CommScope has formed the Multi-Tenant Data Center (MTDC) Alliance, reflecting two key trends: the increasing consumption of data and service providers outsourcing their data center facilities.
MTDC Alliance members will be able to offer optimal network infrastructure solutions for customers who need to deploy this technology in multitenant environments.
The new alliance, which includes Equinix as an initial member, has active partners in 88 countries and serves as a resource with thousands of distributors, installers, integrators and consultants worldwide.
CommScope cited research which expects total operational square footage of global MTDCs to reach 177 million by end 2018.
“Over the years, a shift has taken place in which companies increasingly outsource IT needs to shared environments in which data centers are viewed as an operating expense,” said Stephen Kowal, SVP of global partners for CommScope, in a release.
Kowal’s thesis reflects the ongoing trend by enterprises and service providers to outsource their data center service functions. By outsourcing data center services instead of building, hosting, maintaining and upgrading them, MTDC tenants can realize operating and capital expenditures savings.
A number of service providers like CenturyLink and Verizon have opted to get out of the data center business altogether.
CenturyLink recently completed the sale of its data center to a private equity group. This sale allows the telco will continue to offer colocation services as part of its product portfolio through commercial relationships it will enter into at closing with the BC Partners/Medina-led consortium. The service provider will continue to focus on offering customers a wide range of IT services and solutions, including network, managed hosting and cloud.
Glen Post, CEO of CenturyLink, told investors during its first-quarter earnings call that its data center sale and pending acquisition of Level 3 allows it to focus “first on network and taking a less capital intensive approach to complementary offerings such as hosting, Cloud, IT and Managed Services.”
Earlier, Verizon, which has made two important moves in its IT services transition: Selling its data center business to Equinix and then its cloud services business to IBM.
These moves not only reflect the financial challenges of running a data center business, but it also allow telcos to redirect their attention back onto being a consultant for business customers.