Microsoft plans to deploy Lumen’s Private Connectivity Fabric (PCF) to improve its data center network infrastructure.
Lumen will also move its workloads to Microsoft's Azure cloud, and reduce its own infrastructure.
Lumen’s PCF is a modular network fabric that allows companies to design custom network architecture. In a statement, Microsoft said the AI-ready fiber will allow it to improve connectivity between its data centers by boosting network capacity, performance, stability, and speed.
Meanwhile, Lumen will migrate its workloads to Microsoft Azure and work with the tech giant to deliver “telecom industry-specific solutions.”
Lumen said the migration will allow it to reduce its overall technology costs by an estimated $20 million over the next 12 months and remove legacy systems and silos.
“Lumen has the network infrastructure and the digital capabilities needed to help support Azure’s mission in creating reliable and scalable platform that supports the breadth of customer workloads – from general purpose and mission-critical, to cloud-native, high-performance computing, and AI, plus what’s on the horizon,” said Erin Chapple, corporate vice president of Azure core product and design, Microsoft.
“Our work with Lumen is emblematic of our investments in our own cloud infrastructure, which delivers for today and for the long term to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.”
Kate Johnson, president and CEO, Lumen Technologies, added: “Microsoft has an ambitious vision for AI and this level of innovation requires a network that can make it reality. Lumen’s expansive network meets this challenge, with unique routes, unmatched coverage, and a digital platform built to give companies the flexibility, access, and security they need to create an AI-enabled world.”
Last year, Lumen secured a $223 million US Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) contract to support US DoD, before winning an additional $110m contract from DISA to provide mission-critical network services to the DoD.
In April 2024, the company secured a $74 million contract from the US Government Accountability Office to modernize its network, data, voice, and video connectivity.
Earlier this month, Microsoft agreed to a €20 million ($21.7m) deal to settle an EU antitrust complaint from European cloud providers association CISPE relating to the licensing of its cloud products.
Under the terms of the agreement, Microsoft will develop the Azure Stack HCI for European cloud providers (Hosters), enabling CISPE's members to run Microsoft software on their platforms at equivalent prices to Microsoft's.
CISPE will establish an independent European Cloud Observatory to monitor the development of this product.
