Report: Qwest May Close Up To 12 Data Centers

Qwest Communications International Denver Post

The article said the carrier could close up to 12 of its 17 data centers, called CyberCenters, and keep five running. Robert Notebaert brought up the possibility of closing some centers during an employee meeting last Thursday, the article said.

A Qwest spokeswoman told CRN that the carrier has not said it intends to close any CyberCenters, but it may decide to sell some of the facilities.

"There are no final plans in place. Qwest's main priority is serving its customers, so if we decide to make a change to our hosting assets, we will not jeopardize customer service, " she said.

The application and Web hosting space, in which Qwest was involved through its ASP division, called CyberSolutions, and still is via its CyberCenters, has weakened considerably since the heyday that saw major buildouts in 1999 and 2000.

Qwest signed a deal in 2000 with IBM Global Services to co-develop 28 CyberCenters. The centers were expected to create $5 billion in services revenue split equally between the two companies over the next seven years.

Qwest planned to build and run the centers and act as the network provider, while IBM was expected to provide operational support and use the centers to house its e-commerce clients.

CyberSolutions, the application hosting unit, spun out of the CyberCenter effort with Qwest and KPMG backing the endeavor. KPMG eventually pulled out of the joint venture, leaving Qwest the sole owner.

Earlier this month, Qwest exited that business with the sale of CyberSolutions to ASP Corio for an undisclosed amount. CyberSolutions had been folded back into Qwest in February of this year.