Microsoft and Lumen will jointly sell networks built for AI on Azure

Microsoft and Lumen Technologies are expanding their partnership to jointly sell networking to companies running AI on Azure. Lumen plans to bring its full cloud networking range to Azure. No figures or dates were given.

Microsoft and Lumen Technologies will jointly sell networking to large companies moving their AI work onto Azure, the two firms said on Monday.

Their pitch is that AI needs data from many places, such as public clouds, private data centres and offices. The networks linking them are often patchy, so the firms want customers to plan the network and the move to Azure at the same time.

Lumen, a US fibre network operator, plans to bring its full range of cloud networking tools to Azure. Its sales teams will work with Microsoft’s on deals where networking, cloud moves and AI overlap. AI has also lifted demand for fibre networks, which network-equipment maker Ciena says it can barely meet.

“AI is reshaping where applications run and how organizations use and move data,” said Katy Brown, a corporate vice president at Microsoft.

For now, customers can already buy one Lumen product, Alkira, through Microsoft’s online store for business software. Lumen bought Alkira, which lets firms manage links between clouds and offices from one place, for $475M earlier this year.

The firms also plan to explore how their networks could work with Microsoft’s tools for controlling AI agents. They gave no figures or timeline.

The deal builds on a 2024 tie-up in which Lumen supplies fibre links between Microsoft’s data centres. Azure passed $100B in yearly sales in July.