In a partnership that perhaps we should have seen coming, T-Mobile and Lumen inked a deal for T-Mobile to connect Lumen edge computing infrastructure with T-Mobile’s 5G mobile network. The T-Mobile Lumen deal targets enterprises wanting to “extend applications across a range of environments,” the companies said in a press release.
Like AT&T and Verizon, Lumen (formerly CenturyLink) has some roots as a former Bell company but unlike those companies, it lacks a mobile business. T-Mobile, like AT&T and Verizon, has a nationwide mobile business but unlike those companies, it doesn’t have extensive wireline infrastructure.
And with edge computing becoming increasingly important to mobile networks and vice-versa, it only makes sense for T-Mobile and Lumen to partner with one another to interconnect their assets.
Lumen assets include a fiber network connected to more than 180,000 enterprise locations, as well as public and third-party data centers worldwide, including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute & Azure Government, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud and Oracle.
According to a Lumen web page, the company’s edge computing nodes are designed to meet 98% of U.S. enterprise demand within five milliseconds of latency. Edge computing has been on the rise as enterprises and carriers seek to match the low latency of 5G by minimizing the distance between cloud computing resources and end-users.
T-Mobile, meanwhile, has gained an edge in 5G, as the mid-band spectrum the company obtained through its merger with Sprint has enabled the company to build a 5G network supporting high speeds over broad geographic areas.
The T-Mobile Lumen Deal
T-Mobile has talked a good game about its big opportunity in the enterprise market currently dominated by AT&T and Verizon. But one thing the carrier didn’t talk about much, until now, is edge computing – something that has been top of mind for both AT&T and Verizon.
Lumen, meanwhile, has been talking a good game about its edge computing opportunity – although one executive said last year that the company could be doing a better job at that.
“T-Mobile’s expansive 5G footprint coupled with our extensive edge computing platform would provide enterprise developers with the best of both worlds to power the next wave of digital business,” said Shaun Andrews, Lumen Technologies executive vice president and chief marketing officer, in today’s press release about the T-Mobile Lumen deal.
“With our leading 5G network, Lumen and T-Mobile have the opportunity to accelerate business innovation in an era where the network is more critical than ever,” said Mike Katz, executive vice president of T-Mobile for Business, in the press release.
