Lumen Technologies Boosts NaaS Strategy With Flagship On-Demand Internet Capability

The carrier has rolled out Lumen Internet On-Demand, just one feature that will be the jumping-off point for its broader NaaS strategy that will include security and edge services.

The service provider formerly known as CenturyLink unveiled its first and “flagship” capability as part of its long-awaited Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) platform to give customers flexibility in how they buy, use and manage their networking services, the company said Monday.

The consumption-based Lumen NaaS platform now offers Lumen Internet On-Demand, a service that customers can use to buy and deploy instant internet connections to public data centers and port-enabled business locations.

Lumen Internet On-Demand is just the first feature being rolled out as part of the company’s broader strategy for NaaS.

[Related: Lumen Technologies Crowns New EVP Of Enterprise Operations]

Lumen’s NaaS platform and Internet On-Demand feature answer partner and customers’ requests for faster, more flexible networking, Sara Seegers, national vice president of indirect channel sales at Lumen, told CRN in an email.

“NaaS makes it even easier to do business with us. Eventually, NaaS services will become available for partners to sell, who will play a key role in bringing these on-demand capabilities to the broader market,” Seegers said.

The Lumen NaaS strategy will include relationships with technology and, down the line, MSP partners to further its reach, according to Monroe, La.-based Lumen. The company said it will be adding more partners to the Lumen Network-as-a-Service Alliance Partner Program.

On the technology partner side, Lumen is already working with Amazon Web Services with its NaaS platform, the company said.

Internet On-Demand offers dedicated connections to one of the largest and most secure networks in the world, according to Lumen. The offering will provide internet speeds from 100 Mbps to 10 Gbps, while letting businesses scale capacity in minutes. It will also provide real-time visibility into service performance and network usage and a consumption-based billing model in which customers will pay only for the time services are active, starting at hourly rates. Internet On-Demand initially is being launched with limited availability, Lumen said.

“We have been preparing for this moment for a long time, building a world-class telecom network with state-of-the-art fiber, broad coverage and unsurpassed route diversity and scalability,” said Lumen CEO Kate Johnson in a statement. “Lumen’s [NaaS] offering takes the next step to deliver on our customers’ networking dreams: the ability to fire up any port, with any service, at any time. It’s your network, your way.”

The company plans to continually grow the Lumen NaaS platform to include security services, such as Distributed Denial of Service, Secure Access Service Edge and edge services.

Lumen has struggled in recent years against financial headwinds. As such, the company has been focusing its investments on growing its enterprise business through strategic IT services, including NaaS.

The company is set to release its fiscal second-quarter 2023 earnings Tuesday evening.