Lumen lights up 400GB datacentre connectivity to fuel AI

Lumen Technologies has made major enhancements to datacentre and cloud connectivity across its US network, with a strategic expansion capable of turbocharging metro markets with high-speed datacentre connectivity.

The upgrade enables it to deliver “blazing-fast”, secure, cost-efficient infrastructure with up to 400Gbps Ethernet and IP Services at more than 70 third-party, cloud on-ramp ready datacentres across 16 highly connected metros.

Locations include Northern Virginia, Atlanta, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City, Phoenix, Portland, San Jose and Seattle. San Antonio is targeted to be added in the fourth quarter of 2025.

With the new fibre network, customers are said to be able to turn up services as needed – provisioning bandwidth in minutes, scaling up to 400Gbps and only paying for what they use.

This, says Lumen, will make it easy to connect to datacentres and cloud on-ramps, scale enterprise applications, and respond to fluctuating AI and data-intensive demands and next-generation enterprise workloads, all while managing costs.

Services available include: Ethernet On-Demand connectivity activated in real-time; Internet On-Demand, scalable internet access, when and where it’s needed; E-Line, point-to-point Ethernet for secure, predictable data transport; E-LAN multipoint-to-multipoint Ethernet for “seamless” site interconnectivity; and E-Access, simplified access to broader Ethernet networks for enterprise reach.

Because it owns and operates the underlying network, Lumen believes customers can benefit from greater control, reliability and performance.

Ghassan Abdo, vice-president of research and worldwide telecommunications at research firm IDC, said: “Lumen’s network investment in bringing high-speed connectivity to key datacentres is a strategic move to meet the growing demand for more capacity and reach across datacentres, anticipating customer needs amid the artificial intelligence (AI) boom where network is emerging as an indispensable resource. This expansion supports AI-first planning and multi-cloud architectures, ensuring a high-performance environment for business applications, which are the lifeblood of digital enterprises.”

Lumen chief revenue officer Ashley Haynes-Gaspar added: “This investment isn’t just about faster datacentre connectivity – it’s about creating the digital foundation for an AI-first economy. We’re giving customers what they need most: performance, flexibility and speed at scale – whether they’re turning up a single connection or orchestrating thousands of AI workloads across metro markets.

“As enterprises race to harness the power of AI, Lumen is building the network foundation they need to move faster, scale smarter and stay ahead. We’re not just keeping up with digital transformation, we’re helping our customers lead it.”

The announcement comes just weeks after Lumen announced it will provide the terrestrial backhaul connectivity for the Juno Trans-Pacific cable system. Operated by Seren Juno Network Co, the Juno cable is 10,000km long and is engineered to deliver up to 350 Tbps across 20 fibre pairs, using next-generation space division multiplexing technology.

Lumen’s dark fibre backhaul is designed to carry traffic from the cable’s US landing point in Grover Beach in California to two major points of presence in San Jose and Los Angeles, helping to “revolutionise business operations and technological advancements” in both the US and Japan. Connecting Juno at the cable landing station to two critical PoPs will help data reach major cloud hubs, datacentres and enterprise networks across the US.