- According to James Feger of Lumen SVP products, Fiber operators will need to rethink their builds to meet AI's growing bandwidth and power demands
- Hyperscalers drive demand for high-chain count fiber and flexible connections
- Strategic trenches and network design are key to supporting the growth of AI data centers
Fiber Connect, Nashville – Fiber operators are still in relatively early innings to come up with ways to build a network to support AI. According to James Feger, the product's Lumen SVP, buildings for AI are like building a house. You have to start with the foundation.
In this case, it's “the guy who's really kicking this thing into gear” and a hyperschool that requires connectivity to and from the fiber backbone, Feger said in a fireplace chat with FBA chief Gary Bolton.
These data centers account for “hundreds of” fiber circuits and gigabytes of capacity, and their usage continues to grow.
Lighting AI fibers isn't just about connecting two buildings or different types of businesses, Feger said. Operators should consider industry-specific AI models and create a network infrastructure that can send data “from any destination to any destination… depending on which way of the network they are looking at.”
Fiber technology may be suitable for handling demand, but there is room for further innovation. For example, strand counts are already “exponentially rising,” says Feger, who reflects the ideas of Windstream and Zayo.
“The most difficult part of this is the groove,” he said. “The conduits are fixed size, the fibers on the ground are a certain number of chains, and the conduits are full. How do you fix that?”
It is also important to think more critically about where the fibers are laid, especially when it comes to meeting the power needs of data centers, Feger said. Operators can't focus on blowing as many fibers as possible, and blowing as much fiber as possible.
“Now you have to find that balance. Well, we're going through these places in the middle of a not-so-so state, but my well, there's a lot of power,” he said.
“It's not the destination you're trying to reach, but what can you pick up along the way?” he said.
Keep up with all the news from Fiber Connect 2025 here.
