Lumen Technologies Reviews

Lumen Technologies, formerly CenturyLink, Inc., is a major American telecommunications company headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana. Its origins trace back to the Oak Ridge Telephone Company founded in 1930. The company underwent significant growth through numerous name changes (Central Telephone and Electronics in 1968, Century Telephone Enterprises in 1971, CenturyTel in 1999, CenturyLink in 2010) and strategic acquisitions, including Embarq (2009), Qwest (2011), Savvis (2011), and Level 3 Communications (2017). In September 2020, the company rebranded its enterprise-focused operations to Lumen Technologies to reflect its shift towards enabling businesses in the '4th Industrial Revolution'. The legacy CenturyLink brand remains for traditional residential/small business services, while fiber offerings use the Quantum Fiber brand. Lumen leverages its extensive global fiber network (over 450,000 route miles across 60+ countries) and data center infrastructure to deliver a suite of technology solutions. Key services include adaptive networking (MPLS, SD-WAN, Ethernet, DIA, Wavelength), edge cloud computing (private/public/bare metal), comprehensive security services (DDoS mitigation, WAF, managed security), voice and collaboration tools, and managed IT services, including managed hosting and cloud solutions derived partly from the Savvis acquisition. Lumen primarily targets large enterprise customers, offering scalable infrastructure and managed support for mission-critical applications and data. While historically a significant CDN provider, Lumen began winding down these services in late 2023, selling contracts to Akamai.