AI and rapidly increasing data movement are putting new pressures on enterprise networks. AI workloads are making network demand far less predictable, creating a need for connectivity that can scale as quickly as the applications and data it supports. Yet enterprise internet is still largely purchased as fixed capacity, forcing businesses to forecast bandwidth months in advance and provision for peaks that may never come. Lumen Intelligent Internet changes that by letting customers adjust capacity as their needs evolve.
The next evolution of its enterprise internet offering, Lumen Intelligent Internet, launched today, lets customers buy connectivity in minutes and scale bandwidth up or down as AI, cloud, and business needs change.
“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.”
The new service allows customers to provision and adjust connectivity through Lumen Connect or APIs, scaling bandwidth as business needs change. They can choose term-based pricing for a predictable monthly rate with the freedom to adjust capacity when needed.
Lumen Intelligent Internet also brings together several new enhancements designed to make enterprise connectivity easier to buy, activate, and manage, including pre-ordering with a new fabric port and term-based pricing that combines predictable costs with on-demand flexibility.
“Static connectivity models are increasingly at odds with the dynamic nature of AI and cloud workloads,” said IDC Research VP Analyst, Ghassan Abdo. “As bandwidth needs become less predictable, enterprises need a more flexible approach that allows network capacity to respond to demand rather than requiring businesses to plan for every potential peak.”
Lumen Intelligent Internet is available now to enterprise customers at more than 10 million U.S. business locations, with bandwidth scalable up to 100 Gbps. The service combines digital control with Lumen’s global network, including one of the world’s largest internet backbones.
