MONROE, La., Jan. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) today announced it has won a 2015 TMC InfoTECH Spotlight Data Center Excellence Award for operational excellence and numerous global data center achievements. The award recognizes the most innovative and enterprising data center vendors.

CenturyLink's globally connected data centers, advanced network, cloud services and managed hosting solutions enable hybrid IT strategies solutions to meet the ever-changing demands of businesses. The award recognizes CenturyLink's commitment to certify its data centers for Uptime Institute's Management & Operations (M&O) Stamp of Approval.

"We are proud to be recognized by TMC for our long list of operational achievements in our data centers," said David Meredith, senior vice president, CenturyLink. "CenturyLink's data centers continually draw praise for how well they are managed, and many global customers benefit from these innovations on a daily basis."

Uptime Institute, a third-party data center research, education and consulting organization, recently announced CenturyLink has successfully certified more than half of its data centers with Uptime Institute's M&O Stamp of Approval, which validates the critical facilities management and operations practices of an existing data center. Earning this credential demonstrates leadership and provides third-party assurance that CenturyLink's data centers satisfy industry-recognized criteria for operational excellence, risk management and reliability.

CenturyLink is the first company to pursue the M&O Stamp of Approval certification at the global portfolio level, with the remaining certifications expected to be completed by the end of 2016.

"Data centers are critical to the success of any businesses today," said Rich Tehrani, CEO of TMC. "Small or large, every business relies on data centers to host its applications and data, either on its own premises or through a third-party provider. The award recipients are innovators, and we look forward to seeing their continued excellence. We congratulate CenturyLink for winning this award."

The award is a reflection of the numerous highlights in CenturyLink's data center business in 2015. During that period, CenturyLink completed data center expansion projects in Boston, London, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Phoenix, Seattle and Washington, D.C. The company also grew its market presence into Australia and in central Washington, where it opened a hydro-electric powered data center.

About CenturyLink
CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) is a global communications, hosting, cloud and IT services company enabling millions of customers to transform their businesses and their lives through innovative technology solutions. CenturyLink offers network and data systems management, Big Data analytics and IT consulting, and operates more than 55 data centers in North America, Europe and Asia. The company provides broadband, voice, video, data and managed services over a robust 250,000-route-mile U.S. fiber network and a 300,000-route-mile international transport network. Visit CenturyLink for more information.

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SOURCE CenturyLink, Inc.