CenturyLink Expands Cloud Ecosystem to Offer IBM Cloud Object Storage

CenturyLink, Inc. has expanded its cloud connectivity and services portfolio to include IBM Cloud Object Storage platform. With the addition of this storage option, CenturyLink can offer media and entertainment companies a more scalable, highly-available, and secure way to improve the management and delivery of their content globally.

As media viewership grows and people increasingly prefer to consume entertainment on mobile devices, media and entertainment companies are rethinking how they can support and deliver greater volumes of high-quality content to customers worldwide.

With reports indicating content delivery networks (CDNs) will carry 72 percent of internet traffic by 2022, the need for a hybrid cloud approach that includes cloud-based storage and workflows to support that growth has spiked.

IBM Cloud Object Storage offers CenturyLink customers a centralized, resilient, scalable solution so they can be confident in their ability to manage and move content securely and at high-speed. IBM Cloud Object Storage can handle content libraries of virtually any size for seamless management and delivery, which is particularly important to media and entertainment companies that need to rapidly move and manage large, complex and sensitive data.

"Providing high-performance, geographically-diverse origin storage is critical to achieving great user experiences when attempting to reach global audiences – particularly when it comes to serving fast-growing regions like Latin America and Asia-Pacific," said Bill Wohnoutka, vice president of global internet and content delivery solutions for CenturyLink. "IBM Cloud Object Storage combined with CenturyLink's rapidly expanding global CDN footprint offers our customers a scalable, highly-available and resilient option to improve user experience for content delivery globally."

Today's news builds on CenturyLink's decision last year to deliver secure, dedicated, and private network connectivity to the IBM Cloud through CenturyLink Cloud Connect solutions.

"The media and entertainment industry faces unique challenges today in the way content is consumed and the sheer volume of data that must be transferred at any moment," said Phil Buckellew, GM, IBM Cloud Object Storage and Databases. "With the integration of IBM Cloud Object Storage, CenturyLink can now offer its customers even more options in how they move and manage their data across environments. This kind of hybrid cloud approach is critical as they look to keep pace with booming viewership and shifting preferences."