Both gtlt and CenturyLink (NYSE:CTL, news, filings) today announced expansions of their network presence with the help of CoreSite (NYSE:COR, news, filings). GTT is adding ten of the data center REIT’s facilities to their backbone network, while CenturyLink added five.
GTT will also join the Any2 peering exchange, and provide access to the various other peering exchanges CoreSite has been partnering with lately in an effort to expand its ecosystem: AMS-IX, DE-CIX, and NYIIX. GTT hasn’t always operated a network of this scope. They have purchased two other network operators over the past two years, acquiring PacketExchange and nLayer. It’s entirely possible that they have more M&A in mind, but they seem to have organic expansion in mind this quarter. No doubt they will be looking to add further on-ramps to more easily reach more of the growing cloud sector and generally bolster their network-as-a-service offerings.
As for CenturyLink, the additional nodes will give them coverage in all 14 of CoreSite’s facilities nationwide. They’ll be offering a full set of services from raw bandwidth up to IP services and VoIP. CenturyLink has been busy integrating the Qwest and Savvis assets, and obviously is now looking to expand its on-ramps — something Qwest was always a bit deficient in.
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Categories: Datacenter · Internet Backbones
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Wasn’t GTT just a reseller until they bought out WV Fiber?
GTT has historically been a reseller and still has that capability. As Rob notes, we have acquired both PacketExchange and nLayer in the last 18 months, as well as WBS Connect in Dec ’09, rather than WV Fiber. This has allowed us to become a network operator, delivering Ethernet and IP Transit services that we control and manage, while utilising the reseller heritage to bundle in the final mile or network extensions we don’t have on our own expanding footprint.