Lumen Technologies is expanding its enterprise network portfolio with a new multicloud gateway service and updated metro data center connectivity capabilities across some of its larger markets.

The Multi-Cloud Gateway service provides a programmable cloud fabric layer that allows customers to dynamically manage their connectivity routes to meet performance and cost needs.

Dave Shacochis, VP of product management at Lumen, explained to SDxCentral that the new offering is “a more pure, multicloud routing service that we can configure and allow customers to link up any one of their fabrics [on-premises] as well as any of the hyperscale platforms that we have gateways and on ramps to be able to privately link them all together.”

“Really geared for customers that want to create private layer-three connectivity between cloud, [on-premises], and data center sources, but do so completely privately that we just set up and allow them to configure and manage within the Lumen Connect portal,” Shacochis added.

The service was termed a “kind of reimagining” of some already launched capabilities that were targeted at multiprotocol label switching (MPLS)-VPNs.

“We've always been able to connect those environments into public clouds and route there through any one of our on ramps,” Shacochis noted. “Multi-Cloud Gateway really improves the user experience and accelerates the time to value by making all of that just more automated and configurable, as opposed to something we sell as an add-on to a traditional telecom service.”

The updated service is being targeted at customers running applications that span multiple data sources, runtimes, and hosted environments.

“They're probably running more than one data center in a metro area, so linking all that together, certainly at the application layer, with more private IP is something that's becoming increasingly relevant for those types of applications,” Shacochis added.

Lumen also sees opportunities for the new service to link with growing multicloud networking interest from hyperscalers. Shacochis specifically pointed to the recently unveiled link between hyperscale rivals Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) that was described as “layer-three private link,” and AWS’s subsequent deal with Lumen on the hyperscaler’s AWS Interconnect – last mile service.

“As more cloud partners start to embrace private layer-three, that really starts to open up a whole world of possibilities where it's not just infrastructure-as-a-service clouds, but you're looking at data-as-a-service clouds,” Shacochis said.

Lumen’s expanding reach and capabilities

That management can be used across Lumen’s latest network expansion. That expansion involves recent connectivity updates in 16 U.S. markets to support 100 Gb/s speeds between regional data centers, campuses, and edge locations, and up to 400 Gb/s capacity at “key cloud data centers in those markets.”

Updates markets include Northern Virginia; Atlanta; Chicago; Columbus, Ohio; Dallas and San Antonio, Texas; Denver; Kansas City, Missouri; Las Vegas; Los Angeles, and San Jose, California; Minneapolis; New York City; Phoenix; Portland, Oregon; and Seattle.

Those updates highlight Lumen’s focus on driving network expansion.

Lumen during its latest earnings call reported that it ended last year with 17 million miles of “intercity” fiber assets, with company management telling investors that it plans to extend that footprint to 58 million miles by the end of 2031.

That footprint is currently being utilized at 72% of total capacity, with hyperscalers noted as using 50% of that total capacity and the rest being used by enterprise channels and Lumen’s own services. That overall utilization is expected to grow only slightly as the footprint expands, but hyperscalers are forecast to increase their utilization to 59% of that total 2031 capacity.

Lumen recently completed the $5.75 billion sale of its consumer fiber business to AT&T, a move that provided Lumen with a pile of cash that it used to pay down debt and remove a capex burden.

CEO Kate Johnson told investors that the company used $4.8 billion in net proceeds from the AT&T deal to pay off all of its outstanding “super priority bonds,” a move that came just weeks after Lumen paid off a second-lien debt. Both moves slashed Lumen’s outstanding debt to just under $13 billion and ongoing interest payments by approximately $500 million.

“This divestiture reduces our annual capex by over a billion dollars, driving a significant reduction in capital intensity as we stop fiber-to-the-home build and focus our capital on building a digital network services company,” Johnson added.

To support that footprint growth, Johnson said that Lumen expanded its partnership with fiber producer Corning. Lumen struck a significant two-year deal with Corning in mid-2024 that reserved 10% of Corning’s global fiber production capacity, a deal that at that time was Lumen’s largest-ever fiber purchase.

This has allowed Lumen to present scale as a way to outmaneuver data center build concerns that have started to creep into conversations.

“We have scale and scale across many different elements that really matter,” Johnson said. “Scale across the supply chain … our contracts are very favorable in terms of first off-the-line priority status. We have scale in terms of workforce. … If you want to join a construction team that's going to be at this for several years, you want to join one of our partners because they're building the largest expansion of the internet at large for Lumen. So our scale really, really matters here, and gives us the accessibility to all the things that we need to ensure that there are no constraints put on our ability to execute on time.”

Shacochis said the latest service and network expansions are directly linked to that new capex focus.

“You can absolutely draw a straight line between our stated focus as an enterprise company, what enterprises are telling us they need for their networks of the future, and our investments in things like this,” Shacochis said.