CenturyLink announced in late September that it has a China data center to offer its managed hosting services. The added presence in China enables CenturyLink to expand the availability of its Asia-Pacific capabilities to serve enterprises conducting business in the country.
CenturyLink primarily established a China data center in order to address concerns from customers regarding data sovereignty and performance, but the country’s growing economy is also a large incentive. China is home to the second largest economy in the world, as well as one of the fastest growing IT markets. According to a study recently released by Gartner, IT spending in the country is estimated to reach $375 billion by 2015.
CenturyLink’s presence in China is made possible through an agreement with Neusoft, a leading provider of IT solutions and services in the country. The partnership was necessary to deliver CenturyLink’s services because Chinese regulations bar an outside company from owning or operating IT equipment within China. The agreement is also convenient as it allows businesses that have little experience entering the Chinese market to access extended services through CenturyLink.
CenturyLink has leased space in a Shanghai data center. The facility is located in the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone and is operated by China data center services provider GDS. The pods operated by CenturyLink in the Shanghai data center are the same as their pods elsewhere, offering a multi-tenant managed hosting environment, but the company can also provide some colocation space in the facility for customers interested in hybrid platforms.
CenturyLink operates five other Asia data centers, and the addition of a China data center is part of CenturyLink’s 2014 global data center expansion. The company’s recent opening of a second Toronto data center was also part of the push to launch facilities in emerging markets across the world.
