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CenturyLink has been named as a Microsoft Azure Expert Managed Services Provider (MSP), spanning the Asia Pacific (APAC) region following a global announcement.
The certification is in recognition of the provider’s efforts in securing successful outcomes for its customers who leverage the Microsoft Azure platform with continued investments in resources, training and technology.
“After two decades of experience supporting IT solutions for our customers around Microsoft technologies, we are now well-positioned to capitalise on our recent accreditation as a Microsoft Azure Expert MSP,” said David Shacochis, vice president of product management, CenturyLink.
“This achievement validates CenturyLink's cloud strategy of connecting workloads to the right cloud, on the right network, with the right value-added services that allow business customers to focus their resources on delighting their customers."
What won the certification for the provider was primarily the development of its hybrid cloud management platform, Cloud Application Manager.
This platform was designed to provide customers with increased visibility, consistency and control over their cloud deployments from the network to the application layer enabling application deployments to be automated, costs optimised, scale workloads and manage connections across disparate operating environments.
"Partners play a central role in Microsoft's development to support companies in their digital transformation projects," said Gavriella Schuster, corporate vice president of One Commercial Partner (OCP) at Microsoft.
"Our customers are increasingly demanding the skills and expertise they expect from our partner ecosystem. That is why we establish specific certifications - in this case, on the expertise of Microsoft Azure.
“We are pleased that CenturyLink is committed to our customers and contributes to the strong growth of innovative projects on Azure."
Furthermore, a variety of secure network connectivity options are also provided by CenturyLink that are designed to interface with the Azure platform including a range of options from its Cloud Connect Solutions portfolio for hybrid-cloud applications.
Specifically, Cloud Connect and Azure ExpressRoute, in particular, provide a secure, high-performance network for enterprises to operate a seamless IT environment between their corporate networks and private on-premises infrastructure or third-party data centres and the Azure cloud platform.
As a long-time provider of Microsoft-based IT solutions, CenturyLink obtained the certification as a Microsoft Azure Expert MSP through a rigorous audit process to confirm the provider met or exceeded several requirements such as optimising operations, delivering lifetime value to customers, and enhancing Azure's service offerings.
CenturyLink has made some significant investments in the APAC region recently, with a new security operations centre planned for Singapore in the first quarter of 2019 to address the growing persistent threat landscape in the region.
The provider operates seven security operations centres globally, with the upcoming Singapore centre being the providers eighth.
