We recently caught up with Pete Abel, Senior Vice President, Marketing & Channel Sales at TierPoint to discuss the current state of the cloud and the data center industry. What we found is that TierPoint is much more than a colocation provider for business and enterprise clients. The company is rapidly evolving with technology to help clients navigate everything from hybrid IT and private cloud to colocation, disaster recovery, hyperscale computing, cybersecurity, and managed services.
How has TierPoint grown since its founding in 2010?
We’ve grown both organically – by selling our colocation, cloud, and managed services to new and current customers – and through acquisitions, completing 11 between 2010 and 2016. Today, we operate as one company, leveraging common systems, platforms, and processes for the benefit of our clients.
How is TierPoint different than other colocation providers?
In a marketplace where more of our data center competitors are moving away from cloud and managed services – shifting their emphasis to colocation and interconnection – we’re still the leading provider of hybrid or mixed IT solutions, with a comprehensive suite of services that bridge the colocation, cloud and managed service worlds. We believe this hybrid IT strategy – combined with being a trusted adviser in a rapidly changing environment – will continue to drive our distinctive position and growth. We’re the only true, hybrid IT provider with a national footprint, and we’re in markets that are starting to see the benefits of edge deployments.
Cloud versus colocation: Which wins or are they complementary?
They’re complementary. Our hybrid IT strategy is more than a unique concept; it’s a direct response to the demands of our clients, who are increasingly embracing mixed approaches to their IT infrastructure, placing different workloads in different environments. These clients don’t want to lock into a single approach. Instead, they’re looking for a trusted provider who can help them evolve over time, as their needs change and technologies transform.
What plans does TierPoint have for the year ahead?
We’ll continue to strategically expand our data centers in response to market demand. We’ll also keep investing in R&D, to ensure we’re offering state-of-the-art technology across our portfolio. R&D investments, among other things, support enhanced private cloud solutions powered by Nutanix (announced) and VxRail (coming soon). They also enable advanced security solutions, like TierPoint CleanIP, our fully managed, next-generation firewall service. Solutions like these further augment the market-leading protections we already have in place, including DDoS attack mitigation powered by Radware, which benefits all clients with infrastructure in our data centers. In addition, we’re investing in and expanding our internal IT function, to further improve customer service and the interoperability of our systems.
What are the top selling points for TierPoint?
With a unique combination of secure, connected colocation and cloud solutions at the edge of the internet, we specialize in meeting companies where they are on their journey to IT transformation. We have one of the largest customer bases in the industry, with thousands of clients ranging from the public to private sectors, from small businesses to Fortune 500 enterprises. We also have one of the largest and most geographically diversified footprints in the nation, with over 40 world-class, highly compliant, edge-capable data centers in 20 markets and 8 multi-tenant cloud pods, connected by a coast-to-coast network. Led by a proven management team, our highly experienced IT professionals offer a comprehensive solutions portfolio – from colocation to private, multitenant, hyperscale, and hybrid cloud, disaster recovery, security and other managed IT services.
