As global networks pivot to operating high-performance AI factories, AI cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks announced an expansion of its security ecosystem designed to protect this new industrial backbone. At Mobile World Congress 2026, the company announced four collaborations with Nokia, U Mobile, Aeris, and Celerway that will enable enterprises to scale with Sovereign AI and secure an autonomous edge without sacrificing performance.
“We are establishing a secure foundation for the AI economy through broad ecosystem collaboration,” Anand Oswal, executive vice president of Palo Alto Networks, said in a media statement Monday. “By seamlessly integrating our AI-powered security services directly from our data centers into the world’s most critical 5G and IoT networks, we ensure that our AI factories are secure by design. These partnerships will enable us to build secure digital infrastructures that can manage the multi-terabits of throughput needed to train AI models.”
Palo Alto Networks and Nokia are positioning their proven data center security to support the rise of Europe’s “gigafactory.” By combining Nokia’s AI data center infrastructure and Palo Alto Networks’ AI platform, customers can scale high-performance AI workloads while meeting their data sovereignty needs.
“In the race to build the world’s AI factories, we can’t leave the door open at the infrastructure layer. Together, Nokia and Palo Alto Networks envision a comprehensive architectural and operational framework that extends security solutions from the network layer to workloads,” said Greg Dorai, senior vice president and general manager of IP networks at Nokia. “Our validated architecture enables our customers to build future-proof, sovereign data centers. We are not just providing connectivity, we are protecting the physical and digital integrity of large-scale industrial digitization.”
Additionally, Palo Alto Networks will introduce three additional partnerships at MWC Barcelona. These partnerships extend security from a carrier’s core infrastructure and provide foundational resiliency through an integrated partner ecosystem.
Palo Alto Networks has signed a memorandum of understanding with U Mobile, Malaysia’s leading 5G provider, to develop network-embedded Security-as-a-Service products aimed at protecting consumers and businesses from escalating cyber threats. By integrating next-generation firewalls and AI-driven security directly into 4G and 5G infrastructure, U Mobile aims to provide built-in real-time protection rather than relying solely on endpoint defense.
In a separate collaboration, Aeris will integrate its IoT Watchtower platform with Prisma SASE 5G to provide enterprises with unified visibility and control over vast global device fleets. This approach is aimed at enabling industries like healthcare, manufacturing, retail, and utilities to scale AI and 5G deployments while mitigating risks across billions of connected devices and enforcing data loss prevention and zero trust policies from a central control point at the wireless edge.
Meanwhile, Celerway Communication is working with Palo Alto Networks to extend enterprise-grade security to distributed and mobile environments. By integrating Celerway’s edge connectivity with VM-Series next-generation firewalls, first responders and remote teams can maintain encrypted communications and a consistent security posture, even in high mobility or rigorous operating conditions far from centralized data centers.
