Savvis

Savvis
Name	Savvis
Fate	Acquired
Successor	CenturyLink, Lumen Technologies
Founded	0 1995
Defunct	0 2011
Industry	Information technology, Telecommunications
Hq location	Town and Country, Missouri
Key people	Jim Ousley, Robert McCormick

Savvis. It was a prominent global provider of cloud computing and managed hosting services, operating a substantial internet backbone and a worldwide network of data center facilities. The company played a significant role in the evolution of IT outsourcing and colocation services for enterprises and government agencies. Following several transitions, its assets and operations were ultimately integrated into what is now known as Lumen Technologies.

History

The company was originally formed in 1995 as a division of the financial information firm Bridge Information Systems. Following the bankruptcy of its parent, it was acquired in 1999 by a consortium including Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe and SBC Communications. Under the leadership of executives like Jim Ousley, it conducted an initial public offering in 2000, becoming a publicly traded entity on the NASDAQ. The early 2000s were marked by strategic shifts from application service provider models toward comprehensive managed services, navigating the aftermath of the dot-com bubble. In 2004, it was taken private again by a group including Savvis Communications Corporation and Columbia Capital. A significant period of growth and transformation followed, culminating in its acquisition by CenturyLink in 2011 for a reported $2.5 billion, a move that significantly expanded CenturyLink's enterprise capabilities.

Services

Its core offerings centered on information technology infrastructure solutions for large organizations. These included a full spectrum of managed hosting services, from dedicated servers to complex private cloud environments, as well as extensive colocation space across its facilities. The company was also a major operator of a Tier 1 IP network, providing IP VPN, MPLS, and Ethernet services for secure wide area network connectivity. It developed specialized services for sectors like financial services, offering low-latency trading solutions and proximity hosting near major exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange. Later, it launched one of the early Infrastructure as a Service platforms, allowing clients to provision virtual machine resources on demand.

Acquisitions and mergers

Growth was heavily driven by a series of strategic purchases that expanded its service portfolio and geographic reach. A major early acquisition was the networking assets of Cable & Wireless's U.S. operations in 2004, which dramatically increased the scale of its internet backbone. In 2006, it purchased the managed hosting provider Cable & Wireless USA, further consolidating its market position. The company also acquired Federated IT in 2007 to bolster its government sector offerings. Perhaps its most significant transaction was the 2008 purchase of the managed hosting and colocation business of VeriSign, which added substantial data center capacity and enterprise clients. These integrations were complex, often involving the migration of networks and consolidation of data center platforms.

Data centers

It operated a global footprint of more than 50 data centers across North America, Europe, and Asia, which formed the physical foundation of its services. Key facilities were located in major metropolitan hubs such as New York City, Chicago, London, Tokyo, and Hong Kong. These centers were designed to high specifications, often meeting Tier III standards for redundancy and reliability, and were certified under frameworks like SOC 1 and PCI DSS for security compliance. The VeriSign acquisition notably added strategic facilities in locations like Northern Virginia, a critical market adjacent to Washington, D.C. and a major hub for internet traffic.

Clients and partnerships

Its client base spanned numerous Fortune 500 companies, particularly in industries with demanding IT requirements such as financial services, healthcare, and manufacturing. It provided critical infrastructure for prominent firms like AT&T, Microsoft, and IBM, often in complex partnership arrangements. The company was also a significant provider to various agencies of the U.S. federal government, holding contracts under the General Services Administration schedules. Strategic technology alliances were formed with major software and hardware vendors, including VMware, Cisco Systems, and Sun Microsystems, to certify and deliver integrated solutions. It was an early participant in the Cloud Security Alliance, contributing to best practices for secure cloud adoption.

See also

* CenturyLink * Lumen Technologies * Managed services * Colocation centre * Internet backbone * Cloud computing * IT outsourcing

Category:American companies established in 1995 Category:Cloud computing providers Category:Defunct telecommunications companies of the United States