Savvis to expand North American footprint with 2014 data center launch in Minneapolis-St. Paul area

ST. LOUIS, Oct. 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Savvis, a CenturyLink company (NYSE: CTL) and global leader in cloud infrastructure and hosted IT solutions for businesses, today announced plans to open a new data center in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in spring 2014.

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The Savvis MP2 data center is designed to serve the region's growing demand for colocation, cloud, managed hosting and network services. Built to support 4.8 megawatts of IT load on 100,000 square feet of raised floor space, it will open with an initial 1.2 megawatts and 13,000 square feet of raised floor space.

"The Twin Cities area has long served as a hub of activity to retailers, consumer brands, healthcare and media companies – all of which need more convenient and secure ways to access, maintain and manage their rapidly expanding data," said Jeff Von Deylen, president, Savvis. "Our investment in the MP2 data center signifies our strong commitment to providing businesses in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region with access to world-class colocation, cloud and managed-hosting services."

MN2 will serve as the Minneapolis area's first multitenant Tier III data center to receive certification from both the Uptime Institute and the U.S. Green Building Institute's Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design.

"We are investing in technology infrastructure that allows our diverse business community to continue to grow and innovate," said Duane Ring, CenturyLink Midwest region president. "We're pleased to announce the first phase of development for this new data center and look forward to the opportunities this creates for businesses in the Twin Cities and around the world."

Compass Datacenters will develop the data center on 10 acres of property it owns in Shakopee, Minn., a Minneapolis suburb, and lease the facility to Savvis.

"We are excited to partner with CenturyLink's Savvis organization, which combines a global leadership position in data center excellence with a deep understanding of Minnesota market needs through the existing local CenturyLink presence," said Chris Crosby, chief executive officer of Compass Datacenters. "Working with Savvis to quickly facilitate expansion in the Minneapolis-St. Paul market, we've developed a streamlined strategy for future expansion and response to the growing demands of businesses in the region."

MP2, which joins Savvis' existing data center in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region, will enable businesses to deploy hybrid cloud solutions that leverage network, colocation, managed hosting and managed services. Clients will have free access to Savvis ClientConnect, an online gateway for businesses to expand their capabilities by locating, connecting and sharing services with other businesses residing across Savvis' global data center footprint.

"As we expand our data center footprint around the world, we understand the urgency in the Twin Cities area for flexible and reliable IT solutions," said David Meredith, senior vice president and general manager, Savvis. "Working with Compass, we've set a competitive timeline for delivering carrier diversity, interconnectivity and cloud services at pace with market demands."

Savvis operates more than 50 data centers worldwide, with more than 2.4 million square feet of gross raised floor space throughout North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit http://www.savvis.com.

About Savvis
Savvis, a CenturyLink company, provides industry-leading IT infrastructure solutions that keep enterprises powered for business in today's ever-changing global marketplace. Combining deep, proven experience with personal commitment, Savvis delivers cloud, colocation and managed-hosting services over advanced networks, enabling its clients to focus on their core environments and meet new market opportunities.

About CenturyLink
CenturyLink is the third largest telecommunications company in the United States and is recognized as a leader in the network services market by technology industry analyst firms. The company is a global leader in cloud infrastructure and hosted IT solutions for enterprise customers. CenturyLink provides data, voice and managed services in local, national and select international markets through its high-quality advanced fiber optic network and multiple data centers for businesses and consumers. The company also offers advanced entertainment services under the CenturyLink^® Prism™ TV and DIRECTV brands. Headquartered in Monroe, La., CenturyLink is an S&P 500 company and is included among the Fortune 500 list of America's largest corporations.

For more information, visit www.savvis.com or www.centurylink.com.

SOURCE Savvis