Calix ConneXions 2026: The Evolving Broadband Business

Glen Farrell and Ciaran Treanor represented Sonalake at Calix ConneXions 2026 in Las Vegas, joining broadband providers and technology partners to explore the changing expectations of the broadband market.

One of the clearest messages from the event was that delivering fast, reliable connectivity is no longer enough to differentiate broadband providers. Increasingly, the opportunity lies in the services they deliver over that connectivity and the experience they provide to customers. Calix's growing emphasis on AI reflected this shift, with considerable attention given to how providers can improve customer support, identify potential service problems and automate operational processes.

Expanding beyond traditional broadband

ConneXions also highlighted opportunities for broadband providers to expand into markets such as multifamily housing, small businesses and connected communities. While these offer new sources of revenue, they can also introduce commercial relationships and operational requirements that differ considerably from traditional residential broadband.

Serving a multifamily property, for example, may involve relationships with property owners, building managers and individual residents, each with different responsibilities for connectivity, service delivery and billing. As providers expand into these markets, they need business systems flexible enough to accommodate different commercial models without introducing a separate set of processes for every new service or customer segment.

Making AI work across the business

AI has an important role to play in managing this growing complexity. Beyond improving customer support or predicting service problems, increasingly capable AI systems could help operators coordinate activities across different parts of the business, reducing manual intervention and allowing operational teams to focus on exceptions that require human judgement.

But realising that potential depends on more than the AI technology itself. Whether an agent is helping resolve a service issue, progressing an order or supporting a customer, it needs reliable information about the products, services and commercial relationships involved. It also needs well-defined business rules and controlled ways of interacting with the systems responsible for carrying out those activities.

This is why the evolution of AI and the modernisation of BSS are closely connected. AI can change how work gets done, but the underlying commercial and operational systems remain essential to ensuring that work is carried out correctly and consistently.

At Sonalake, these are challenges we're addressing through our work on modern BSS platforms, including SwitchedOn Fibre. Our focus is on helping operators manage complex commercial relationships and automate processes across the service lifecycle, from qualification and ordering through to billing.

Calix ConneXions was a valuable opportunity to understand how broadband providers' ambitions are evolving and what their operational platforms will need to support as they expand into new markets and introduce more intelligent services.

Thanks to the Calix team and everyone who took the time to meet with us in Las Vegas. We look forward to continuing the conversations.