CenturyLink establishes data centre offering in China with new Shanghai site
Tue 30 Sep 2014
The US network operator CenturyLink Technology Solutions has expanded its data centre portfolio into China with the launch of a Shanghai-based facility.
Alongside its five other Asia Pacific data centres, located in Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo, CenturyLink’s Shanghai establishment is its first site in mainland China.
According to the organisation expanding into the world’s second largest economy was an essential step for their international development.
“For multinational corporations looking to grow their customer base, entering China presents enormous opportunities,” said Gery Messer, CenturyLink managing director, Asia Pacific.
“CenturyLink makes it easy for businesses to host within China’s borders, offering access to the same highly secure managed services and consistent IT experience available across our global footprint,” he continued.
The facility, which is located in the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone, will be operated by the major Chinese data centre provider GDS. Neusoft, a local IT services provider, will purchase the hardware and rent out the storage space on CenturyLink’s behalf.
In a statement Neusoft’s senior vice president Angela Wang announced that the group was “excited to collaborate with CenturyLink to meet the demand from its impressive enterprise customer base for China-based managed hosting solutions.”
“This collaboration offers clients a unique opportunity to expand their IT presence into China by leveraging the resources of two world-class global IT providers to help simplify the complexities inherent in China,” she added.
In response to queries over further expansion in China, Brian Klingbeil, senior vice president of international development at CenturyLink, suggested that a twin facility could launch in the near future: “It always makes sense to have two sites in-country, so we’re certainly exploring options for a second location. Anything beyond the second site will be determined based on success and demand.”
CenturyLink’s hybrid cloud and infrastructure services are now delivered across 57 data centres globally, including the recent addition of a second data centre in the Toronto market last month.
