Alkira®, the leader in Network Infrastructure as a Service (NIaaS), today announced the appointment of Maria N. Martinez to its advisory board.

Martinez most recently served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Cisco Systems from 2021 to 2024, where she oversaw Cisco’s global customer experience, supply chain, IT, security and trust organizations. She previously served as Cisco’s Chief Customer Experience Officer, helping customers transform their businesses and realize value from Cisco’s software, services, and subscription offerings.

Before Cisco, Martinez held senior executive roles at leading technology companies including Salesforce, Microsoft, Motorola and AT&T’s Bell Labs. She currently serves on the boards of McKesson, Tyson Foods, Bank of America, JumpCloud, and Fiddler AI, amongst others.

“Maria’s deep operational expertise and her leadership in scaling customer-centric innovation at some of the world’s most respected technology companies make her an invaluable addition to Alkira’s advisory board,” said Amir Khan, CEO and founder of Alkira. “Her guidance will help us continue to redefine how enterprises design, deploy, and operate their global networks in the AI era.”

Her addition underscores Alkira’s continued investment in innovation and AI-driven networking, helping enterprises modernize complex global infrastructure with greater agility, visibility, and security. In September, the company launched new AI-native capabilities through its Network Infrastructure Assistant (NIA) co-pilot and Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, enabling enterprises to interact with and manage their networks using natural language.

“Today’s enterprises are being challenged to reimagine network foundations for speed, simplicity, security, and AI, and Alkira is delivering an unrivaled platform to meet those needs,” said Martinez. “By simplifying complex global networks and embedding AI-driven intelligence, Alkira empowers organizations to achieve agility, visibility, and security that legacy networks simply cannot match. I look forward to supporting the team as it continues to innovate and grow.”

To learn more, please visit https://www.alkira.com.

About Alkira

Alkira is the leader in AI-Native Network Infrastructure-as-a-Service. We unify any environments, sites, and users via an enterprise network built entirely in the cloud. The network is managed using the same controls, policies, and security systems network administrators know, is available as a service, is augmented by AI, and can instantly scale as needed. There is no new hardware to deploy, software to download, or architecture to learn. Alkira’s solution is trusted by Fortune 100 enterprises, leading system integrators, and global managed service providers. Learn more at alkira.com and follow us @alkiranet.

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