HPE, Lumen Technologies Team To Tackle AI At The Edge

The combination of Lumen’s edge infrastructure with HPE Networking and Juniper Networks technology will be available via the Lumen Connected Ecosystem and through the service provider’s channel partners, Lumen says.

Lumen Technologies is unveiling a partnership with HPE that will help enterprises deploy faster and more secure AI capabilities at the edge of the network.

The combination will tie together Lumen’s edge infrastructure with HPE Networking—now with Juniper Networks technology—to give enterprises smarter, more secure operations that can be launched quickly and cost-effectively, the two companies said.

“We’re helping businesses turn ideas into action, quickly and securely,” said Dave Ward, chief technology and product officer for Lumen, in a statement on the partnership. “By combining HPE Networking’s programmable networking with Lumen’s edge capabilities, we’re making it easy for companies to launch AI services that respond in real time, scale effortlessly and stay protected.”

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The partnership will empower edge AI use cases such as those in retail, health care and manufacturing, the companies said.

Lumen’s edge infrastructure lets enterprises deploy AI services close to where data is created and consumed, while reducing latency and making it easy to scale across hybrid environments, the telecom said.

Lumen in July introduced the Lumen Connected Ecosystem that customers can use to purchase, provision and manage their network services as easily as they do their cloud solutions, the company said. HPE is a Lumen technology partner and part of the Lumen Connected Ecosystem, a spokesperson for Lumen confirmed.

Meanwhile, the HPE-owned Juniper Networks MX Series Universal Routers, deployed across the Lumen Network, are optimized for ultra-low latency and high throughput, ideal for powering real-time AI applications, the companies said.

“Our deployment with Lumen brings together the best of both worlds, programmable infrastructure and edge reach, to help customers unlock the full potential of AI," said AE Natarajan, senior vice president and general manager of routing infrastructure solutions for HPE Networking, in a statement.

The offering gets its security from both companies, with Lumen Defender Powered by Black Lotus Labs providing multilayered protection for AI-era threats and HPE Networking providing inline encryption and line-rate DDoS defense.

A spokesperson for Lumen said that the combined Lumen-HPE technology is available through Lumen and its channel partners.