SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: DLR), a leading global provider of data center solutions, introduced today Direct Link Colo, a solution that connects customers in Digital Realty data centers directly to IBM Cloud via SoftLayer's global cloud infrastructure platform. With Direct Link Colo, customers in Digital Realty data centers gain access to incredible network performance, including latency as low as 1.5 milliseconds—one of the lowest latencies for a hybrid cloud solution in the industry.
IBM Cloud data centers are colocated at Digital Realty's hub locations in the Asia Pacific region, Europe and the U.S., with direct dark fiber connections between them. According to Chris Sharp, Digital Realty's Chief Technology Officer, "By eliminating the role of the public Internet or the need for costly private networks, Direct Link Colo enables customers and partners to have greater control over access to their infrastructure and services, the speed of their connection to IBM Cloud, and how the data is routed."
With Direct Link Colo, there are no third-party carriers involved, additional intermediary electronics or steps are minimized, and links are available at 1 GigE or 10 GigE speeds. By directly linking Digital Realty—a data center provider with a global footprint, unrivaled ability to scale with clients of every size, and an eight-year record of 99.999 percent ("five 9s") of uptime—to SoftLayer's modular global cloud infrastructure platform, Direct Link Colo delivers:
- Latency as low as 1.5 milliseconds to facilitate scaling and near real-time synchronicity between hybrid cloud and colocation solutions
- Fast deployment and extension of customer solutions
- Dramatically reduced power costs due to less physical equipment
- Room to grow on a global scale with a trusted partner
"Our primary goal in working with Digital Realty on Direct Link Colo is to deliver world class hybrid computing solutions without compromising on performance and security," said Jack Beech, Vice President of Business Development for SoftLayer, an IBMcompany. "We have a longstanding relationship with Digital Realty and know the team operates to the highest standards. This, combined with our close proximity to many of its colocation facilities, is crucial to delivering the latency we are aiming to achieve."
Direct Link Colo is currently available in eight markets: Santa Clara, CA; Dallas, TX; Ashburn, VA; London, England; Amsterdam,Holland; Tokyo, Japan; Singapore and Melbourne, Australia; with more locations to be added in the future. For more information on IBM Direct Link services powered by SoftLayer visit http://www.softlayer.com/direct-link.
About Digital Realty
Digital Realty Trust, Inc. supports the data center and colocation strategies of more than 1,000 firms across its secure, network-rich portfolio of data centers located throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Digital Realty's clients include companies of all sizes, ranging from financial services, cloud and information technology services, to manufacturing, energy, gaming, life sciences and consumer products. https://www.digitalrealty.com/
