CenturyLink has increased the number of network carriers available for interconnections across its data center portfolio, providing its customers access to 99 different carriers and network providers.

CenturyLink has 58 data centers throughout the Asia Pacific, Europe and the United States.

According to the company, it provides an average of seven network carrier connections at each data center, and some facilities offer more than 20 unique providers.

David Meredith, senior vice president, global data centers, CenturyLink, says the expanded connectivity options enable businesses to stay better connected with their customers in today's “data-centric environment”.

“In today's increasingly digital world, businesses, government agencies and consumers alike face drastically increased needs for connectivity,” he says.

“In order to meet this steep demand, organisations must take a hybrid IT approach and maximise the value of their IT assets,” Meredith states.

“By accessing several different data center carriers, CenturyLink customers are better positioned to deliver reliable and secure connections for their clients,” he explains. 

Meredith says CenturyLink's growing Interconnection Ecosystem facilitates data center connectivity by offering hosting and colocation customers direct, low-latency connectivity to a “broad array of ecosystems beyond the walls of the data centers.

He says, “Robust connectivity options provide access to ISVs, content-delivery networks, financial matching engines, carrier hotels and on-net access to more than 260 data center facilities.”.

Melanie Posey, Research Vice President at research analyst firm IDC, says. “As the fast-evolving digital economy accelerates the market need for agile and secure IT infrastructure environments, organisations are leveraging colocation providers to extend their IT footprints in facilities with reliable and performance-optimised network interconnection ecosystems.

“The digital economy is geographically dispersed; therefore, IDC sees a long-term need for distributed IT environments and diverse, interconnected networks,” she says.

The increase in carrier connections follows CenturyLink's earlier announcement this year that it was expanding its data center footprint.