Scale AI workloads

A secure network backbone is dedicated, private network infrastructure that carries traffic between your data centers, clouds and sites without crossing shared public infrastructure. Lumen builds it from Wavelength Solutions, Encrypted Wavelengths, Managed Optical Fiber Network and Private Connectivity Fabric, where each circuit is physically isolated, encrypted at the optical layer and routed on a predefined path. It is the transport layer beneath AI, cloud and regulated workloads.

Enterprises and agencies moving AI or regulated data between sites, where shared infrastructure is not an acceptable risk. Typical buyers are CIOs, network architects and security leaders in financial services, healthcare, government and defense, plus data center operators and AI companies connecting GPU clusters to storage and cloud. It fits when compliance requires you to show which path your data took.

A dedicated connection removes shared infrastructure from the path. Each Lumen wavelength is a physically isolated circuit, so your traffic never travels across a medium other tenants use; plus, Encrypted Wavelengths add encryption at the optical layer to protect it in transit. The route is predefined, so you know which path your data takes and can order diverse routes for failover. Together this reduces exposure to traffic analysis and shared network vulnerabilities.

With dark fiber you lease unlit strands and take on the optical equipment, engineering and 24x7 operations yourself. A Lumen Managed Optical Fiber Network gives you the same dedicated fiber-based network designed around your routes, but Lumen builds, operates and monitors the optical layer, so you get the control and capacity of a private network without staffing one. For dedicated capacity on an existing route, Lumen Wavelength Solutions are the faster path.

Lumen Wavelength Solutions provide dedicated optical circuits up to 400G on predefined paths. Encrypted Wavelengths add optical-layer encryption for traffic in motion. Managed Optical Fiber Network delivers a dedicated, carrier-grade optical network that Lumen operates for you. Private Connectivity Fabric combines conduit, fiber, colocation and managed services into a purpose-built architecture when standard services do not meet your requirements.

Use wavelengths when you need dedicated capacity, predictable latency, or complete control over the network path between locations. Unlike internet services, which run over shared infrastructure, wavelengths provide private optical circuits reserved for your traffic. Compared with Ethernet, wavelengths are typically used for AI workloads, high-capacity data movement, data center interconnect, storage replication and other applications where performance consistency, scalability, and predictable throughput are critical.