Windstream Enterprise is expanding its Cloud Connect network with the newest route anticipating the continued growth and importance of Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, and other southern U.S. markets.

The expansion is designed to meet the demands of customers who need dedicated connectivity to third-party cloud service providers (CSPs).

Curt Allen, Windstream Enterprise’s senior vice president of channel, tells Channel Partners that customers of his company’s strategic partner community continue their migration to cloud apps and resources.

Windstream’s Curt Allen

“As a result, our partners require cloud connectivity solutions that meet their customers closer to where the data and resources will be consumed,” he said. “The expansion to Dallas affords our partners and customers access to the top cloud service providers from major markets both in Texas, as well as easy access to other growing markets in the South and Southwest regions.”

Partners continue to assist their customers in migrating more and more mission-critical apps and resources to the cloud, Allen said. They now have the ability to provide greater geodiversity/redundancy for their customers who require connectivity to multiple CSP regions, as well as the opportunity to provide the required connectivity to best meet the customers’ connectivity performance requirements, he said.

“For example, our channel partners who have customers that are moving applications that were initially tuned to LAN environments will be able to provide multiple network and connectivity options to best meet the customers deterministic performance requirements,” he said.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Dallas and Fort Worth were among cities boasting the largest population gains in 2017, ranking No. 3 and 4 respectively among the top 15 in the U.S. Expansion of this route affords customers access to major markets in Texas as well as access to other growing markets like Phoenix, Las Vegas and cities in Silicon Valley.

“Customers who have their data centers and/or IT infrastructure located primarily in the South and Southwest regions will be able to connect to their CSP within the same CSP’s region where they will consume the required resources versus extending the connectivity to more distant region on-ramps, such as Chicago and Washington, D.C.,” Allen said.

“Our ongoing investment to expand Cloud Connect demonstrates our commitment to meet growing customer demand,” said Joseph Harding, Windstream Enterprise and Wholesale’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer. “The regional Southwest is growing rapidly and has become a hub for the major CSPs like AWS, Microsoft Azure, IBM Cloud and Google Cloud Platform.”