CenturyLink can now check IBM Cloud off of the list of the top-cloud providers it's partnering with. IBM Cloud was added to CenturyLink's Cloud Connect Dynamic Connections portfolio, which also includes Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and Oracle.
Through IBM Cloud Direct Link services, businesses can now access the connections they need to drive their hybrid cloud strategies with IBM hybrid and public cloud offerings. The new connections make it easier for businesses to link their workloads and connect enterprise data center locations.
With CenturyLink and IBM Cloud, businesses can access dedicated, private connections from any public internet access with low latency, according to CenturyLink. It also enables them to add or delete connections and turn up or turn down bandwidth based on demand. Billing can be usage-based, by the hour or by the month.
“With this network connectivity solution, customers have control over performance and cost with powerful self-service tools that allow them to quickly and easily alter their cloud connections,” said Paul CenturyLink's Savill, senior vice president, enterprise product and services, CenturyLink. “Extending Cloud Connect Dynamic Connections to IBM Cloud helps more businesses deploy hybrid cloud solutions and transform their network ecosystem as application and infrastructure requirements change. We provide the efficiency and scalability they need to succeed.”
Businesses of all sizes are turning to cloud providers to host their compute and storage data, as well as provision more software-as-a-service (SaaS) options, such as Office 365, Google Apps and Salesforce, to their employees.
Cloud Connect Dynamic Connections, which is part of the CenturyLink Cloud Connect portfolio, is available across North America, Asia Pacific and Europe. CenturyLink first announced Cloud Connect Dynamic Connections in 2018.
CenturyLink Cloud Connect Dynamic Connections provide real-time network provisioning from the customer premise to CenturyLink's edge locations, which allows businesses to deploy and manage their workloads in an agile development model.
In turn, the edge services can connect to thousands of data centers and office buildings by using CenturyLink Cloud Connect to run distributed IT workloads closer to the edge of the network and closer to the end customers.
RELATED: CenturyLink grows on-demand network connectivity to Google Cloud Platform
In October, CenturyLink announced it had formed a partnership with Google Cloud Project to offer on-demand connectivity.
According to a recent report by Synergy Research Group (SRG), Amazon Web Services had 33% of the market share at the end of the fourth quarter followed by Microsoft (18%), Google (8%), IBM (6%), Alibaba (5%), and Salesforce (3%.)