CenturyLink Appoints Former Dell EMC, Level 3 Execs To Head Up Marketing, Product Management

#Telecom giant @CenturyLink Tuesday said it is bringing on two new executives following the close of its $34 billion Level 3 Communications takeover at the end of 2017. @Gaurav Chand, the former global senior vice president, marketing infrastructure solutions group for @Dell EMC, is joining CenturyLink as the carrier's executive vice president of marketing. @Shaun Andrews has been named executive vice president, product management for CenturyLink, having most recently served as senior vice president, IP and real-time communications for Level 3. Chand and Andrews will report to CenturyLink President and Chief Operating Officer Jeff Storey. [Related: DeLozier, Gee To Split Channel Chief Responsibilities For CenturyLink When Level 3 Acquisition Closes] Prior to the close of CenturyLink's Level 3 acquisition, the carrier made a slew of leadership changes. For one, Storey, who formerly led Level 3 as CEO, will step in as CenturyLink's CEO following the retirement of current Chairman and CEO Glen Post in January 2019.  In September, John DeLozier, CenturyLink's vice president of the Channel Alliance program, told CRN that at he would be splitting the role of channel chief with Level 3's vice president of indirect sales, Garrett Gee, at the start of 2018. [Sponsored Suggested Post: IoTConnex Virtual Conference On Demand Discover new IoT research and insights. Hear solution provider success stories. Find your IoT opportunity.] DeLozier is now serving as vice president, indirect strategic partnerships and alliances for CenturyLink. DeLozier is responsible for the company's top 25 strategic partners globally, which includes its community of master agent partners. Gee is now responsible for execution in the field, including sales within CenturyLink's territories. CenturyLink in June also named the presidents of each of the five business units that make up the new company, which included a mix of Level 3 and existing CenturyLink executives. In his new role with CenturyLink, Chand is responsible for marketing strategy, marketing communications, brand and customer experience. He's also being tasked with development of the company's digital transformation strategy and the company's digital interaction with customers, including buying services, obtaining support and using automated services for provisioning, according to the Monroe, La.-based carrier. Andrews, a telecom veteran with more than two decades of experience, will focus on CenturyLink's go-to market strategy, pricing, product management and product marketing. Before his role with Level 3, Andrews held several senior-level product and business development and management roles with business communications provider IntelePeer, WilTel Communications before it was bought by Level 3, and SBC Communications before it became AT&T. CenturyLink's Level 3 deal has made the combined carrier the second largest fiber provider in the U.S. following AT&T. CenturyLink today reaches over 350 metropolitan areas with more than 100,000 fiber-lit buildings. Moving forward this year, the combined company expects to earn about 75 percent of its core revenue from enterprise customers

http://www.crn.com/news/networking/300097306/centurylink-appoints-former-dell-emc-level-3-execs-to-head-up-marketing-product-management.htm

Telecom, IT Layoff Tracker: CenturyLink, Brocade, HPE,

The trend of IT and telecom giants trimming expenses continued during the second half of this year. A number of job cuts resulted from massive M&A; however, Janco Associates is expecting a brighter outlook for all IT professionals — except for those in telecommunications. Our layoff tracker below recaps cuts at @CenturyLink, @Brocade, #HPE and more that occurred during the second half of 2017, whether prompted by M&A or streamlining measures.

http://www.channelpartnersonline.com/gallery/telecom-it-layoff-tracker-centurylink-brocade-hpe-more/?slide=2#master-slider-anchor

CenturyLink, IBM, VMware Among Top Vendors in Multi-Cloud Management

The global multi-cloud management market is expected to nearly quadruple in size by 2022, reaching nearly $4.5 billion. That’s according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets, which predicts a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 31 percent. The market is nearly $1.2 billion today. @CenturyLink, @IBM, @VMWare, @DellTechnogies and @BMCSoftware are listed among the major vendors in this market. Others include @Accenture, @Citrix, @DoubleHorn, @RightScale, @CliQr, @Cloudyn and @Jamcracker. Market drivers include the avoidance of vendor lock-in, increased agility and automation, and the need for a high-level of governance and policies, MarketsandMarkets said. With the increased adoption rate of cloud computing among enterprises, the market is expected to gain further traction in the coming years. A segment known as “internal brokerage enablement” is expected to hold the largest market share through 2022, driven by increasing employee demand within organizations for a single point of access to all cloud services. Internal brokerage enablement is a group of mainframe and virtualized resources, which can only be accessed by organizations or enterprises over a secured intranet. Cloud automation, a service for automating the management of cloud-based services, is expected to hold the largest market share for 2017 when the numbers are tallied at the end of the year. It allows enterprises to manage the complete deployment life cycle and use of cloud services on public, private and hybrid clouds. Benefits include rapid deployment, increased staff efficiency, reduced cost of maintenance, improved responsiveness to end users, optimum resource utilization and increased quality. Telecom and information technology-enabled services (ITES) is the vertical that’s projected to hold the largest market share during the forecast period. Multi-cloud services are used for various on-demand services. North America, the most mature market in terms of cloud adoption, has the largest market share this year, while APAC is the fastest-growing region.

http://www.channelpartnersonline.com/2017/10/31/centurylink-ibm-vmware-among-top-vendors-in-multi-cloud-management/

New Services Roundup: CenturyLink, Level 3, TBI, More

Perhaps you’ve heard of some of them: #CenturyLink, #Level3, #Telarus, #Windstream, #DellEMC and #VMware, just to name a few. They run the gamut, from big telco providers, to master agents and distributors, to the giants of IT. They’re all here. Software-defined networking continues to be a hot technology, evidenced by multiple companies announcing new SD-WAN services. What follows are the channel’s hottest new products and services, as well as those being offered to certain groups of partners for the first time. Scroll down and click on the arrows on the pictures to advance through the gallery! You’ll want to keep up with the latest in technology and find services that could make you more money. Miss last month’s new services roundup?
Dell EMC

#DellEMC expanded its portfolio of #VDI Complete Solutions: the #Latitude5280 — its latest mobile #thinclient; and #NVIDIA virtual #GPU options. The vendor also announced advances in #VxRail Appliances and #VxRack #SDDC Systems; Dell EMC Enterprise #HybridCloud and Native Hybrid Cloud turnkey platforms; and new #VMware Ready Systems. 

#CenturyLink CenturyLink enhanced its #privatecloud service, which now combines a large-scale, interconnected network with VMware Cloud Foundation and #HewlettPackardEnterprise ( #HPE ) server technology for #hyperconvergedinfrastructure. CenturyLink Dedicated Cloud Compute ( #DCC ) Foundation is an updated architecture moving to a converged, software-defined data center model aimed at helping businesses lower their total cost of ownership, deliver advanced security and simplify their operations.

http://www.channelpartnersonline.com/gallery/new-services-roundup-centurylink-level-3-tbi-more/?slide=1#master-slider-anchor

CenturyLink delivers automation solution for SAP applications management

#CenturyLink is rolling out enhanced automation for infrastructure management in #SAP applications. This will be delivered in partnership with both SAP and #Cisco. The new, fully managed solution has been built for customers that run workloads on SAP software. It is designed to change how customers address the development and management of SAP applications and analytics. CenturyLink, who has worked closely with Cisco and SAP in development, has built the new solution on #FlexPod technology which was designed by #NetApp and Cisco. The tool is designed to enable customers to realise faster time-to-value at lower costs.

http://www.cbronline.com/news/enterprise-it/software/centurylink-delivers-automation-solution-sap-applications-management/

CenturyLink joins NetApp partner program, to re-sell managed storage

#CenturyLink (CTL -1.2%) has joined the Unified Partner Program at #NetApp (NTAP -2.5%), extending an existing relationship by arranging to re-sell the latter's managed storage solutions. It's a "big push in the field," CenturyLink's Terence Gleeson tells LightReading. The provider will take six main routes to market, including large enterprise, SMB, government and education, and global teams. CenturyLink has a number of co-location environments where customers have had NetApp equipment. It wants to offer customers a complete package, whether they want to manage their own hardware or for CenturyLink to provide a managed service.

http://seekingalpha.com/news/3252631-centurylink-joins-netapp-partner-program-re-sell-managed-storage

CenturyLink Moves into Big Data with Cloudera Platform

#CenturyLink is launching big data-as-a-service using #Cloudera ’s managed service platform. The telco plans to use the service to help companies rapidly analyze large and complex data sets. Many companies lack in-house data experts. And the need for analytics is growing as enterprises deploy Internet of Things ( #IoT ) platforms that have data-intensive workloads. In a 2016 survey by CrowdFlower, as reported by MIT News, data scientists said that on average they spend 80 percent of their time collecting and organizing data and only 20 percent analyzing it. CenturyLink’s big data offering will be supported by the telecom company’s analytics consulting team and will use CenturyLink’s network connectivity as well as the company’s bare metal servers, which provide private cloud environments. The company will offer workshops to help customers assess their needs and will then work with the client to build a data platform that addresses all areas including data ingest, storage, and access. CenturyLink isn’t the only company looking at ways to exploit the big data opportunity. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (#HPE) last August bought big data analytics company SGI for $275 million to strengthen its position in high performance computing and
https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/news/centurylink-moves-into-big-data-with-cloudera-platform/2017/01/

Reports Say CenturyLink And Level 3 Are Close To A Merger, Partners Approve

Telecom providers #CenturyLink and #Level3 Communications are reportedly in talks to join forces, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. A possible merger would combine Level 3's robust fiber footprint, with CenturyLink's networking, cloud and software-defined networking ( #SDN ) expertise, partners say. While terms of the reported deal are unknown, a merger could be announced in the coming weeks, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The potential CenturyLink/Level 3 merger comes at a time in which many traditional telecom providers are trying to reinvent themselves in order to stay relevant and bring more value to their customers, said Michael Bremmer, CEO of Moreno Valley, California-based TelecomQuotes.com, a telecom consultancy.

"The problem is, these carriers don't know what they want to be when they grow up," Bremmer said.

Level 3's far-flung fiber infrastructure expands more than 100,000 fiber miles in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia. Its footprint also includes 30,000 metro route miles and 35,000 subsea route miles. CenturyLink, a service provider with a smaller backbone, has a robust portfolio of cloud, hosting and SDN services that could be expanded to more customers if the two companies come together, partners say.

Carrier Access, Inc., a Des Moines, Iowa-based solution provider and CenturyLink Premier Partner believes that a merger between the two companies would be welcome to the market, said Shane Stark, director of vendor and channel relations for Carrier Access.

CenturyLink and Level 3 have a lot of synergies, Stark said.

"From a partner standpoint, it's a great thing to see two companies that have been partner-friendly come together. I think it would be a fantastic fit, " he said.

A CenturyLink/Level 3 combination will help both companies offer more valuable services to the market, TelecomQuotes' Bremmer added.

http://m.crn.com/news/networking/300082625/reports-say-centurylink-and-level-3-are-close-to-a-merger-partners-approve.htm

Cloudera and CenturyLink Expand Strategic Alliance to Deliver Big Data as a Service for Customers

PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 21, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ( #Bigdata )Companies across the globe have recognized the value they can derive from their big data to enable better business decision-making, transform their businesses and create competitive advantages. To enable customers to more effectively and efficiently use these innovative technology solutions, #Cloudera, the global provider of the fastest, easiest, and most secure data management and analytics platform built on #Apache #Hadoop and the latest open source technologies, today announced an expanded partnership with #CenturyLink, Inc., a global communications, hosting, cloud and IT services company. Together, Cloudera and CenturyLink Global IT Services are working to deliver big data as a service to enable customers to gain value from all their data. As part of being a preferred partner, CenturyLink’s Global IT Services is delivering a fully managed big data solution powered by Cloudera Enterprise. This combined big data offering will exponentially speed time to deploy Cloudera Enterprise and also simplify some of the management complexities from Hadoop operations, so that customers can spend more time working with data and generating new insights that drive business growth. “CenturyLink and Cloudera are aligned not just from a technology standpoint, but also in our shared interest in helping customers get more value out of all of their data,” said Gary Gauba, president, CenturyLink Cognilytics. “That’s why in addition to offering a platform for big data management and analytics in the cloud, we are also focused on delivering value-added use cases that run on this platform and help our customers become more agile and responsive.”

https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2016/09/21/873623/0/en/Cloudera-and-CenturyLink-Expand-Strategic-Alliance-to-Deliver-Big-Data-as-a-Service-for-Customers.html

How Amazon, Google, Microsoft crushed Verizon, AT&T in the Cloud

In the pantheon of cloud computing, consider #Amazon Web Services  ( #AWS )the Zeus-like leader, with #Microsoft (MSFT), #Alphabet 's (GOOGL) #Google and #IBM (IBM) also ranking among the top service providers. Not found in the cloud hierarchy, however, are telecom companies #AT&T (T), #Verizon Communications (VZ) and #CenturyLink (CTL).
While telecom leaders in other markets have surfaced as cloud-computing services leaders, that's not so in the U.S. -- not that AT&T, Verzon and CenturyLink didn't try.

But they failed, and observers point to cloud vendors ramping up security faster than the telecoms expected, outspending the telecom firms in key areas and being quicker to help app developers.

For telecom firms, their chances for cloud dominance are gone, as the kingpins scale up, says Dave Bartoletti, an analyst at Forrester Research.

"At this point, it's over for anyone to break into a competitive, global, hyper-scale mega-cloud with the scale and feature-breadth of AWS, Microsoft, Google and IBM," Bartoletti said.

Telecoms Also Missed Out With Data Centers

AWS, part of e-commerce leader Amazon.com (AMZN), battle for supremacy along with Microsoft's Azure and Google in what's called infrastructure-as-a-service. IaaS is the fast-growing business of renting out computing resources -- number-crunching machines, data storage and software tools -- to companies and other enterprises.

http://www.investors.com/news/technology/how-amazon-microsoft-crushed-verizon-att-in-the-cloud/

CenturyLink (CTL) Announces Acquisition of Software-Based Broadband Networking Assets

@CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) announced it has acquired certain strategic assets of the company formerly known as @ActiveBroadbandNetworks, a provider in software-based broadband networking. These assets will help accelerate CenturyLink's efforts to automate its network, move network functions into the cloud and deliver software-defined networking ( #SDN ) and network functions virtualization ( #NFV ) services to its customers.

The company formerly known as Active Broadband Networks, based in Framingham, Mass., uses SDN and NFV technologies to provide broadband edge solutions to service providers, enabling them to deliver a next-generation cloud-based service infrastructure. #CenturyLink 's acquisition of the company's edge platform assets strengthens CenturyLink's ability to virtualize core network functions.

"This acquisition provides us with people and technology resources that will help us continue to develop and implement our platform strategy and integrate SDN and NFV technology into our network," said Aamir Hussain, CenturyLink's executive vice president and chief technology officer. "Moving services into the cloud, particularly at the network edge, is essential as we continue to focus on providing our customers with a wide variety of virtualized network functions that help them more effectively manage their business."

http://www.streetinsider.com/dr/news.php?id=11784177

How a group of neighbors created their own Internet service

When you live somewhere with slow and unreliable Internet access, it usually seems like there’s nothing to do but complain. And that's exactly what residents of #OrcasIsland, one of the San Juan Islands in Washington state, were doing in late 2013. Faced with #CenturyLink service that was slow and outage-prone, residents gathered at a community potluck and lamented their current connectivity.
“Everyone was asking, 'what can we do?'” resident Chris Brems recalls. “Then [Chris] Sutton stands up and says, ‘Well, we can do it ourselves.’”

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/11/how-a-group-of-neighbors-created-their-own-internet-service/