CenturyLink Rebrand of Savvis Now Official

As expected, CenturyLink Inc. announced Tuesday that Savvis, the data hosting company it acquired in 2011, will deliver its services under the name CenturyLink Technology Solutions effective immediately. The rebrand better links the business unit with the parent company  and their combined business offerings, which include colocation, managed services, cloud and network services, the company said in a press statement.

The decision, which has been expected and blogged about for months, has been criticized by those that argue Savvis’ brand recognition in key markets is stronger than its parent. "Its something of a pity that CenturyLink is in the midst of killing the Savvis brand, which has recently gotten a lot of press because of their partnership with VMware for vCHS, and is far better known outside the U.S. than the CenturyLink brand, especially in the cloud and hosting space," wrote Gartner analyst Lydia Leone in a Nov. 19 blog.

Jeff Von Deylen, president of Savvis and now CenturyLink Technology Solutions, acknowledged Savvis’ long reputation. "While we are extremely proud of our nearly 20-year legacy operating as Savvis within the industry, we value CenturyLinks extensive market leadership and look forward to operating under one brand to continue helping businesses become more agile, secure and sustainable with integrated solutions that deliver bottom-line results,” he said.

CenturyLink Technology Solutions will remain the distinct data hosting operating segment within CenturyLink, offering virtual and dedicated hosting as well as colocation services. 

CenturyLink said in a press statement that it  expects to continue advancing its cloud, colocation, managed services and hybrid IT operations;  building and expanding data centers in key markets; and broadening its managed application suite and cloud solutions.

Aside from Savvis, the carrier also bought the  assets of Cibers IT outsourcing business in 2012 and platform-as-a-service provider AppFog, and public cloud provider Tier 3 in 2013.