asia outlook feature on centurylink asia pacific
TRANSCRIPT
With a clear vision to transform its business to become a truly global IT services provider, CenturyLink embarked on a series of strategic acquisitions from 2008 to enhance its overall service offering. Today, the Company is focused on strengthening its position as the globalleader in Hybrid ITWriter: Emily Jarvis • Project Manager: Donovan Smith
Director for Asia Pacific, Gery Messer. “We began to see a growing trend
in businesses outsourcing their workloads to the cloud early in the game, and we identified this as a key focus area to capitalise on, making a decision to enhance our overall offering in accordance with this trend. Looking back, it is obvious we made the right decision and we are ahead of the industry when it comes to our expertise in Hybrid IT,” explains Messer.
CenturyLink has come a long way from being a US$2.6 billion business with 6,500 people in 2008 servicing mainly US customers, to one with combined revenues of more than US$18 billion, 45,000 employees with an end-to-end portfolio.
With more than 60 data centres
globally, coupled with the support of its local infrastructures and dedicated in-house expertise and support, CenturyLink customers can enjoy consistent levels of service anywhere in the world.
“These are just some of the reasons why 98 percent of Fortune 500 companies chose us for their cloud, collocation, network and managed services needs. We have a robust, mission-critical platform that supports various industries, including financial services, retail and government,” Messer adds. “Our uniqueness and ability to compete with in a competitive market extends from our reputation, vast experience and proven track record. Unlike our competitors, we own our data centres, and we manage our data centres end-to-end with our skilled in-house talent. This is a key differentiator and sets us apart from others.”
A cut above the restSome of CenturyLink’s more recent Asia Pacific expansions include the availability of its global managed hosting services in China to better serve multinational corporations conducting business in the world’s second-largest economy. CenturyLink customers can now access a comprehensive portfolio of managed hosting, security, cloud and networking solutions through a Shanghai data centre.
“For multinational corporations looking to grow their customer base, entering China presents enormous opportunities and challenges,” explains Messer. “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
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C E N T U R Y L I N K A S I A P A C I F I C T E C H N O L O G Y
G L O B A L L E A D E R I N
Hybrid ITith an 85 year-long history, stemming from being the second largest telco in the US, CenturyLink has now
reached new heights as a global Hybrid IT provider, thanks to making aptly timed acquisitions and strategic moves into cloud and associated services in the late 2000s.
Today, the Company has a comprehensive suite of Hybrid IT offerings, including data centre collocation managed services, cloud and network services in the US, EMEA and Asia Pacific.
CenturyLink has a global reach in 85 countries with more than 400,000 kilometres (km) of owned and operated fibre network in the US, and 480,000km international transport network. The CenturyLink Data Centre Initiative (DCI) interconnects not just other CenturyLink data centres and buildings, but to more than 250 third party data centres, and more than 40,000 buildings and offices.
“Our comprehensive IT solutions help enterprises accelerate business performance throughout their organisation, and ultimately transforms an IT department from a cost centre into a business enabler,” explains CenturyLink’s Managing
Gery Messer Managing Director, Asia Pacific
Pub 2015-2015-41.pdf 1 2015-09-10 09:49
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EXFO
CenturyLink constantly innovates to push the boundaries of performance, reliability and quality even further. In order to continue growing, the company needed to gain more visibility throughout its network and access actionable information to proactively detect and address potential end-to-end service impacting issues—all in order to optimize service delivery, improve quality of service (QoS), and maximize customer quality of experience (QoE).
Over the years, EXFO developed a strong relationship with CenturyLink, demonstrating its leadership and technological expertise by introducing innovative solutions tailored to help CenturyLink overcome challenges in a competitive market and achieve key corporate objectives including improved end-to-end quality of service and operational efficiencies.
EXFO’s Service Assurance Division proposed a comprehensive solution comprised of a centralized test orchestration system (EXFO Worx) and strategically deployed measurement probes (Verifiers) throughout CenturyLink’s network. This combination solved the operator’s challenges in multiple ways:
• The Verifiers provided continuous network and service assurance via highly accurate performance measurements taken at the transport and application layers — a unique approach that combines QoS and QoE in a single platform.
• EXFO Worx gave users complete network visibility by managing and leveraging the highly scalable Verifiers and processing millions of measurements per second, enabling quick deployment of new services and test sequences as well as providing near real-time access to performance metrics.
• The solution generated gains in process efficiency via centralized test management service activation, where trucks rolls were eliminated in favor of remote service turn-up and troubleshooting.
www.EXFO.com/Xtract
across our global footprint.”On the cloud front, CenturyLink
has a proven history and has a total of 13 cloud nodes globally. Since 2011, the Company has been offering its public cloud making it one of the first cloud offerings in the region. In March 2015, CenturyLink Cloud, the fourth generation cloud, was launched in Singapore. Further to this, in April 2015, the Company announced their global data centre expansion into Australia, one of the most connected countries in the world.
Messer details: “CenturyLink has a great value proposition for local companies in Asia Pacific who are looking to expand to the US and/or EMEA. Given that we own our data centres and operate fibre network in the US, coupled with an international transport network, we can offer better performance, agility and cost effectiveness when compared to other providers.”
It’s all about the peopleThroughout the decades of CenturyLink’s existance, the Company has never lost focus on the one thing that made it successful: its people. CenturyLink prides itself for nurturing the right talent that will drive their business and ensure their customers receive the highest levels of service quality.
C E N T U R Y L I N K A S I A P A C I F I C
In order to ensure the best quality of service possible and improve overall customer experience. EXFO’s service assurance solutions have enabled CenturyLink to increase visibility throughout its network, flagging potential issues before affecting customers and offering operational efficiency pointers to optimise the network quality.
EXFO support CenturyLink’s expansive IP-network system
2015 Acquired Orchestrate, a Company that offers a fully managed database service for rapid application development
2014 Acquired Cognilytics, a leading provider of advanced predictive analytics and big data solutions to mid-sized and large enterprises
> Acquired Data Gardens, a pioneer of disaster recovery and threat management software systems
> Launched its managed hosting availability in China
2013 Acquired cloud provider, Tier 3 to accelerate the company’s cloud platform strategy and AppFog to extend its Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) capabilities
2011 Acquired Savvis, a global leader in cloud infrastructure and hosted IT solutions
2009 Acquired Embarq Corporation, the largest independent local exchange carrier in the US
> Acquired Qwest, a telecommunications and network provider
Recent Company Timeline
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Trust the global leader in datacenter interconnect to deliver
the capacity, scalability and intelligence you need to transform
your cloud network.
www.ciena.com
Any Distance. Any Speed.Anytime.Connecting to the cloud will never be the same.
CIENA
Ciena has been partnering with CenturyLink for over 15 years to deliver best-in-class solutions for carriers and enterprise, specializing in:
• Connecting to the cloud - named the current leader in the data center interconnect market by research firm Ovum, Ciena has a successful track record of providing scalable, efficient, and cost-effective solutions.
• Bandwidth on demand - transform your networks into nimble and dynamic platforms, with SDN enabled applications
• Security - safeguard your critical data from unwanted intrusions, transporting it reliably and transparently across a variety of architectures.
For more information on Ciena’s capabilities, visit:
www.ciena.com/solutions/enterprise
C E N T U R Y L I N K A S I A P A C I F I C T E C H N O L O G Y
What is Hybrid IT?Hybrid IT delivers the network, systems and IT environment to businesses that need to optimise their IT infrastructure, workloads, and business strategy with the best mix of internal and external solutions for critical business needs.
Hybrid IT is not a one-size-fits-all solution, but instead should be uniquely tailored to the capabilities and strategy of the business. CenturyLink can manage their collocation, private and public cloud assets, and network demands so that IT can be an agile service provider to their organisations and end users Demand for Hybrid IT is driving business growth across Asia Pacific.
According to Frost & Sullivan’s recent report titled ‘Asia Pacific Data Centre and Cloud Computing Market Update 2015’, Hybrid IT is fast becoming the new normal across organisations in Asia-Pacific. With the increasing utilisation of data centres and cloud services across the Asia Pacific region, companies have gradually updated or upgraded their existing IT systems, giving rise to the Hybrid IT environment.
C E N T U R Y L I N K A S I A P A C I F I C
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to collocation and managed-service models.
“Outsourcing and adopting a Hybrid IT approach will allow businesses to focus their internal resources on mission-critical systems and applications on-premise, whilst allowing businesses to tap on a provider like CenturyLink for additional external skills and resources on systems and processes off-premise, to mitigate risk and also provide an added innovative competitive advantage,” Messer summarises.
For more information on CenturyLink, visit their website: www.centurylink.com/business/enterprise
T E C H N O L O G Y
CenturyLink has been operating and serving global and local customers in Asia Pacific since 1999, and has invested over US$400m across the region since 2008. Over the past two years, the company has accumulated an impressive list of Asia Pacific awards and accolades, reinforcing their dominance as a leader in hybrid IT:
> Awarded the ‘Asia Pacific Hybrid IT Strategy Award’ in the 2015 Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific Best Practices Awards
> Best in the ‘Managed & Consulting Services’ category of Enterprise Innovation Technology Innovators Awards, 2015
Winner of the ‘Data Centre & Hosting’ category of Computerworld Reader’s Choice Awards 2015
> Winner of the ‘Cloud Services’ category of the Network World Asia Reader’s Choice Awards 2015
> Winner of the ‘DCIM Award’ category of the Network World Asia Information Management Awards’ 2015
> Recognised as a visionary in the 2014 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud-Enabled Managed Hosting Asia Pacific
> Winner of the “Best Hybrid Cloud Service” category of Asia Cloud Computing Awards 2014
Awards
This third installment of the IDC Infographic series sponsored by CenturyLink throws the spotlight on the role of scale, efficiency and execution in driving competitive differentiation.
21 3
An IDC infographic
Need for financial and human resources to manage IT infrastructure continues to grow
The Call for EfficiencyPeople and power costs are forecast to constantly rise with the need for new skills and more, densely packed hardware form factors
Consumption-based Services for Better Cost management
Driving
in the Enterprise
50%
35% are doing nothing to measure power consumption. These organizations need to change and take control of these issues
of Asia/Pacific organizations are suffering from the increase in costs and yet...
Asia/Pacific CIOs' top business priorities
see significant increase in people and costs every year
50%
say that their company mandates them to control power and cooling
consumption costs in their datacenter
25%
Essential Guidance 5 decision criteria for selecting a
hybrid IT solutions partner
Key Business PrioritiesToP 3 AsIA/PACIfIC IT Concerns
Lack of ICT budget for the business requirements
1Lack of
understanding of new
technologies
2Growing complexity
in IT environment/varied user
requirements
3
Cloud solutions
source: IDC Asia/Pacific C-suite Barometer surveyThis IDC Infographic was produced by IDC Go-to-Market services. Any IDC information or reference to IDC that is to be used in advertising, press releases, or promotional materials requires prior written approval from IDC. for more information, visit: www.ap.idc.asia or email: [email protected] 2015
sponsored by
To download the full IDC topline titled ‘Managed Hybrid IT – Enabling Enterprise Agility’, click hErE
Governance and regulations limitations/restrictions among top Asia/Pacific IT Concerns
Business success calls for embedding compliance into strategy, planning and managing costs
Governance and Regulations
top 3 It Concerns of the Asia/Pacific C-SuiteLack of ICt budget for the business requirements
Lack of understanding of new technologies
Growing complexity in IT environment/varied user requirements
How to take risks out of business
Risk Management Tops Asia/pacific
ICt priorities
1 in 5 Asia/Pacific organizations say
reviewing and developing a robust governance strategy and plan is a
top priorityBuilding a
more secure IT environment
Improving or simplifing
IT infrastructure
Building better
management tools
Risk management for business continuity
Today’s cloud solutions factor in business continuity planning to mitigate disasters
Source: IDC Asia/Pacific C-Suite Barometer Survey
Essential Guidance
Outsourcing provides scale and access to resources and skills not found in-house
Outsourcing can provide sufficient levels of disaster
recovery and fault tolerance
Selecting the right vendor that can work through the IT transformation maturity model help mitigate any financial or regulatory risk
An enterprise hybrid IT provider mitigates
risks such as data security and network latency, which are part of their core business offerings
21 3
An IDC infographic
In this second installment of the IDC Infographic Series sponsored by CenturyLink, IDC highlights the importance of finding an equal balance of innovation and compliance to stay ahead of the fast-changing marketplace.
INNOVATIONWalking the
riskTightrope
and
Four areas where a hybrid IT solutions partner can help
surveyed say that more than 50% of their IT functions/applications can be up and running from the disaster recovery site in real time
22%
of Asia/Pacific businesses are not prepared for a disaster
10%
How ready are you for a disaster?
Simplicity
Regulatory and
compliance readiness
High availability
CapEx to opEx
Future- proofed
infrastructure
Source: IDC Asia/Pacific C-Suite Barometer SurveyThis IDC Infographic was produced by IDC Go-to-Market Services. Any IDC information or reference to IDC that is to be used in advertising, press releases, or promotional materials requires prior written approval from IDC. For more information, visit: www.ap.idc.asia or email: [email protected] 2015
Sponsored by
To download the full IDC topline titled ‘Managed Hybrid IT – Enabling Enterprise Agility’, click HERE
This third installment of the IDC Infographic series sponsored by CenturyLink throws the spotlight on the role of scale, efficiency and execution in driving competitive differentiation.
21 3
An IDC infographic
Need for financial and human resources to manage IT infrastructure continues to grow
The Call for EfficiencyPeople and power costs are forecast to constantly rise with the need for new skills and more, densely packed hardware form factors
Consumption-based Services for Better Cost management
Driving
in the Enterprise
50%
35% are doing nothing to measure power consumption. These organizations need to change and take control of these issues
of Asia/Pacific organizations are suffering from the increase in costs and yet...
Asia/Pacific CIOs' top business priorities
see significant increase in people and costs every year
50%
say that their company mandates them to control power and cooling
consumption costs in their datacenter
25%
Essential Guidance 5 decision criteria for selecting a
hybrid IT solutions partner
Key Business PrioritiesToP 3 AsIA/PACIfIC IT Concerns
Lack of ICT budget for the business requirements
1Lack of
understanding of new
technologies
2Growing complexity
in IT environment/varied user
requirements
3
Cloud solutions
source: IDC Asia/Pacific C-suite Barometer surveyThis IDC Infographic was produced by IDC Go-to-Market services. Any IDC information or reference to IDC that is to be used in advertising, press releases, or promotional materials requires prior written approval from IDC. for more information, visit: www.ap.idc.asia or email: [email protected] 2015
sponsored by
To download the full IDC topline titled ‘Managed Hybrid IT – Enabling Enterprise Agility’, click hErE
“I am very proud of my Asia Pacific team. Together, we have achieved so much in such a short time. It’s remarkable to see such passionate people,” Messer shared. “All our achievements in Asia Pacific are only possible with the support of a world-class team and I am very honoured to be working alongside them.”
What’s trending According to a study conducted by international research firm, Vanson Bourne, cost savings, in-house skills shortages and growing emphasis on business-advancing applications will drive enterprises to outsource nearly 70 percent of their IT infrastructure by 2018. This study projects a reversal to today’s situation, in which 65 percent of IT infrastructure resides in in-house environments, and suggests most organisations will arrive at outsourced cloud through hybrid approaches
Governance and regulations limitations/restrictions among top Asia/Pacific IT Concerns
Business success calls for embedding compliance into strategy, planning and managing costs
Governance and Regulations
top 3 It Concerns of the Asia/Pacific C-SuiteLack of ICt budget for the business requirements
Lack of understanding of new technologies
Growing complexity in IT environment/varied user requirements
How to take risks out of business
Risk Management Tops Asia/pacific
ICt priorities
1 in 5 Asia/Pacific organizations say
reviewing and developing a robust governance strategy and plan is a
top priorityBuilding a
more secure IT environment
Improving or simplifing
IT infrastructure
Building better
management tools
Risk management for business continuity
Today’s cloud solutions factor in business continuity planning to mitigate disasters
Source: IDC Asia/Pacific C-Suite Barometer Survey
Essential Guidance
Outsourcing provides scale and access to resources and skills not found in-house
Outsourcing can provide sufficient levels of disaster
recovery and fault tolerance
Selecting the right vendor that can work through the IT transformation maturity model help mitigate any financial or regulatory risk
An enterprise hybrid IT provider mitigates
risks such as data security and network latency, which are part of their core business offerings
21 3
An IDC infographic
In this second installment of the IDC Infographic Series sponsored by CenturyLink, IDC highlights the importance of finding an equal balance of innovation and compliance to stay ahead of the fast-changing marketplace.
INNOVATIONWalking the
riskTightrope
and
Four areas where a hybrid IT solutions partner can help
surveyed say that more than 50% of their IT functions/applications can be up and running from the disaster recovery site in real time
22%
of Asia/Pacific businesses are not prepared for a disaster
10%
How ready are you for a disaster?
Simplicity
Regulatory and
compliance readiness
High availability
CapEx to opEx
Future- proofed
infrastructure
Source: IDC Asia/Pacific C-Suite Barometer SurveyThis IDC Infographic was produced by IDC Go-to-Market Services. Any IDC information or reference to IDC that is to be used in advertising, press releases, or promotional materials requires prior written approval from IDC. For more information, visit: www.ap.idc.asia or email: [email protected] 2015
Sponsored by
To download the full IDC topline titled ‘Managed Hybrid IT – Enabling Enterprise Agility’, click HERE
Governance and regulations limitations/restrictions among top Asia/Pacific IT Concerns
Business success calls for embedding compliance into strategy, planning and managing costs
Governance and Regulations
top 3 It Concerns of the Asia/Pacific C-SuiteLack of ICt budget for the business requirements
Lack of understanding of new technologies
Growing complexity in IT environment/varied user requirements
How to take risks out of business
Risk Management Tops Asia/pacific
ICt priorities
1 in 5 Asia/Pacific organizations say
reviewing and developing a robust governance strategy and plan is a
top priorityBuilding a
more secure IT environment
Improving or simplifing
IT infrastructure
Building better
management tools
Risk management for business continuity
Today’s cloud solutions factor in business continuity planning to mitigate disasters
Source: IDC Asia/Pacific C-Suite Barometer Survey
Essential Guidance
Outsourcing provides scale and access to resources and skills not found in-house
Outsourcing can provide sufficient levels of disaster
recovery and fault tolerance
Selecting the right vendor that can work through the IT transformation maturity model help mitigate any financial or regulatory risk
An enterprise hybrid IT provider mitigates
risks such as data security and network latency, which are part of their core business offerings
21 3
An IDC infographic
In this second installment of the IDC Infographic Series sponsored by CenturyLink, IDC highlights the importance of finding an equal balance of innovation and compliance to stay ahead of the fast-changing marketplace.
INNOVATIONWalking the
riskTightrope
and
Four areas where a hybrid IT solutions partner can help
surveyed say that more than 50% of their IT functions/applications can be up and running from the disaster recovery site in real time
22%
of Asia/Pacific businesses are not prepared for a disaster
10%
How ready are you for a disaster?
Simplicity
Regulatory and
compliance readiness
High availability
CapEx to opEx
Future- proofed
infrastructure
Source: IDC Asia/Pacific C-Suite Barometer SurveyThis IDC Infographic was produced by IDC Go-to-Market Services. Any IDC information or reference to IDC that is to be used in advertising, press releases, or promotional materials requires prior written approval from IDC. For more information, visit: www.ap.idc.asia or email: [email protected] 2015
Sponsored by
To download the full IDC topline titled ‘Managed Hybrid IT – Enabling Enterprise Agility’, click HERE
Governance and regulations limitations/restrictions among top Asia/Pacific IT Concerns
Business success calls for embedding compliance into strategy, planning and managing costs
Governance and Regulations
top 3 It Concerns of the Asia/Pacific C-SuiteLack of ICt budget for the business requirements
Lack of understanding of new technologies
Growing complexity in IT environment/varied user requirements
How to take risks out of business
Risk Management Tops Asia/pacific
ICt priorities
1 in 5 Asia/Pacific organizations say
reviewing and developing a robust governance strategy and plan is a
top priorityBuilding a
more secure IT environment
Improving or simplifing
IT infrastructure
Building better
management tools
Risk management for business continuity
Today’s cloud solutions factor in business continuity planning to mitigate disasters
Source: IDC Asia/Pacific C-Suite Barometer Survey
Essential Guidance
Outsourcing provides scale and access to resources and skills not found in-house
Outsourcing can provide sufficient levels of disaster
recovery and fault tolerance
Selecting the right vendor that can work through the IT transformation maturity model help mitigate any financial or regulatory risk
An enterprise hybrid IT provider mitigates
risks such as data security and network latency, which are part of their core business offerings
21 3
An IDC infographic
In this second installment of the IDC Infographic Series sponsored by CenturyLink, IDC highlights the importance of finding an equal balance of innovation and compliance to stay ahead of the fast-changing marketplace.
INNOVATIONWalking the
riskTightrope
and
Four areas where a hybrid IT solutions partner can help
surveyed say that more than 50% of their IT functions/applications can be up and running from the disaster recovery site in real time
22%
of Asia/Pacific businesses are not prepared for a disaster
10%
How ready are you for a disaster?
Simplicity
Regulatory and
compliance readiness
High availability
CapEx to opEx
Future- proofed
infrastructure
Source: IDC Asia/Pacific C-Suite Barometer SurveyThis IDC Infographic was produced by IDC Go-to-Market Services. Any IDC information or reference to IDC that is to be used in advertising, press releases, or promotional materials requires prior written approval from IDC. For more information, visit: www.ap.idc.asia or email: [email protected] 2015
Sponsored by
To download the full IDC topline titled ‘Managed Hybrid IT – Enabling Enterprise Agility’, click HERE