Lumen completed its $475 million acquisition of cloud networking firm Alkira.
The company said the deal would accelerate "a more programmable, AI-ready network experience," with CEO Kate Johnson commenting: “AI is reshaping how businesses operate, creating unprecedented demand for intelligent, programmable networks that can move data securely and seamlessly across cloud, edge, and data center environments.
"By bringing Alkira into Lumen, we're combining world-class network infrastructure with cloud networking innovation to make complex environments simpler for customers. This is another important step in our transformation and strengthens our ability to help customers build, scale, and operate in the AI era," Johnson added.
That integration will see Alkira’s network infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) technology become a Lumen Connect solution, streamlining Lumen Multi-Cloud Gateway, cloud on-ramps, and on-net/off-net connectivity. In its original form, the Alkira platform simplifies cloud networking by abstracting the complexities of individual cloud vendors, with a unified fabric enabling hybrid/multicloud network deployment sans hardware or software management.
With Lumen’s existing network-as-a-service (NaaS) portfolio targeting "north-south" or premises-to-cloud connectivity, the Alkira lift should see Lumen expand deeper into east-west connectivity.
Essentially, Lumen is promising better connectivity between distributed environments, partners, and AI workloads, establishing a firmer footprint in the cloud-to-cloud and data center-interconnect space, as promised when the acquisition was first announced in May.
Not mentioned in today's announcement was Alkira CEO Amir Khan, who founded the firm just one year after he sold his pioneering Viptela SD-WAN venture to Cisco in 2017 for $610 million. SDxCentral has contacted Alkira to determine Khan's future with Lumen.
Update: Alkira confirmed Khan will retain his title as CEO of the firm at Lumen.