QTS Aims To Make Cloud Migration Easier With New, Deeper AWS Partnership

QTS Realty Trust is looking to help businesses move their workloads to the public cloud with the release of a flexible colocation offering for Amazon Web Services users.

The cloud, data center and managed services expert, No. 64 on the CRN Solution Provider 500, calls QTS CloudRamp a "unique" strategic partnership with Amazon due to its flexible, "cloud-like" purchasing options made available through the Amazon Marketplace.

The offering allows customers, many of whom require short-term colocation services as they prepare their apps and platforms for the cloud, to buy and renew their contracts monthly. Also, they can choose to increase or decrease their rack storage space as needed throughout the cloud migration process.

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"This is not just a DirectConnect partnership or services offering that many colocation providers announce on a regular basis, which are typically not sanctioned nor in collaboration with AWS," QTS VP of Commercial Channels Frank Eagle told CRN. "They're going to be able to, without any interaction with a human, acquire colocation services in our CloudRamp model."

Many short-term customers may only need one or two months of colocation to support their AWS migrations, Eagle said. For client workloads with specialized compliance requirements or designs that may be better-suited for data center environments, however, QTS also provides long-term, specialized colocation solutions that are optimized for AWS.

The Overland Park, Kan.-based solution provider hopes that these initial colocation dealings with AWS customers will lead to more growth opportunities around its managed services practice and its hybrid cloud colocation solution, which are intended to complement QTS CloudRamp users.

"Through that process, we'll have an opportunity to get a customer exposed to us, have a really good experience with us and provide high-value AWS managed services," Eagle said. "If we do the right things, we'll have an opportunity to grow our business in a meaningful way, as well."

Managed services account for roughly one-third of QTS' overall business, while colocation represents another third, according to Eagle.

An Advanced Consulting Partner of AWS with more than 250 certifications and accreditations, QTS plans to continue investing in its managed services businesses as the public cloud giant's platform attracts new users. The company invested significant time and resources in the partnership up front, Eagle said, and sees this latest collaborative effort as a "logical progression" of its deep Amazon relationship.

"AWS services are required by a large percentage of our customers in the colocation space," he said. "They need AWS managed services, and also customers using that true hybrid IT environment. They could have AWS and we are managing it, and we're providing hosted private cloud for a particular application… This is a unique offering, and we're going to deliver."