Lumen launches Intelligent Internet service for scalable enterprise connectivity

Lumen Technologies has launched Lumen Intelligent Internet, a connectivity service designed to help enterprises move data at the speed required by artificial intelligence workloads.

The offering provides a digital, programmable experience that allows customers to adjust network capacity as their requirements change during AI development and deployment.

Customers can provision and modify connectivity through application programming interfaces (APIs) or the Lumen Connect service. They can also scale bandwidth according to business needs and select term-based pricing for a predictable monthly rate.

The service includes enterprise control and security options such as DDoS Essentials and Lumen Defender.

Beta customers included iVision, SABIS, Skyway Studios, and the New York Yankees. Lumen Intelligent Internet is now generally available to enterprise customers across more than 10 million US business locations, with bandwidth scalable to as much as 100 Gbps.

Lumen described the service as an alternative to the fixed-capacity model traditionally associated with enterprise internet. The company said that AI adoption and increasing data movement are placing additional pressure on enterprise networks.

Lumen cited IDC research indicating that almost 40 percent of enterprises experienced bandwidth requirements growing by more than 50 percent year over year. The research also found that 29 percent of enterprises faced challenges adapting their network infrastructure to support AI workloads.

“Businesses can easily scale compute and storage up or down as their needs change. Enterprise internet should work the same way,” said Jim Fowler, Lumen chief technology and product officer. “AI is making demand harder to predict, not easier. Lumen Intelligent Internet gives businesses the ability to respond in real time instead of paying today for capacity they might need tomorrow. We’re redesigning internet service for enterprises with a new model that gives customers greater control over connectivity, capacity, and cost as their businesses change.”