New integration protects OT and industrial environments without compromising performance or disrupting operations
Akamai has unveiled a breakthrough security solution developed in collaboration with NVIDIA, designed specifically for the operational technology (OT) and industrial control system (ICS) environments that underpin global critical infrastructure. The integration between Akamai Guardicore Segmentation and NVIDIA BlueField DPUs delivers agentless Zero Trust segmentation, solving a long‑standing challenge for operators struggling to secure legacy or high‑sensitivity systems that cannot run traditional security software.
Critical infrastructure operators spanning energy, manufacturing, transportation, water, and industrial facilities have historically faced a harsh trade‑off: implement advanced security and risk system instability, or maintain performance while leaving essential assets exposed. The Akamai–NVIDIA solution removes this compromise by offloading all segmentation and observability functions to the BlueField DPU, isolating security from the host machine entirely.
“We’re giving critical infrastructure a way to stop attacks without slowing down what keeps the world running.”
— Ofer Wolf, SVP, Enterprise Security, Akamai
The hardware‑isolated approach provides deep, out‑of‑band visibility, real‑time segmentation, anomalous connection detection, and hardware‑level threat isolation all while keeping production systems running at peak output.
“Whether you’re running a water plant or a high‑performance computing cluster, system uptime is everything. You can’t afford security tools that slow you down,” said Ofer Wolf, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Security at Akamai. “By offloading segmentation and observability to the DPU, we’re giving organizations a way to stop attacks without taxing CPU performance or risking downtime.”
The collaboration comes at a time when global regulatory scrutiny on OT security is intensifying, driven by rising attacks on energy grids, transport networks, and public utilities. The U.S. government recently elevated the threat posture for critical sectors, warning that adversaries are increasingly targeting physical infrastructure through digital entry points.
NVIDIA emphasized the growing need for infrastructure‑level protection as AI and automation reshape industrial operations.
“Security cannot come at the expense of system resilience,” said Kevin Deierling, Senior Vice President of Networking at NVIDIA. “Integrating Akamai’s capabilities directly into BlueField allows Zero Trust to be enforced at the infrastructure layer without impacting uptime.”
The joint solution will be available globally in Q2 2026.