ONUG draws nearly 2,000 to Dallas AI networking summit

By AI, Created 4:51 PM UTC, May 27, 2026, /AGP/ – ONUG said its AI Networking Summit Dallas on May 13-14 in Frisco drew the largest Dallas crowd in its 14-year history, with nearly 2,000 registered attendees. The event highlighted how enterprise leaders are shifting from AI experimentation to deployment and how that is reshaping networking, security, and operations.

Why it matters: - ONUG’s Dallas event showed rising enterprise urgency around AI infrastructure, security, and operational readiness. - The turnout suggests more companies are moving from AI trials to real deployment plans. - The discussions centered on the infrastructure changes required to support enterprise AI at scale.

What happened: - The AI Networking Summit Dallas took place May 13-14 at the Hyatt Regency Frisco | Dallas. - The event drew nearly 2,000 registered community members. - ONUG said the Dallas audience was the largest in its 14-year history. - The summit brought together Global 2000 enterprises, technology innovators, networking and security practitioners, and AI infrastructure leaders. - Attendance spanned financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, transportation, energy, and technology. - Sessions were full, and engagement stayed high across both days.

The details: - The summit focused on strategic discussions, technical education, executive collaboration, and deployment insights. - Nick Lippis, co-founder and co-chair of ONUG, said enterprises are moving beyond AI experimentation and into operational AI deployment. - Lippis said AI is reshaping networking, security, automation, and operations. - The opening session was an ONUG Board strategy meeting with enterprise leaders from FedEx, Citi, RTX, Fidelity, and others. - That session focused on the operational and governance challenges needed to scale AI and agentic AI. - ONUG positioned its practitioner-led collaboration model as part of the answer to enterprise AI readiness. - Enterprise AI practitioners met with sponsors, architects, and technology innovators on the exhibit floor to discuss AI infrastructure, cybersecurity, automation, and operational transformation. - More information is available for future ONUG events and enterprise guest passes.

Between the lines: - The strong cross-functional attendance suggests AI readiness is no longer just an IT issue. - Infrastructure, networking, security, operations, and business leaders are now treating AI as an enterprise-wide planning problem. - ONUG is trying to own the conversation around “Enterprise AI Fabric,” a term Lippis used to describe the new stack companies are building. - The awards program also points to where vendor competition is moving: networking, security, infrastructure, and agentic AI controls.

What’s next: - ONUG said momentum now shifts to the AI Networking Summit New York on October 28-29, 2026, in New York City’s PENN District. - The Dallas summit’s best-in-show winners were Network to Code’s NautobotAI MCP for AI Networking, Rein Security’s Agentic Security Platform for AI Cybersecurity, Gluware’s Titan Exposure Management Platform for Agentic AI, and Grokstream for Agentic AI Overlay Mandatory Controls. - Winners were chosen through an independent, multi-step evaluation process aligned with enterprise IT priorities. - Participating companies included Cisco, IBM, Zscaler, Fortinet, Broadcom, Celestica, Tata Communications, Netskope and others.

The bottom line: - ONUG’s Dallas summit was a clear sign that enterprise AI is now an infrastructure and operations challenge, not just an innovation project.