In today’s digital economy, data is more than just information—it’s the foundation of innovation. Ciena’s Kevin Sheehan shares insights from a recent conversation with next-generation service provider MOX Networks (MOX) and how, together with Ciena, they’re helping shape the future of AI.

I recently sat down with Allen Meeks, President and Chief Executive Officer of MOX, a leading fiber-optic network specialist. MOX is building network infrastructure to move data securely, intelligently, and at scale. What began as a mission to support and accelerate cancer research over private, high-speed networks for their parent company, Nantworks, has evolved into a high-performance global network designed with the best-in-class technology and excess capacity that has been made available to support other companies that also seek wholesale capacity for AI, hyperscale computing, and beyond.

We explored the network provider’s transformation from a healthcare-focused network provider to a cutting-edge enabler of elastic compute in the communications marketplace, and how the collaboration between MOX and Ciena is connecting the future of AI.

A network born from purpose

MOX’s story starts with a bold vision. Founded by Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, the company was originally tasked with supporting high-throughput genomic and proteomic data transfers for cancer research. The scale was staggering.

Meeks shared that the company is moving terabytes of data per patient per sequence—four times per treatment cycle—a massive amount of data that needs to be stored and analyzed multiple times.

This early focus on high-volume, high-value data laid the foundation for a scalable network that enables a distributed compute and storage network—one that mirrors the needs of today’s AI-driven enterprises.

It was a challenge to identify and procure network connectivity that satisfied the growth goals of the company. Dr. Soon-Shiong ultimately decided to develop a high-speed, secure, and bandwidth-intensive network that could scale with his medical research ambitions, and the MOX Network was born.

From healthcare to hyperscale

As MOX evolved, so did its opportunities, as it was in a position of having a lot of excess capacity during a time when capacity was in high demand by other high-growth companies. Under Meeks’ leadership, the company expanded into the wholesale telecom space, lighting up long-haul fiber routes across North America, most recently from Seattle to Portland to Hillsboro and from Columbus to Ashburn—leveraging Ciena’s WaveLogic 5 technology, and now WaveLogic 6 will be used on their new subsea routes.

But MOX didn’t stop at fiber. The company integrated robotic cross-connects and remote optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR) test sets, enabling real-time diagnostics and faster service turn-ups. Today, they can remotely test and triage fiber issues from Boston or Houston, without ever rolling a truck, which is a game-changer for operational efficiency and customer experience.

AI, elasticity, and the edge

The parallels between MOX’s early genomic workloads and today’s AI models are striking. They were applying natural language processing (NLP) to genomics before it was mainstream. Now, as an industry, we’re seeing the same need for elastic storage and compute across AI applications.

As generative AI accelerates, MOX is uniquely positioned to support hyperscalers and emerging neocloud providers with low-latency, high-capacity network infrastructure. Their experience connecting geographically distributed, compute-intensive workloads gives them a head start in addressing the topology challenges AI presents within the data center, cloud, and ultimately the edge.

A partnership built on innovation

Ciena has played a key role in MOX’s journey. From enabling long-haul, high-capacity routes to supporting advanced network automation, Ciena’s technology has helped MOX stay ahead of the curve.

“When making a production network with something as important as healthcare, we must ensure that something doesn’t go wrong. But if it does, we have the support we need to fix it,” Meeks explained. “We need the deep technical knowledge and support from a manufacturer like Ciena.”

With WaveLogic 6 delivering up to 1.6 Tbps per wavelength and backward compatibility with earlier generations, MOX is future-proofing its infrastructure while embracing AI-driven network management tools to make operations smarter and more responsive.

Looking ahead

The future of AI is bright—but not without challenges. Meeks cautions that while the pace of innovation is staggering, real-world constraints like capital costs, labor shortages, and geopolitical risks could slow deployment.

There is also great opportunity and no end in sight as it relates to progress, improvement, and innovation for those of us in the digital infrastructure world. The amount of bandwidth needed seems to be infinite as we look ahead. Here in the US, we have an abundance of natural resources and a heart to innovate and build. As a healthcare content company and carrier, MOX is focused on continuing to build a network to support the future of dynamic healthcare, which ultimately affects all of us.

Compression of time is a huge opportunity for competitive differentiation—and it’s happening now.