- Lumen’s new Multi‑Cloud Gateway aims to simplify private routing configurations between enterprises and cloud providers
- Multi‑cloud is back in focus as hyperscalers look to accelerate cross‑cloud AI traffic
- Lumen also announced 100G and 400G network upgrades across 16 U.S. cities
Lumen is strengthening its enterprise networking arsenal with a new Multi-Cloud Gateway that aims to make connectivity more flexible between customers and the cloud.
Dave Shacochis, Lumen's VP of Product Management, pitched the offering as a configurable private routing service that “can connect into any Infrastructure-as-a-Service cloud” without any heavy lifting from the customer. The intent is to help enterprises manage multi-cloud applications across multiple data sources “in a really controlled way,” whether it’s from cloud-to-cloud or cloud-to-enterprise, he told Fierce.
Multi-Cloud Gateway is a “reimagining” of Lumen’s existing Cloud Connect service, which Shacochis explained was designed to connect the company’s IP VPN customers to a cloud gateway.
“Instead of the traditional telecom model of building an MPLS-based VPN and getting that all set up and configured and then adding a routed [cloud] connection,” he said Multi-Cloud Gateway provides customers a programmable fabric they can “completely control, adapt the capacity of [and] add new links to all inside of our user interface.”
As enterprise AI adoption heats up, so has hyperscaler focus around multi-cloud interoperability. AWS recently teamed up with Google Cloud to develop an open API that aims to drastically speed up the time it takes for customers to provision dedicated cross-cloud connectivity.
Lumen is closely keeping an eye on that development. As “interconnect APIs start to emerge between public clouds, [Multi-Cloud Gateway] can start to route privately between those clouds and the customer premise,” Shacochis said.
And as Lumen works with more neocloud providers, it presents an opportunity for enterprises to link up with those GPU-as-a-service players, he noted.
“Over time we’ll be able to add more and more of those locations to our Multi-Cloud Gateway community,” said Shacochis.
Lumen steps up its multi-cloud game after closing the $5.75 billion sale of its consumer fiber-to-the-home business to AT&T – a move that reduced the company’s debt and freed up resources to chase enterprise AI growth.
It’s keeping the ball rolling with its Private Connectivity Fabric (PCF) business, as Lumen amassed nearly $13 billion in deals to-date, CEO Kate Johnson said on the company’s Q4 2025 earnings call this month.
Lumen doubles down on 100G, 400G upgrades
Alongside the multi-cloud news, Lumen announced today it has upgraded 16 U.S. markets to support 100 Gbps between regional data centers, campuses and edge locations. Capacity of up to 400 Gbps will be available at “key cloud data centers” in those markets, as Lumen works with hyperscalers to build 400G cloud on-ramps.
“It’s really a major metro investment of what Lumen’s doing across its entire backbone,” said Shacochis.
On the expansion front, Lumen in 2025 counted a total of nearly 17 million intercity fiber miles and is now targeting 58 million fiber miles by 2031.