“Speed is one of the attributes, not the main attribute,” says Kerry Haughan, SVP of Commercial Strategy
Recently, Calix launched Calix One, an AI-native platform designed to automate broadband operations for rural and regional providers. With embedded agentic AI workflows and managed services across marketing, operations, customer support, and subscriber applications, the solution aims to enable small providers to operate like big ones.
The launch comes as internet service providers (ISPs) struggle to create service differentiation, while overly focusing on broadband speeds. Small providers especially are losing customer loyalty as a result of this.
As the problem escalates with a growing number of customers, Kerry Haughan, SVP of Commercial Strategy told RCR in an exclusive interview at Metro Connect that broadband providers are stuck in undifferentiated, speed-based pricing, when the real opportunity is subscriber experience-led services.
“Most folks sell a gig for 50 bucks…it’s a marketing message that has no differentiation. Speed is one of the attributes, not the main attribute,” Haughan argued.
Calix’s new platform is powered by Google Cloud and what the company describes as an “agentic workforce”. Providers can make service changes via its cloud software, with continuous updates from Calix allowing remote management of most service issues.
“Most customers, when they’re unhappy…almost universally, they’re going to blame the Wi-Fi, and oftentimes it’s true,” Haughan said.
“We have enough information here to know very quickly what the problem is…see the performance of the device and we don’t have to roll a truck out,” he added, referring to the cloud telemetry data.
For providers operating on small budgets, expensive truck rolls remain a persistent issue — not only for cost reasons, but also because they involve wait times, making customers even unhappier.
Agentic workflows
Calix positions Calix One as a tool for improving customer experience and relations. The architecture consists of an agentic AI workforce that can automate repetitive operational workflows, expedite triage and resolution of issues, and analyze customer behavior and predict churn. Additionally, it self-drives communications for service outages, promotions, upsell campaigns, etc. — all curated to individual customer’s profile and requirement.
The goal, Haughan said, was to take lessons from Calix’s work with customers over the last five years and develop agents that can “automatically do, or at least automatically tee up the work” for small providers that typically lack deep technical and operational expertise.
By replacing the repetitive, time-intensive work with repeatable agentic workflows, Calix aims to make advanced expertise available out-of-the-box.
One of the problems with AI agent-led systems is that they often lack guardrails, leading to untoward outcomes. Haughan explained that Calix One has layers of data, trust, and governance built in, where each agent operates within a pre-defined scope of authority with controlled access to trusted datasets. So from data handling to orchestration to security, all attributes are pre-defined to deliver reliable outcomes, while maintaining explainability and auditability.
A full set of 50 agents is scheduled to roll out in 2026, with the first few agents already available on the platform. While some handle basic tasks, others will act as orchestrators managing multiple agents, Haughan said. As of this month, Calix has migrated roughly 1,200 broadband providers to the new platform.
Calix One builds on the original Calix platform, a fiber access solution, which the company developed and refined through decades of partnership with CSPs. The platform consists of a suite of tools spanning “the network office all through to Wi-Fi in the home.”
“We’ve replatformed from AWS to Google [Cloud] with the premise of taking the platform and rebuilding it so that it can do AI,” he said.
Today, Calix primarily serves a base of small broadband service providers in the rural markets, that include regional operators, cooperatives, municipalities, and small ISPs. “A good three-fourths or so of our revenue comes from Tier-3 rural providers,” Haughan said.
Calix also supports these providers in navigating regulatory complexities of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program through no-cost advisory support on applications, compliance, and broadband network design.
In 2026, Calix is working to expand its addressable market by bringing more Tier-1 and Tier-2 operators into its fold. The migration to Google Cloud is part of that broader effort.
