Lumen Recognized in Gartner® Report, AI Vendor Race: Lumen Is the Company to Beat in Enterprise WAN and Connectivity Services for AI

Gartner^® recognized Lumen Technologies in its June 25, 2026, report, AI Vendor Race: Lumen Is the Company to Beat in Enterprise WAN and Connectivity Services for AI. The report states by combining Lumen’s fiber footprint, dense metro infrastructure and edge capabilities with Alkira’s cloud-native control plane, the company strengthens its ability to extend its leadership into enterprise AI WAN and connectivity services.

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“AI is changing how businesses operate, and it’s raising the bar for enterprise networking,” said Jim Fowler, chief technology and product officer for Lumen. “With Alkira now part of Lumen, we are bringing together world-class network infrastructure and cloud networking innovation in a programmable platform that not only connects environments, but also simplifies the deployment of security, networking, and operational services from across the technology ecosystem. The result is a more automated, visible, and adaptable foundation for hybrid and multi-cloud operations.”

Enterprise AI is redefining what networks must do. As organizations move AI from pilots into production, workloads are becoming more distributed across data centers, edge locations, and multiple clouds. That shift increases the need for low-latency data movement, workload-aware routing, embedded security, and consistent, SLA-backed performance. The AI connectivity market will not be defined by scale alone; it will be defined by providers that can deliver secure, programmable, end-to-end connectivity as an enterprise service.

The report states, “Lumen leads because it aligns most closely with how enterprise AI is actually deployed: distributed, hybrid across compute environments and latency sensitive. Its advantage comes from integrating three elements that are typically fragmented, focusing on building a unified service platform rather than solely on underlying technology.”

According to the report:

• Deterministic infrastructure control — While many providers own fiber, Lumen differentiates through its ability to tightly engineer and control data center interconnect (DCI) and metro routing paths to deliver more predictable, deterministic latency at scale.

• Programmable control plane integration — By integrating a cloud-native networking control plane, Lumen will move beyond infrastructure into on-demand network provisioning, centralized policy and visibility, and control across enterprise, cloud and edge.

• Unified enterprise service model— Lumen will soon deliver networking as a cohesive enterprise service, combining WAN-to-edge-to-cloud connectivity, orchestration and automation, and SLA-driven performance.

These capabilities are already generating demand where AI workloads are most concentrated — including data center interconnect, hyperscaler connectivity, and high-capacity routes designed to move large volumes of data between enterprise, cloud, and edge environments. As of July 2026, Lumen has 17 million intercity fiber miles, with 58 million intercity fiber miles expected by the end of 2031. Lumen’s fiber backbone, metro reach, and cloud networking capabilities give customers a simple path to connect critical AI workloads with the performance, control, and security they require.

Lumen and Alkira help create a faster, simpler way to securely connect clouds, sites, partners, and AI workloads — expanding the technology ecosystem available through its platform, extending Lumen’s leadership into cloud networking, and strengthening its role as the trusted network for AI.

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