The enterprise network was built for an earlier era: Workloads lived in data centers, traffic patterns were more predictable and adding capacity often meant another hardware cycle.
That model no longer matches how enterprises operate. Applications, users, data, partners, clouds and AI workloads now span many environments at once. East-west workload movement is growing across clouds, regions and distributed application environments, while north-south traffic has become harder to predict as users, data sources, APIs, partners and AI services connect from everywhere. Every new cloud region, partner connection, data path or workload cannot become another custom network project. Enterprises need a faster, more governed way to connect distributed infrastructure without adding more tools, handoffs or operational complexity.
Today, we are pleased to share that Lumen has completed its acquisition of Alkira, accelerating the programmable network that enterprises need to simplify operations and move faster.
“AI is reshaping how businesses operate, creating unprecedented demand for intelligent, programmable networks that can move data securely and seamlessly across cloud, edge, and data center environments,” said Kate Johnson, CEO of Lumen. “By bringing Alkira into Lumen, we’re combining world-class network infrastructure with cloud networking innovation to make complex environments simpler for customers. This is another important step in our transformation and strengthens our ability to help customers build, scale, and operate in the AI era.”
That complexity already is playing out inside enterprise environments today. The impact is most visible in three areas where network complexity is slowing speed, increasing risk and limiting scale.
Multicloud Optimization
Challenge
Multicloud environments get more fragmented and complex with every added cloud, region and policy model. Each introduces its own networking constructs, tooling and operating models—creating inconsistency, duplicative work and operational drag. What should scale as a system instead becomes a series of one-off network designs.
How Lumen + Alkira solve it
Lumen + Alkira replaces that sprawl with one governed connectivity model that unifies direct cloud on-ramps and high-performance transport under a single operating layer. Enterprises gain consistent architecture, faster deployment and end-to-end visibility across environments.
Instant extranet
Challenge
Ecosystems are expanding—partners, suppliers, APIs and third-party services are tightly embedded into enterprise workflows, driving constant connectivity demand. Partner connectivity often is a one-off project: slow to stand up, hard to govern and impossible to scale. The result is inconsistent security, limited visibility and growing operational overhead with every new connection.
How Lumen + Alkira solve it
Lumen + Alkira makes partner onboarding repeatable, governed, observable and lifecycle managed from day one, with built-in segmentation and policy on private, high-reach connectivity. Enterprises can onboard partners faster, standardize security and scale connectivity without adding complexity.
Colocation simplification
Challenge
Enterprises rely on colocation and data centers for performance-sensitive workloads while integrating cloud and AI, creating hybrid environments that must move data predictably at scale. Traditional interconnect approaches lack flexibility, making it difficult to adapt without delays, cost inefficiencies or performance tradeoffs.
How Lumen + Alkira solve it
Lumen + Alkira combines programmable provisioning and fabric level policy with the high-performance physical network enterprises already trust, delivering flexibility and predictable performance. Enterprises can interconnect environments dynamically while maintaining reliability, throughput and governance.
Across all three areas, the pattern is clear: Fragmented, one-off networking approaches no longer are sustainable in a world of distributed applications, multicloud environments and AI-driven workloads. Enterprises don’t need another point solution—they need a fundamentally different way to design and operate connectivity. That shift requires unifying infrastructure and control into a single, programmable operating model.
Lumen brings the trusted network foundation: deep fiber reach, high-performance transport, on-demand north-south and east-west connectivity, and the scale and reliability to move enterprise data across regions and environments. Alkira brings the on-demand control plane to design, secure, segment and operate distributed network infrastructure across clouds, users, sites, partners and workloads—wherever they are.
Together, Lumen + Alkira solve trade-offs enterprises have lived with for years that have only gotten worse as companies use multiple clouds for applications, storage, compute and now AI: performance or agility, scale or simplicity, control or speed. Enterprises should not have to choose. They need all these capabilities in one programmable operating model and one unified control plane.
“When we founded Alkira, our mission was clear: eliminate the complexity that slows enterprises down and make network infrastructure faster to deploy, easier to govern and simpler to operate. Joining Lumen allows us to scale that mission globally, combining Alkira’s on-demand platform with Lumen’s advanced, world-class. Together, we are giving enterprises a simpler operating model for the network, built for the speed of cloud, AI and digital transformation.”
— Amir Khan, CEO, Alkira
To learn more about what benefits Lumen and Alkira can bring you immediately today, and what we are building together, visit lumen.com/alkira.
Forward-looking statements
This blog post contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements about Lumen’s acquisition of Alkira and the anticipated benefits of the transaction; expected improvements in network simplicity, performance, scalability, and governance; the ability to integrate Alkira’s platform with Lumen’s network and services; the development, functionality, and adoption of a programmable network operating model; and Lumen’s broader transformation strategy, product roadmap, and ability to support evolving enterprise, cloud, and AI-driven workloads. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations only and are subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, including our successful integration of Alkira; our ability to realize expected benefits, synergies, and operational efficiencies from the acquisition in a timely manner or at all; the performance, scalability, and market adoption of combined offerings; competitive and technological developments; changes in customer demand; cybersecurity threats; regulatory and economic conditions; and other factors that may impact Lumen’s business and operations, as well as the risks described in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and in our other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these statements. These statements speak only as of the date made, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise them, except as required by law.
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