPLS never delivered.

For years, the network was the bottleneck. Today it’s the enabler. If you’re still tied to MPLS, the move to Alkira’s NaaS isn’t just possible…it’s strategic.”

Sr. Manager – IT/OT Network Security,
Large Manufacturer

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FAQs


What is Global Backbone-as-a-Service?
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Global Backbone-as-a-Service is a cloud-native networking solution that allows enterprises to build a secure, high-performance global backbone across regions in minutes—without deploying hardware. It leverages Alkira Cloud Exchange Points (CXPs) to deliver encrypted, low-latency connectivity between clouds, data centers, and users worldwide.


How does Alkira replace MPLS and traditional WAN architectures?
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Alkira replaces legacy MPLS and complex WAN setups with a software-defined, on-demand backbone that is faster to deploy, more cost-effective, and easier to manage. Organizations can eliminate long provisioning cycles and expensive circuits while achieving better performance and global reach.


What are the key benefits of using Alkira’s global backbone?
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Key benefits include rapid deployment in minutes, high-bandwidth and low-latency connectivity, integrated security and segmentation, and centralized management through a single portal. The solution also reduces operational complexity and lowers total cost of ownership compared to traditional networking approaches.


How does Global Backbone-as-a-Service support multi-cloud and global connectivity?
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Alkira enables seamless connectivity across multiple cloud providers, regions, and edge locations through a unified, cloud-native network fabric. Enterprises can connect workloads, users, and sites globally while maintaining consistent security policies and full visibility across the entire network.

Additional Resources

Review Resource Library
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Blog

Revolutionizing WAN: How Alkira Cloud Backbone as-a-Service Transforms Enterprise Connectivity

Enterprise networking is at a critical turning point in the era of cloud computing, generative AI, and distributed workforces. Traditional WAN architectures—rooted in MPLS, SD-WAN, and colocation facilities—struggle to keep up. They’re complex, expensive, and often too slow to deploy to support the fast-paced needs of modern organizations. Alkira Cloud Backbone as-a-Service is changing the…
David Klebanov
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Design Zone

Episode 22: China Connectivity – A Global Cloud Backbone without Borders

China’s connectivity is heavily regulated and technically complex. In this design zone video, we will show how Alkira can help simplify multicloud connectivity.
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Whitepapers

Whitepaper: WAN Migration to Alkira Cloud Backbone

WAN Migration to Alkira Cloud Backbone Wide Area Networks (WAN) are fundamental to any enterprise’s global connectivity needs. The benefits of a specific WAN solution do not only depend on the vendor, functionality and the features being used, but they also heavily rely on the architecture and its relevance in the context of the deployment…