Lumen (like the field) is pulling out of Russia. What's next?

You probably know the name "Lumen" because of its connection to one of Seattle's major sports stadiums. But it's also one of the largest internet data sources in Russia. Or it was until this week.

Seattle based companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Starbucks have said they’ll be limiting or cutting ties with Russia. Lumen, based in Louisiana, just announced it is pulling its plug on Russia as well. And as a major source of internet connections, it's a big plug to pull.

Lumen was formerly known as CenturyLink, and is known around Seattle for the naming rights it purchased for stadium where the the Seahawks, Sounders, and OL Reign play.

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Lumen's decision could have major implications for Russia’s access to the internet.

"What makes it so important is that they are an internet backbone company," said Sebastian Moss, editor at DatacenterDynamics, a news, analysis, and opinion outlet. "So other companies and services are built on top of them. And if every internet backbone company stopped working with Russia, you are essentially disconnecting Russia from the wider web."

Moss further explains that companies like Lumen are what keeps the internet going. It's system handles large connections between continents, countries, and cities.

"And Lumen operates one of the world's largest — over 500,000 route miles of fiber they operate or own, and they control the traffic on that, and companies pay to access those routes and connect different countries. And within Russia, while Lumen says, 'Hey, this isn't a big part of our business,' they are the largest international transit provider in Russia. So prior to this Ukraine war, more data was going through Lumen out from Russia and to Russia than any other company."

Lumen's rival company, Cogen, has already ceased its services in Russia. Lumen hasn't entirely pulled the plug on Russia yet, but it's in the process of doing so. There are other internet providers as well, though perhaps not as large as Lumen and Cogen. That means, without these internet companies, Russians will have significant difficulty accessing any data (websites and services) outside of Russia.

"As it stands, what you are going to see is just slower connectivity issues, and downstream effects for other countries around Russia where the data was traveling through them, like Azerbaijan and Tajikistan."

Click on the audio above to hear Soundside's full conversation with Sebastian Moss.