Lumen Technologies and Google Cloud launched their cloud connectivity collaboration in beta.

The work has Google combining its Cloud’s Cross-Cloud Interconnect management tool with Lumen's network capabilities for last-mile deployments. The solution is initiated in Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and connected through Lumen Cloud Interconnect, leveraging a layer-three (L3) private connection in Lumen's Connectivity Fabric that is designed for hybrid and distributed environments. Capabilities include bandwidth provisioning between 1 Gb/s and 50 Gb/s, with pre-provisioned capacity delivered across redundant routers in separate facilities.

According to Google, its services offers flat-rate bandwidth tiers inclusive of Google Cloud data egress. The work was initially announced in the spring, and is now available in preview in us-east4 (Northern Virginia) via Lumen, with additional regions to be announced soon.

"As enterprises deploy AI and data-intensive workloads across public and private clouds, waiting months to provision physical network circuits is no longer tenable,” Himanshu Mehra, director of product management for cloud networking at Google Cloud, explained. “Through our collaboration with Lumen Technologies on partner Cross-Cloud Interconnect for last mile, customers can now extend high-capacity, (service-level agreement)-backed connectivity from their locations to Google Cloud in minutes, combining Lumen's expansive network reach with the speed and programmability of the cloud."

The deal follows a similar arrangement Lumen made with Amazon Web Services (AWS) earlier this year.

“The network needs to become as dynamic and easy to consume as the cloud itself," Lumen CTO Jim Fowler added on the Google arrangement. "By bringing Google Cloud and Lumen connectivity together, we’re making it simpler for enterprises to connect their locations to the cloud with the performance and reliability they need. This is an important step toward a more programmable, cloud-like networking experience."