Wholesale: Products & Services

CenturyLink™ Data Center Carrier Solutions

The Data Center Carrier Solutions Service (“Service”) is designed to allow carriers to connect their networks to colocation customers in CenturyLink Data Centers by purchasing the following Service elements: Entrance Facilities, Carrier Colocation, and Cross-Connects.

Entrance Facilities

Entrance Facilities allow carriers to bring their network facilities into a CenturyLink Data Center or other CenturyLink Premises. A carrier brings its fiber to a man-hole or hand-hole outside the CenturyLink Premises and: (a) carrier pulls its fiber through an assigned inner-duct system and directly into the carrier’s colocation space (an Express Entrance Facility); or (b) carrier pulls its fiber to a CenturyLink demarc, then CenturyLink splices the fiber to a meet cable that is terminated to a CenturyLink fiber distribution panel in the Data Center, and CenturyLink delivers fiber jumpers from the CenturyLink fiber distribution panel to the carrier’s colocation space (a Shared Entrance Facility). When the Service is provisioned using a Carrier Room, two different types of Entrance Facilities are available: an Express or Shared (subject to availability). When the Service is provisioned into a Meet-Me-Room, an Express Entrance Facility must be utilized.

Carrier Colocation

CenturyLink provides Carrier Colocation on a 24/7/365 basis, including conditioned power, cooling, fire suppression, and controlled access. Carrier Colocation options include: racks and/or cabinets, protected AC power, power strips, and hands-on support. Depending upon the location and availability, Carrier Colocation can be purchased in two different physical locations, either a Carrier Room or a Meet-Me-Room.

Carrier Room
Carriers who install their fiber into a CenturyLink Data Center via an Entrance Facility, can establish a physical point-of-presence in a portion of the Data Center set aside solely for carrier colocation known as the “Carrier Room”, and connect to colocation customers in the Data Center by ordering cross connects from CenturyLink.

Meet-Me-Room
Carriers who install their fiber into a colocation center (carrier hotel/multi tenant building, i.e. not within a Data Center) via an Entrance Facility, can establish a physical point-of-presence in the “Meet Me Room” (MMR) at the colocation center, and place their equipment in the MMR so that they can interconnect to other customers colocated in the MMR. Carriers within the MMR interconnect to each other by ordering cross-connects from CenturyLink. CenturyLink must provision all cross-connects in the MMR. Only carriers and building tenants are allowed to have equipment in the MMR.

Cabinets and Racks
Cabinets are defined as a fully enclosed shelter constructed with a high-strength steel frame which reside within a cage. Each cabinet has side panels, lockable front and rear doors. The cabinet is designed to house computer and networking equipment within the Data Center. Racks are a high-strength steel frame only (19” or 23”” wide), with no side panels or doors. CenturyLink offers three types of racks :

• Two-post high strength aluminum racks which are used for telecom equipment
• Four-post steel racks which are used for computer and networking equipment
• Mighty Mo racks which are used primarily for side venting equipment

Cross-Connects

Cross-connects, or Customer Access Extension (CAE), are physical media or connections that carriers can use to directly connect to colocation customers in the CenturyLink Data Center.

CenturyLink Data Center Carrier Solutions - Benefits

• Multiple locations – CenturyLink Data Center facilities are available worldwide (54 centers in North America, Europe and Asia)
• Facility - One of the largest and most sophisticated hosting infrastructures in the world, helping to facilitate quality experiences for users of our customers' websites. As such, our data centers are designed to keep customers' sites running and their users connected. We have skilled data center management professionals on duty 24/7 to handle situations that arise.
• Flexibility - CenturyLink offers a variety of entrance, space and power, and cabinet configurations.
• Service Delivery – An assigned Project Manager to coordinate and manage the installation process. The Project Manager works closely with customer personnel throughout installation.
• Gold Support Services & Structured Cabling Services - Gold Support offering provides network on-site (“hands-on”) support for designated carrier environments within the Carrier Room and MMR. CenturyLink provides complete design and installation services associated with Structured Cabling Systems (SCS) (“Structured Cabling Services”). The Structured Cabling Services include the physical connectivity associated with Entrance Facilities, and dedicated design and installation associated with infrastructure builds within the carrier’s cage environment.

How it works

• Choose one of CenturyLink’s Data Center facilities and determine how much space, power and bandwidth you need. Work with your CenturyLink Wholesale Sales Team to refine your needs, provide you a quote, and build a plan to get to production. CenturyLink will work with you to implement project deliverables and tasks as well as manage data center personnel who will work with you during your installation period.  Once up and running, enjoy 24/7 support from the First Touch Response Service Desk as well as our data center personnel. With flexible contract terms and service offerings, CenturyLink is the easy choice for expanding your data center connectivity.

Why buy Data Center Carrier Solutions from CenturyLink?

• CenturyLink offers managed hosting services and a suite of cloud services through data centers strategically located around the world. From shared, dedicated and hybrid solutions to fully virtualized data centers, CenturyLink managed hosting and cloud services are part of a complete portfolio of IT solutions.
• Customer service - CenturyLink personnel work with you hand-in-hand to provide guidance and ensure a quality installation experience.
• Expertise - CenturyLink has provided data center services since 1994; few providers have served the data center industry as long as CenturyLink Location - CenturyLink Data Center facilities are available worldwide (54 centers in North America, Europe and Asia)

Compatible products/services available from CenturyLink:

• Carrier Diversity using CenturyLink’s Optical Wavelength Services
• IP Solutions
• and more

How to Get Started

For more information on CenturyLink Hosting Services, please contact your CenturyLink Sales Representative.