CenturyLink launches Cloud Development Center in Seattle

CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) continues to aggressively chase the cloud and use the resources it gained when it acquired Tier 3.

The carrier has opened a Seattle-area Cloud Development Center with the goal of providing a "collaborative environment for top technology talent around the world," according to CenturyLink Cloud CTO Jared Wray, who will oversee the operation.

The 30,000-quare-foot center, located in Bellevue, Wash., "is designed to foster creativity among the top developers and coders of today and tomorrow as they keep CenturyLink at the forefront of cloud and platform innovation," Wray continued in a press release.

CenturyLink joins--and possibly passes--the efforts of other telcos to take advantage of the cloud, according to a story in The New Stack, which cites AT&T's (NYSE: T) OpenStack effort and Verizon's (NYSE: VZ) Terremark acquisition as two other cloud plays that have stutter-stepped. What makes CenturyLink stand out, among other things, is Wray, who, as founder of pure play cloud provider Tier3, "was focused on enterprise workloads targeting businesses with advanced management tools," the story said.

CenturyLink also brings some brick-and-mortar contributions to the virtual space as well, with 57 data centers around the world, a powerful MPLS network and about 500,000 miles of fiber.

The Cloud Development Center, which will employ about 300 people and, according to the CenturyLink press release, include an executive briefing center and "team room" workspaces along with a large area for hosting developer and start-up events, joins a Technology Center of Excellence the carrier is planning to open in Monroe, La.

For more:
- CenturyLink has this press release
- The New Stack has this story
- and Business Cloud News has this story

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