Expanded off-net reach and multi-cloud simplicity drive more than 2,000 enterprises to adopt Lumen’s programmable network platform for Cloud 2.0 and AI workloads
Lumen Technologies announced the company has doubled its network-as-a-service (NaaS) customer base to more than 2,000 businesses since Q3 2025, reflecting how quickly enterprises are shifting to on-demand, programmable networking for AI and cloud workloads.
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“Enterprises are redesigning their networks for a world where AI workloads move massive amounts of data across clouds and geographies in real time,” said Jim Fowler, Lumen chief technology and product officer. “Surpassing 2,000 NaaS customers so quickly shows programmable networking is no longer experimental, it’s becoming the control plane for Cloud 2.0. Our platform gives businesses the composability, scalability, and performance they need to operate at AI speed.”
What’s Driving Growth
Growth in Lumen’s NaaS platform is being driven by enterprises rearchitecting networks to support AI-driven and multi-cloud workloads that demand greater flexibility and scale. Since reaching 1,000 customers in August 2025, Lumen has expanded its Internet On-Demand capabilities to more than 10 million new locations, enabling office buildings and data centers across North America to quickly scale connectivity. Adoption has also accelerated as enterprises increase ports per customer, signaling growing reliance on a programmable fabric to support distributed business sites, clouds, and AI-driven environments.
A Platform Built for the AI Era
NaaS is central to Lumen’s digital transformation into the trusted network for AI. As CIOs and hyperscalers modernize architectures for distributed AI workloads, they require more than bandwidth – they need intelligent, programmable infrastructure that delivers low-latency, scale, and control across hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Lumen’s new Multi‑Cloud Gateway advances this strategy by adding a software‑defined, self‑service routing layer on top of its global fiber network, giving enterprises a more direct and efficient way to move data between clouds and business locations. This enables faster deployment, lower complexity, and more reliable performance for AI workloads that depend on real‑time data exchange. Lumen’s NaaS can now be managed with Lumen Connect, a self-service portal where users can find, order, and control on-demand connectivity. This network programmability leads to faster deployment, less complexity, and more reliable performance for AI workloads that require real-time data exchange.
Real-World Impact Across Industries
The platform’s growth spans industries, from large enterprise IT environments to live sports that require elastic performance. Among the new enterprises adopting NaaS is the Seattle Sounders FC, which turned to Lumen to build a network that can rapidly scale for game days without paying for peak capacity year-round.
“Live sports don’t operate on a steady curve,” said Kari Escobedo, Interim CTO at Seattle Sounders FC. “We need the ability to scale when the business needs to scale — and to know the network will perform when it matters most. With Lumen NaaS, the network adapts to the business instead of the other way around.”
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