OREANDA-NEWS. In recognition of the market's rapidly increasing appetite for flexible hybrid IT capabilities such as colocation and cloud consumption, CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) today announced the expansion of its global data center footprint and leading-edge innovations for data center hosting services.

In 2015, CenturyLink added 14 megawatts of critical capacity at eight data centers, and in the first half of 2016, the Company plans to further increase capacity in four data centers. In the last five years, CenturyLink has completed 39 data center expansion projects and added 11 new data centers. The Company currently offers approximately 2.62 million square feet of gross raised floor space throughout North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

"With global enterprises and service providers under increasing pressure to become more agile, many are utilizing hybrid IT solutions to achieve key business objectives," said David Meredith, senior vice president, global data centers, CenturyLink. "We are announcing today our continuing and expanding commitment to help our customers achieve those objectives."

Partnering with CenturyLink enables organizations to take a hybrid IT approach and deliver on the value of data center colocation, managed hosting and cloud services, plus a top-tier network. This creates highly cost-efficient outsourced infrastructures, which free up internal resources to focus on business technology innovation.

As a leading provider of hybrid IT solutions across colocation, managed hosting, cloud, network and IT services, CenturyLink is committed to operational excellence in its data centers, and is the first company to pursue Uptime Institute's M&O Stamp of Approval at the global portfolio level. The majority of CenturyLink's data centers have already achieved the M&O Stamp of Approval, with the process slated to be completed by the end of 2016. In the past two months alone, three facilities in Singapore and Toronto achieved Uptime Institute M&O Stamp of Approval, and two separate facilities in Chicago and Toronto received Tier III Silver Certification of Operational Sustainability.

The Tier III certifications and M&O Stamp of Approval by Uptime Institute, an unbiased advisory organization focused on improving the performance, efficiency and reliability of business critical infrastructure through innovation, collaboration and independent certifications, provide assurance that CenturyLink's data centers meet industry-recognized criteria for operational excellence, risk management and reliability.

Other independent organizations have also recognized CenturyLink's data center innovations. The company won a TMC InfoTECH Spotlight Data Center Excellence Award in January, and last year won the Network World Asia Data Center Infrastructure Management Award.

In 2015, CenturyLink expanded in seven data centers, and opened a new hydroelectric-powered facility in Moses Lake, Washington, which supports up to 30 megawatts of power capacity.

CenturyLink has also achieved many innovations, including:

  • Improved data center density by 34 percent over the last 2.5 years;
  • Implemented new high-efficiency cooling technologies;
  • Integrated wireless sensors for precise temperature and humidity monitoring;
  • Retrofitted several facilities with smart-control LED lighting.

About CenturyLink

CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) is a global communications, hosting, cloud and IT services company enabling millions of customers to transform their businesses and their lives through innovative technology solutions. CenturyLink offers network and data systems management, Big Data analytics and IT consulting, and operates more than 55 data centers in North America, Europe and Asia. The company provides broadband, voice, video, data and managed services over a robust 250,000-route-mile U.S. fiber network and a 300,000-route-mile international transport network.