Lumen Technologies announced that The U.S. Department of Agriculture will work with the company to modernize and transform its IT services across the country and abroad. The task order is worth more than $1.2 billion to deliver a fully integrated wide-area data transport service with secure remote access, contact center, and cloud connectivity solutions to more than 9,500 USDA locations.
100,000 USDA employees
With Lumen’s solutions, approximately 100,000 USDA employees will be able to manage vital farming, food and nutrition, forestry, and rural economic development services effectively. USDA will be able to securely acquire, analyze and act on data closer to where it is collected at the edge of the network with the company’s edge computing architecture and vast fiber connectivity to reduce latency and save bandwidth.
The task will last 11 years, which has an initial term through September 30, 2022, with 10 one-year options, was awarded to Lumen under the General Services Administration’s 15-year, $50 billion Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions program. The company will provide managed network, managed security, and voice solutions that support up to 100 gigabits per second, including:
- software-defined wide area network services (SD-WAN);
- managed trusted internet protocol services (MTIPS);
- zero-trust networking solutions;
- edge computing and remote access solutions;
- virtual private network services;
- cloud connectivity;
- unified communications and collaboration solutions;
- contact center solutions;
- voice over internet protocol (VoIP), wireless and satellite services;
- ethernet transport;
- optical wavelength solutions;
- related equipment and engineering services.
Zain Ahmed, senior vice president of Lumen public sector said,
« One of America’s largest cabinet agencies chose Lumen to securely modernize its network and IT services. We’re excited to help the USDA benefit from today’s digital technologies that are transforming farming into precision agriculture. Lumen is bringing modern technology solutions that will make it easier for the USDA to accomplish its mission of promoting the production of nutritious food that nourishes our people, providing economic opportunity to rural Americans, and preserving our nation’s natural resources through smart forest and watershed conservation. »