Huge telco CenturyLink scoops up cloud services provider Tier 3

Updated 11/20/2013 at 8:15am with comment from a CenturyLink spokesperson.

CenturyLink, which lays claim to being the third-largest telecommunications provider in the U.S., has scooped up enterprise cloud services provider Tier 3.

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Tier 3’s cloud services are immediately available as “CenturyLink Cloud,” which suggests that — so far at least — the acquired company has been plugged directly into its acquirer with very little change.

CenturyLink offers its tech solutions through Savvis, which already has multiple cloud offerings. A spokesperson told VentureBeat that Savvis had been aiming to consolidate onto a platform that is enterprise-friendly, and that this acquisition provides that platform.

“In addition, this was a strategic move,” the spokesperson told us. “Tier 3’s self-service platform, coupled with CenturyLink’s scale and breadth of services, is game-changing for CenturyLink and our global enterprise clients. This acquisition underscores our continued commitment to delivering the most complete portfolio of cloud services.”

The press release notes that all of Tier 3’s “products, roadmap, and vision” are being moved wholesale into CenturyLink’s cloud strategy, and will form the basis of a new CenturyLinkCloud Development Center, which will embrace “agile DevOps and open-source development.”

CenturyLink is the parent company of CenturyLink Prism TV and also offers entertainment packages in partnership with DirecTV; it’s based in Louisiana, and is a Fortune 500 company. [Corrected 11/20/2013: CenturyLink is not the parent company of DirecTV.]

The new center offers infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), and cloud management products, while promising high levels of security, availability, speed, and global presence.

Tier 3 founder and chief technical officer Jared Wray joins CenturyLink as the chief technical officer of its new cloud organization.

“We started Tier 3 to make cloud easier,” Wray wrote in a blog post.  “We created products, processes, and a culture to help enable cloud for the enterprise.” And, he promised, “Very little will change for our customers.”

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Not mentioned in the press release are the fate of Tier 3 CEO Matthew Schiltz or any of the organization’s other executives or staff.

Neither party disclosed the terms of the acquisition. Seattle-based Tier 3, which was founded in 2006, had raised $18.5 million in two rounds of venture funding from Ignition Partners, Intel Capital, and Madrona Group.