“Lumen is in a good spot from a product prospective, and they are doing great things with collaborating on products [with partners] to get in front of as many large clients as possible,” said one executive at a company that partners with Lumen.
Lumen Technologies has teamed up with Amazon Web Services to become the first network provider to work with the cloud giant using its own using its last‑mile and metro network infrastructure to provide private connections between enterprise sites and AWS.
AWS Interconnect — last mile, the cloud giant’s fully managed service for private, high-speed connections from on-premises locations, including offices and data centers, to AWS, now relies on Lumen Cloud Interconnect to connect enterprise locations directly to AWS, Lumen announced on Wednesday.
AWS Interconnect – last mile with Lumen Cloud Interconnect, a collaboration that was first revealed in December, is now generally available to enterprise customers in the United States, according to the two companies.
[Related: Lumen Taps Longtime Partner Champion Jim Ortbals As New Channel Chief]
“Cloud and network infrastructure can no longer operate separately; modern applications demand they work as one,” said Jim Fowler, chief technology and product officer for Lumen Technologies, in a statement. “Cloud providers are increasingly integrating connectivity as a cloud service, and Lumen’s network enables that seamless experience. Together with AWS, we’re simplifying how enterprises connect to the cloud, helping them reduce complexity, move faster and support today’s demanding applications.”
The collaboration links AWS’ cloud model with Lumen’s network platform and physical infrastructure, which covers more than 340,000 route miles and connects enterprise sites and data centers, according to Monroe, La.-based Lumen.
Business customers can now initiate connections through AWS Console and Lumen’s digital platform, Lumen Connect, to start monitoring availability, latency and performance across their environments, the company said.
Lumen Cloud Interconnect offers automated, private Layer 3 connectivity between enterprises locations and a cloud service provider, beginning with AWS. The Cloud Interconnect offering is part of Lumen’s “Cloud 2.0” strategy, which includes the company’s programmable connectivity fabric linking data centers, enterprise on-prem locations and public cloud environments that Lumen’s CEO Kate Johnson called a priority to tackle with channel and ecosystem partners in 2026.
The telecom-turned-network-service-provider is no stranger to partnerships with some of the biggest cloud providers in the industry. Lumen announced last year at Google Next that it was teaming with the cloud giant to bring new cloud and network connectivity offerings to enterprises in the wake of the AI workload explosion. That partnership combined Lumen’s secure connectivity services, including its Network as a Service (NaaS) and managed SD-WAN, with Google’s own, brand-new Cloud WAN offering, as well as its Distributed Cloud and global cloud regions.
Lumen stands out among large service providers for how closely it collaborates with a broad range of partners as it targets enterprise customers, said Shane Stark, president of solution provider Carrier Access Inc., a longtime Lumen partner, who pointed to the company’s strong portfolio of strategic services.
“Lumen is in a good spot from a product prospective, and they are doing great things with collaborating on products [with partners] to get in front of as many large clients as possible,” Stark said.
Lumen Technologies’ shares climbed approximately 4 percent Wednesday morning following its new AWS partnership announcement.
