Alkira acquisition gives Lumen cloud connectivity control plane | Computer Weekly

"Lumen Technologies is to acquire cloud-native, carrier-agnostic networking platform Alkira. Alkira serves enterprise customers across financial services, technology, retail, healthcare and manufacturing sectors globally. The proposed $475m all-cash transaction - expected to close in the third quarter of 2026 - is designed to pair Alkira's hybrid and multicloud native control plane with Lumen's fibre network, advancing the latter's digital platform strategy to deliver cloud-like consumption for global enterprise networking."

"On closing the transaction, Lumen plans to begin offering Alkira's core connectivity services to its enterprise base, with deeper platform integration to follow. For Alkira, the combination with Lumen will pair its cloud-native orchestration with a high-bandwidth, low-latency fibre network, including private networks, significantly extending its reach and performance. Lumen's commercial engine and global customer base will also provide a scaled distribution path."

"The underlying rationale for the acquisition is said to be the programmable network imperative in how AI is reshaping how enterprises operate and how their networks must perform. Lumen noted that more than half of current internet traffic is automated traffic generated by software systems rather than human users. That means networks have to be big enough, fast enough, intelligent enough and secure enough to keep up."

"Yet, said Lumen, many enterprise networks remain static, manually configured and fragmented across providers. To alleviate this issue, it said it is working to define a new category of enterprise networking - one built on world-class physical"

Networking has shifted from background infrastructure to a central system that affects business speed, spending, and whether AI investments deliver value. Lumen Technologies plans to acquire Alkira, a cloud-native, carrier-agnostic networking platform, for $475 million in all cash, targeting a close in the third quarter of 2026. Alkira serves enterprise customers across multiple industries worldwide. After closing, Lumen intends to offer Alkira’s core connectivity services to its enterprise base and integrate the platform more deeply over time. The goal is to pair Alkira’s hybrid and multicloud control plane with Lumen’s high-bandwidth, low-latency fiber network, including private networks, to extend reach and performance. The acquisition is driven by the need for programmable, intelligent, secure networks as automated internet traffic grows and enterprise networks remain static and fragmented.

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