The AI race is on, and network infrastructure is the new competitive edge. Lumen has allocated $100M+ in AI-ready networks to help global enterprises overcome legacy bottlenecks and accelerate innovation. For those looking to stay ahead, this means transforming aging infrastructure into a scalable, high-performance backbone, ready for the demands of real-time AI, cloud, and hybrid workloads. In this post, we will explore how a financial services firm could leverage this level of network investment to enhance operations, improve customer experiences and drive growth in an increasingly digital world.
Why infrastructure matters
Across industries, organizations are racing to unlock the full potential of artificial intelligence (AI). With 85% of large enterprises leveraging AI through cloud platforms,1 it’s clear that cloud infrastructure is the key to making AI work at scale. It helps businesses accelerate performance, save money and adapt in real time. That’s why building a future-ready network infrastructure is now a major part of any smart AI strategy.
Imagine you’re a global financial services company, under the growing pressure to keep pace with the demands of modern AI. You need to generate real-time insights, train large language models (LLMs) and manage complex workloads across both cloud and hybrid environments. But your aging infrastructure is falling behind.
To stay competitive, you aim to build a next-generation digital foundation capable of processing vast amounts of data, enabling advanced AI techniques and maintaining seamless connectivity across global operations. Yet your network performance remains a major obstacle, unable to deliver the speed and scalability that AI applications require.
The challenge: When AI innovation outpaces infrastructure
As you push forward with your AI adoption strategy, the cracks in your infrastructure become impossible to ignore. What should have been a leap forward turns into a series of costly delays. Here’s what holds you back:
- Bandwidth provisioning took weeks, stalling critical AI model training and inference.
- Cloud access was unreliable, disrupting real-time data analytics.
- Moving large datasets between data centers caused latency issues and downtime.
These issues aren’t just technical. They have critical business consequences. Fraud detection slows down. Risk models take longer to generate. New digital products are delayed, putting you behind competitors.
Instead of driving innovation, your IT teams are stuck managing bottlenecks. You need a partner who could deliver speed, scale and simplicity to support your AI ambitions. That’s when you turn to Lumen.
The breakthrough: Strategic network infrastructure in action
To overcome these challenges, you team up with Lumen to scale your operations using an AI-ready network infrastructure. The transformation begins in Ashburn, Virginia, where expanded Lumen network capacity provides end-to-end connectivity from enterprise premises to data centers and cloud environments with speed and scale.
Provisioning that once took weeks now happens in near real time. You can move petabytes of data across regions, support latency-sensitive applications and accelerate Large Language Model (LLM) training with confidence.
This transformation is powered by a 100M+ Lumen network investment and built on a foundation that few others can match. Lumen already operates one of the largest and most deeply connected networks in the world. And despite operating the #1 peered global network,2 Lumen continues to invest in expanding and strengthening its network to stay ahead of what’s next.
Metro Ethernet upgrades: Intelligence at the edge
To support real-time processing close to the edge where data is generated, Lumen deployed 100G Ethernet across 16 major metro areas. Direct fiber connectivity to over 163,000 on-net buildings and more than 2,200 third-party data centers provide your firm with fast, reliable access to cloud, colocation and edge environments, enabling:
- Latency-sensitive use cases like algorithmic trading and fraud detection
- AI driven real-time portfolio analysis at the edge
- Hybrid deployments across cloud, colocation and edge environments with low latency
Data center enablement: Smart multi-cloud integration
As your multi-cloud strategy expands, Lumen enhancements to more than 70 third-party data centers provide ultra-fast IP connectivity and 100G Ethernet. This gives you seamless access to cloud providers and platforms, simplified replication and failover, and accelerated AI deployment.
Whether syncing compliance data across regions or running predictive credit risk models, fast and reliable data movement across cloud environments is essential in today’s financial landscape. By taking advantage of extensive Lumen data center connectivity, you now have the reach, agility and resilience to support growth.
Wavelength expansion: Moving massive data at speed
AI workloads demand high-throughput, low-latency transport. The expansion of high-speed optical routes by Lumen added 1.26 petabytes of throughput across high-demand metro areas. Backed by a backbone capable of 350 Tbps and speeds up to 400 Gbps, your business could train models faster, replicate data with minimal delay and collaborate globally in real time.
This expansion couldn’t be timelier. Nearly half of North American enterprises say Generative AI is already reshaping their connectivity strategy, with another 32% expecting it to drive future transformation.3 The Lumen® Wavelength Solutions upgrades position you to stay ahead of this shift.
Real-time control, real-time results
Lumen® Ethernet On-Demand, part of its Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) portfolio, gives you dynamic control over bandwidth. During peak trading hours, quarterly reporting cycles or intensive AI workloads, you can scale capacity within minutes without waiting on manual provisioning.
This self-service flexibility allows you to respond to unpredictable demand, support real-time collaboration across global offices and accelerate innovation across your hybrid cloud strategy.
The outcome: Building an AI-ready backbone
With Lumen, you don’t just upgrade your network, you build a scalable, AI-ready network foundation. From edge intelligence to multi-cloud integration, from petabyte scale data movement to agile on-demand bandwidth control, every layer of your infrastructure now works in sync to support AI-driven innovation and business growth.
What begins in Ashburn becomes a blueprint for enterprise network transformation to scale innovation. Lumen investments spanning metro Ethernet, data center enablement and wavelength expansion are being deployed across dozens of markets—creating denser, smarter digital fabric for enterprises everywhere.
Explore insights on our Lumen Network Investment page—including our latest eBook, Building the Network That Powers What’s Next—for a closer look at the infrastructure, strategy and innovation behind our digital transformation engine.
1Gartner, What’s New in Artificial Intelligence From the 2023 Gartner Hype Cycle™, 2023.
2The Center for Applied Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA), AS Rank, January 2025.
3IDC, Future Enterprise Resiliency & Spending Survey Wave 6, June 2024.
This content is provided for informational purposes only and may require additional research and substantiation by the end user. In addition, the information is provided “as is” without any warranty or condition of any kind, either express or implied. Use of this information is at the end user’s own risk. Lumen does not warrant that the information will meet the end user’s requirements or that the implementation or usage of this information will result in the desired outcome of the end user. All third-party company and product or service names referenced in this article are for identification purposes only and do not imply endorsement or affiliation with Lumen. This document represents Lumen products and offerings as of the date of issue. Services not available everywhere. Lumen may change or cancel products and services or substitute similar products and services at its sole discretion without notice. ©2025 Lumen Technologies. All Rights Reserved.
