New Qwest CyberCenter underscores outsourcing trend

Increased demand for cloud-based services is driving the need for increased data center capacity, including a new Washington D.C.-area facility opened today by Qwest Communications.

“The real driver is the economy,” Qwest Director of Product Management Martin Capurro told Connected Planet. Seeking cost savings, some customers are opting to move equipment from their own data centers into Qwest-operated centers, while others are relying on equipment owned and operated by Qwest, Capurro said.

Among cloud-based offerings “operating systems, database and web services tend to be the most popular,” Capurro said.

Cloud-based services initially were most popular with smaller companies, Capurro said. “But the answer now has shifted and now it can be any size business,” he said.

The new facility brings Qwest’s data center total to 17. All facilities, which the company calls “CyberCenters,” provide the same suite of services--including server and database management, on-site and centralized operations, security, critical systems such as conditioned power systems and service level agreements.

The new Washington D.C.-area facility has 129,000 square feet and already supports one federal government customer.