Lumen Takes Its Edge Bare Metal to the Far East

Lumen is extending its edge computing initiative to a new part of the world. Yesterday the company officially launched its Edge Bare Metal services out in the APAC marketplace. More specifically, they will be leveraging edge locations in Japan and Singapore, with further expansion expected. The first deployment was in support of the Solana Foundation, a blockchain nonprofit.

What to make of this international expansion plan? It was only last week that we saw Lumen make the strategic decision to sell off its European infrastructure business, and a few months since its decision to do the same in Latin America. By expanding their edge computing solution in APAC, they are showing that they aren’t pulling in their international horns, but rather changing their approach in a very significant way.

Lumen is clearly making choices about where it is worth having its own fiber infrastructure, and where they do it via partners. The balance is shifting in favor of partners outside of North America perhaps, but only as a means to an end. Lumen has been working at the lit level in APAC since the dot-com crash, and by expanding their edge computing in the region while selling their infrastructure biz elsewhere they are balancing that lit reach with their other regions. 

Essentially it is about when it is worth investing at which layers of infrastructure, and when it is not.  Whether it will work out the way Lumen hopes on the international enterprise scene is an open question of course, but it is clear they have a coherent plan of attack.

If you haven't already, please take our Reader Survey! Just 3 questions to help us better understand who is reading Telecom Ramblings so we can serve you better!

Categories: Cloud Computing · Disaster Recovery · Managed Services