ITW 2026: Your complete event guide

More than 2,000 organisations from across 120 countries made their mark each year at ITW, powering the future of global connectivity and digital infrastructure.

This year, more than 7,000 decision-makers are expected to attend, forging 38,500+ high-value meetings and more than 42,000+ new connections. The event is celebrated for being a place to build deal pipelines, shape strategy and remain competitive in an industry that is fast-paced and changing every single day.

Where?

Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, National Harbor, MD

When?

Monday, 18 May (Warm Up Day)
Tuesday, 19 May – Thursday, 21 May

Attendees can expect a mix of keynotes, panel discussions and expert briefings covering subsea, connectivity, cloud and AI-ready data centres, energy, ESG and investment, all designed to address North America’s most pressing digital infrastructure challenges.

Capacity will be on the ground at the event to make sure you don’t miss anything.

Key themes to watch

AI & data infrastructure

Charting the next era of growth, AI promises to continue being a real disruptor across digital infrastructure sectors. Customer expectations, geopolitics and the economic environment are constantly evolving and shifting the dynamics of the digital infrastructure industry and leaders must turn complexity into competitive advantage.

Key conversations at ITW will turn to strategy and how businesses can best seize the ‘AI opportunity’ and embrace change to remain competitive, rather than lag behind.

Regulation & investment

The topic on everyone’s minds worldwide is regulation and the impact it could have on the global business landscape. From this North American perspective, leadership at the event will focus on aligning global infrastructure investment with innovation.

Policy leaders will also provide crucial updates on the current approach to AI in relation to regulation.

Voice

Voice is enjoying somewhat of a renaissance across the industry currently, with industry leaders remarking that AI and large language models (LLMs) are leading to greater use of voice-led services.

As generative AI (Gen AI) becomes more involved in customer engagement, businesses are starting to shift towards business models driven more by AI agents.

The future of subsea

The subsea cable landscape is transforming as hyperscalers become key players in nearly every new system, leveraging customer demand to justify new routes and monetise excess bandwidth. Meanwhile, telcos, IXPs, and data centres are moving from competition to strategic partnerships to boost their offerings and customer value.

Discussions at ITW will focus on the evolving roles of telcos amid hyperscaler dominance, varying collaboration models and the opportunities and risks this shift presents for the telecom ecosystem.

Capacity also has its own State of the Sector: Subsea report commenting on the current issues facing the industry, which you can find below.

State of the Sector: Subsea

Capacity’s guide to what is happening in the global subsea market.

Download the report

The keynote panels to watch

Keynote Presentation: American leadership in AI innovation

Russell Headlee, Senior Bureau Official, Bureau of Cyberspace & Digital Policy – US Department of State

Keynote Panel: Unleashing the 3 pillars of AI

Jonathan Atkin, managing director – RBC CAPITAL MARKETS
Ricardo Lizarralde – president – AT&T Business International
Leanne Starace, SVP, global solutions architecture and engineering – Equinix
Trent Farrell, VP infrastructure strategy – Groq
Arno van Huyssteen, VP global telecom & AI service provider – Nscale

Keynote Panel: Embracing change – the next phase of carrier growth

Silvia Peneva, MD GLF & ITW – techoraco
Binod Sriwastav, EVP & chief business officer – AIRTEL BUSINESS
Joe Scattareggia, EVP infrastructure & connectivity sales – Colt Technology Services
Michael Wheeler, EVP, head of global IP network (GIN) – NTT DATA
Valerie Cussac, CEO – ORANGE WHOLESALE INTERNATIONAL
Enrico Bagnasco, CEO – SPARKLE
Kerstin Baumgart, director wholesale & member of the board of Telekom Deutschland – T WHOLESALE

Keynote Panel: Powering the AI surge: telcos, hyperscalers & data centers in sync

Sam Evans, senior managing director – Teneo
Scott Willis, CEO – DartPoints
Praveen Agarwal, chief sales officer – CONSTL
Milad Abdelmessih, VP – KDDI TELEHOUSE
Nilesh Shah, AI infrastructure advisor – FarmGPU
Joda Schaumberg, SVP of digital infrastructure – ZAYO

Keynote Panel: Critical infrastructure: critical security

Marc Halbfinger, MD – Red HMH
Andre Pienaar, chief executive & founder – C5 Capital
Michele Iversen, principal & head of geopolitical & regulatory risk – The Chertoff Group
Paul Scharre, EVP – Center for a New American Security (CNAS)
DAS John Mills, deputy assistant secretary, Bureau of Cyberspace & Digital Policy – US Department of State
Wes Jensen, partner – WanAware

Keynote Panel: The quest for sovereign AI meets the edge-cloud infrastructure battle

Mehdi Paryavi, CEO – International Data Center Authority (IDCA)
Peter John Alexander, president & chief business officer – MeetKai
Rajeev Kumar Sinha, global head – service provider business – TATA COMMUNICATIONS
Travis Ewert, global head of platform development – Digital Realty
Andrew Eppich, vice president, sales – AMER NSP – Equinix
Justin Beck, senior director of solutions engineering – Equinix

Keynote Panel: Trust under threat: Winning the war against voice & messaging fraud

Jonjie Sena, VP product management – TransUnion
Daniel Stepanicich, deputy division chief – FCC
Patrick George, president & group CEO – IBASIS
Stacy Graham, senior compliance & policy director – Sinch
Pablo Mlikota, SVP – International – E&
Arturs Alksnis, VP public policy – PROXIMUS GLOBAL

Keynote Panel: From ocean floor to bottom line – the future of subsea connectivity

Sam Evans, senior managing director – Teneo
Nadya Melic, VP product & marketing – FLAG
Carmine Sorrentino, chief commercial & operating officer – Liberty Network
Maxime Anne Archard, VP digital infrastructure development – Orange Wholesale International

Fabio Laguado, international sales director – V.tal

Emily Kiernan, head of strategy, risk, corporate & infrastructure development – Telstra

Keynote Panel: More fibre? Better fibre? Meeting growing demand cost-effectively & securely

Julian Rawle, Associate – Cambridge Management Consulting
Allen Meeks, President & CEO – MOX Networks
Simon Masri, President – C3NTRO Telecom
Paul Gabla, chief sales & marketing officer – ALCATEL SUBMARINE NETWORKS
Dan Davis, CEO & co-founder – Arcadian

Keynote Panel: Sharing risks & responsibilities in the evolving subsea ecosystem

Naaz Bax, founder & CEO – Team Bax
Maxie Reynolds, founder – Subsea Cloud
Dion Kristadi Leksono, VP product infrastructure orchestrator – TELIN
Mónica Martínez Quero, CMO – TELXIUS
Esther Garcés, CEO – Islalink

Keynote Panel: The New Landscape of Digital Infrastructure Development

Tony Rossabi, founder and managing member – OCOLO
Drew Johnson, data center lead & SVP of development – Oppidan
Matt Kavanagh, SVP & head of global energy strategy & growth – Aecom
Ben Gonyea, network site investments – Meta
Michael Reid, CEO – MEGAPORT
Cade Lever, CEO – C-Connex

Keynote Panel: Envisioning the digital future as a global collective

Nadine Hawkins, Editorial Director – Capacity
Paul Garnett, CEO – Vernonburg Group
Angela Siefer, executive xirector – National Digital Inclusion Alliance
Zain Shamim, director – United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC)
Mignon Clyburn, principal – MLC Strategies
Philip Koblence, co-founder, Nomad Futurist & Co-Founder & COO – NYI

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