Lumen Technologies, Inc. LUMN has announced a partnership with Google Cloud at the Next 25 event. This collaboration is aimed at addressing the rising demands of enterprise customers amid the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) workloads across industries. Together, Lumen and Google Cloud will deliver cutting-edge cloud and network solutions that offer the scalability, security and performance required for AI-driven digital transformation.

This strategic alliance underscores both companies’ commitment to driving innovation and delivering the robust infrastructure enterprises need in a rapidly evolving AI-powered world.

What Does This Collaboration Offer?

A core focus of the partnership lies in three transformative initiatives. First, the integration of Google’s new Cloud WAN with Lumen’s connectivity services will enhance Lumen’s Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) offerings. This will enable Lumen-managed SD-WAN and security services to be hosted directly in Google Cloud regions, bringing more flexibility and performance to enterprise networks.

Secondly, Lumen will support direct 400 Gbps fiber connections from Google Cloud regions straight to customer locations. This initiative significantly boosts Lumen’s connectivity reach, linking more than 50,000 enterprise sites with Google Cloud and delivering vast network capacity for data-intensive applications.

The third pillar of the collaboration involves connecting Lumen’s encrypted network to Google Distributed Cloud’s air-gapped deployments. This will provide highly secure WAN solutions designed specifically to meet the stringent security needs of large enterprises, the public sector and financial services organizations, enabling them to safeguard sensitive data and operations more effectively.

Management highlighted that by combining Lumen's expansive fiber infrastructure and secure networking solutions with Google Cloud’s global reach, they are empowering enterprises to move data faster, more securely and with the agility needed to support advanced AI workloads and distributed cloud environments.

Lumen Forms Strategic Alliances to Power AI and Cloud

Lumen is actively forging partnerships with major tech giants to enhance connectivity, accelerate AI adoption and meet rising enterprise demands. These collaborations aim to strengthen Lumen’s network capabilities while supporting the growing infrastructure needs of data centers, cloud platforms and AI-driven services.

In December 2024, Lumen and Prometheus Hyperscale collaborated to enhance connectivity for its energy-efficient data centers. This partnership addresses the surging demand for AI, big data and cloud computing while tackling environmental challenges within the AI industry. In November 2024, Lumen announced a collaboration with Alphabet’s Google Cloud to power proactive data insights and AIOps across its network. Lumen has utilized Google Cloud’s databases, infrastructure and BigQuery data and analytics platform to create a Lumen Digital Twin for gaining insights across the Lumen network in real-time. Alphabet has chosen Lumen to expand network capabilities for Google Cloud to cater to the increasing demand for Google Cloud services and foster AI innovation.

In October 2024, Lumen partnered with Amazon to boost data center connectivity and enhance network delivery of cloud technologies. It will leverage Amazon Web Service (“AWS”) tech (including AI and machine learning) to upgrade its applications and systems. Also, Lumen partnered with Meta Platforms to elevate the latter’s network capabilities. The expanded network will deliver a dedicated interconnection for Meta's cutting-edge infrastructure.

LUMN’s Zacks Rank and Stock Price Performance

Currently, LUMN carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). In the past year, shares have surged 147.2% compared to the Zacks Technology Services industry’s growth of 10.7%.

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Stocks to Consider in Technology Services Space

Some better-ranked stocks from the broader technology space are AppLovin Corporation APP, Byrna Technologies Inc. BYRN and SPX Technologies, Inc. SPXC. APP and BYRN presently sport a Zacks Rank #1, while SPXC carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

APP’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, with the average surprise being 23.45%. In the last reported quarter, AppLovin delivered an earnings surprise of 29.1%. Its shares have surged 88.4% in the past six months.

BYRN’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, with the average surprise being 580%. In the last reported quarter, Byrna delivered an earnings surprise of 240%. Its shares have surged 18.8% in the past six months.

SPXC’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, with the average surprise being 8%. In the last reported quarter, SPX Technologies delivered an earnings surprise of 0.67%. The company’s long-term earnings growth rate is 18%. The stock has jumped 8.9% in the past year.

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