Lumen Technologies has announced an agreement with Corning for a substantial supply of next-generation optical cable.
This fibre-dense cable will more than double Lumen’s US intercity fibre miles, offering significant capacity to major cloud data centres racing to stay ahead of AI workloads and high bandwidth applications fuelled by massive amounts of data.
The rapid advancement of Generative AI requires at least 10x more fibre connections within data centres, as well as a robust fibre network to transmit information between these data hubs.
With this agreement, Lumen reserves 10% of Corning’s global fibre capacity for each of the next two years.
The agreement, Lumen’s largest cable purchase, will equip Lumen to meet the network infrastructure needs of major data centre operators for years to come, including Microsoft, which announced last week that it’s investing with Lumen to support the rising demand for its data centres.
“Lumen is the network that delivers AI. The rise of AI is driving technology companies to quickly secure fibre and bandwidth before their competition,” said Kate Johnson, President and CEO, Lumen Technologies. “With Corning’s innovative solutions, we’re building the backbone of the AI economy. This partnership gives Lumen status as a preferred partner and secures a significant supply of next-generation fibre today and in the future.”
Lumen has the largest ultra-low-loss intercity fibre network in North America. Its US intercity network includes diverse routes to more than 50 major cities across the country. Lumen distinguishes its network from others in the industry by continuously upgrading its infrastructure using a multi-conduit system, allowing for the quick deployment of the latest fibre technology.
“As Generative AI increases bandwidth requirements between data centres, we’re pleased to reach an agreement with Lumen Technologies to provide our latest optical fibre and cable innovations to facilitate Lumen’s build of a new network to interconnect AI-enabled data centres,” said Wendell P. Weeks, Chairman and CEO, Corning. “This marks the first outside-plant deployment of Corning’s new Gen-AI fibre and cable system, which will enable Lumen to fit anywhere from 2-4x the amount of fibre into their existing conduit.”
To properly power AI with capacity, performance, stability and speed, Lumen is creating a digital platform on top of its physical network allowing cloud-like consumption of network services. Lumen’s Private Connectivity Fabric is a custom network that includes dedicated access to existing fibre in the Lumen network, the installation of new fibre on existing and new routes and access to Lumen’s digital services.
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