Lumen picks Ciena for inventory management as it gears up for more AI business

Ciena has notched another win for its Blue Planet division, one that has a little more buzz behind it than most.

The company announced on Wednesday that Lumen has selected its intelligent automation software, Blue Planet Inventory (BPI), to help the carrier "drive its strategic network inventory transformation initiative."

That bit of word salad means that BPI aims to help Lumen by providing a single view of its network inventory so the carrier can more quickly and accurately respond to customers' needs for connectivity, capacity and so on. 

This is especially timely for Lumen because of its recent ascension as a heavyweight in nationwide fiber connectivity and AI infrastructure. The software upgrade signals that the carrier is making operational improvements behind the scenes to make all of the above possible.

"The most important capability BPI is giving Lumen is accurate and unified visibility of all their network resources," the carrier said to Light Reading via email. "This will help to improve quoting accuracy, reduce intervals, and simplify day-to-day operations, which will have a positive impact on Lumen products and services."

Ciena added, via email, that BPI is integrated with the carrier's live network domains – transport, core, access, telco cloud, etc. – so it continually auto-discovers and reconciles any differences between what's in the inventory and what's in the network. That accuracy is particularly valuable when it comes to network planning and service fulfillment. 

Related:Lumen said it will haul in billions from upcoming AI deals

BPI meets PCF

Take Lumen's Private Connectivity Fabric (PCF), for example. The carrier calls that service a custom network service that allows its customers (like Microsoft) to have more control of the network infrastructure. As AI usage increases the need for more storage and bandwidth between data centers, customers would be able to scale capacity more quickly, add dark fiber connectivity and Ethernet services, build redundant links to key facilities, and so on.

That's where BPI comes in. Lumen said the software will inventory components used by PCF (dark fiber, circuits and customer wave circuits, for example) that are stored in disparate legacy systems and present a single view of what's available. 

"Having a streamlined view of network inventory will help to improve quoting accuracy, reduce intervals, and simplify day-to-day operations, which will have a positive impact on PCF, as well as other Lumen products and services," Lumen said via an email exchange with Light Reading.

The network of the future

Related:Lumen, Corning strike fiber supply agreement

Lumen, like most big telcos, has been a networking and connectivity version of Frankenstein's monster. The past acquisitions of several smaller telcos, CLECs, fiber providers and ISPs fit together but don't necessarily act as one harmonious network from end to end. It's alive, sure, but scary. 

That's changing. CEO Kate Johnson has been vocal about Lumen's hard work around the "massive simplification" of the company's network, products and operations. That's the only way she sees Lumen being agile enough and fast enough to handle the AI future its cloud and enterprise customers are building.

Johnson said on a recent earnings conference call that the company's ongoing network transformation will allow it to "reduce our product count from thousands of product codes to a target of around 300." 

"Once we unify the network and simplify the product portfolio in our enterprise business, we'll go after technical cost savings in IT," she continued. "For example, we'd like to compress our 24 order management systems to a target number of one and reduce our 17 billing systems to, well, you guessed it, a target of one. This work is going to take a few years to complete, but it will yield material and enduring bottom line benefits."

The challenge for Lumen will be to keep its network capabilities ahead of where the world's AI needs are going, and Johnson is keenly aware that the spotlight on Lumen is as bright as ever. The company's shares were just over $6 in late trading on Tuesday, but it has jumped over 200% since the beginning of the year.

"Lumen has been anointed as the trusted network for AI by some of the most important technology companies on earth," Johnson said on the company's earnings call earlier this month. "With over $5 billion in major partnerships inked to date and visibility to nearly $7 billion more in opportunities, we see the market for Lumen's private connectivity fabric as providing a major positive momentum shift for this company."

For vendors helping Lumen build its network, it must be nice to be one of the logos that remains, surviving the "massive simplification" on the way to AI glory.