‘This [partnership] is bringing the power of proximity to our customers. The networks of yesterday and the cloud architecture of today aren’t enough to serve customers in the world of AI. AI is lightning fast. It’s faster than the speed of thought, and so, proximity really matters,’ Lumen’s CEO Kate Johnson tells CRN.
Lumen Technologies, alongside IBM, is bringing AI inferencing closer to where the data is generated for enterprises in keeping with its ambitious plan of becoming the “backbone” for the AI economy, Lumen President and CEO Kate Johnson told CRN in an exclusive interview.
The two companies on Tuesday revealed a new partnership in which Lumen and Big Blue will develop enterprise-grade AI solutions at the edge by pairing Watsonx, IBM’s commercial generative AI platform, with Lumen’s own Edge Cloud infrastructure and network. Bringing real-time AI inferencing closer to where data is generated will help businesses adopt and scale AI use cases, without cost, latency, and security standing in their way, Johnson said.
The “brain power” of Watsonx combined with Lumen’s “networking muscle” will bring real-time AI inferencing to customers looking to get the most out of AI, she said.
“This [partnership] is bringing the power of proximity to our customers. The networks of yesterday and the cloud architecture of today aren’t enough to serve customers in the world of AI. AI is lightning fast. It’s faster than the speed of thought, and so, proximity really matters,” Johnson said.
[Related: Lumen Technologies To Grow Via NaaS, Multi-Cloud Services, Not ‘Friction-Filled’ Traditional Telecom Services: CEO]
Lumen’s edge capabilities have nationwide reach, covering 90 percent of U.S businesses within five milliseconds of latency, according to the Monroe, Louisiana-based service provider.
The two companies already have a number of proof of concepts in place with customers in the financial services, healthcare, manufacturing and retail space, but the beauty of the new offering is that it will be applicable to any company that wants to use AI to transform their businesses, Johnson said.
“If you think about it, it applies everywhere,” she said. “Retailers can use the power of proximity for visual inspections to provide better experiences for customers. Hospitals can do real-time diagnostics to make life-altering decisions in urgent care, financial services companies and banks can secure transactions with fraud alerts in record time. So, it doesn’t really matter what the company is. The business outcomes that they’re constantly trying to leverage technology to seek, they’re all up for grabs here.”
Already in the works is a use case with a large retailer in which Lumen and IBM are transforming customer service operations by enhancing customer data and inventory systems with AI-powered digital assistants and visual inspection tools. The collaboration, once fully developed and deployed, is anticipated to serve up seamless, personalized interactions for a more engaging shopping experience for end customers, Lumen said.
While the newly expanded partnership has IBM Consulting acting as the preferred systems integrator for end customers, both Lumen and IBM’s channel have opportunity to help clients deploy and make the best use of AI, backed by a strong network, Johnson said.
Lumen and IBM have joint relationships with many channel partners today, she added.
“We’re always looking to increase the feet on the street talking about the power of capabilities. The answer is probably somewhere in just making sure the right people are connected on the ground with the customer,” she said.
Lumen’s Turnaround Story
Lumen, the company formerly known as CenturyLink, hasn’t been shy about its plan to shift away from its legacy telecom roots and embrace AI as a growth lever. As enterprises increasingly grapple with complex, multi-cloud, hybrid environments, Lumen, under the direction of Johnson, sees opportunity in pursuing and delivering next-gen networking services, such as cybersecurity and Network as a Service (NaaS).
Lumen also sees its technology partnerships with the hyperscalers and technology giants, such as IBM, as critical to helping the company shift to the “next-gen Lumen,” Johnson said.
The company is already working with the three largest cloud providers — Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, as well as social media giant Meta — which have chosen Lumen as their trusted network for AI for data center connectivity.
“We’ve been talking about the two-pronged journey that we’re on [in] building the backbone for the AI economy. We’re doing that in partnership with hyperscalers and cloud companies and expanding the internet at large to ensure that the physical infrastructure is both proximate, big enough and sophisticated enough to handle the traffic of tomorrow,” she said.
The second piece, said Johnson, involves building out a digital platform on top of its massive network to make it easier for enterprises to buy and consume network services from Lumen, cloud marketplaces, or through the channel, which is crucial in spreading the word of what Lumen is bringing to the table compared to its peers in the telecom industry.
“I think it’s a new day for the capabilities that we’re bringing to the market, which means there is a new way to bring value to customers,” Johnson said. “This management team deeply understands the value of the channel and the reach that it brings us. We see a direct correlation with our pivoted growth to be not just channel friendly, but channel forward, and that’s probably different than what the channel has heard traditionally from Lumen.”