Abacus Solutions Announced Hybrid Colocation Extension Agreement with QTS Realty Trust

QTS Realty Trust, the hybrid colocation and mega-scale data center solutions provider, announced an extended hybrid colocation services contract with Abacus Solutions (Abacus), one of the world’s largest AS/400-focused platform-as-a-service providers.

To enhance critical business and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications, many organizations are dependent on customizable platforms. Companies are looking forward to and connecting with Abacus’ team of specialists as they are unable to move away from the investments quickly, and lacking the in-house skills set to manage the specialists’ team properly. The knowledge of Abacus comes from a comprehensive IBM i service portfolio, which provides them with unique experience and insight for customer-specific Abacus i Cloud solutions.

Abacus’ Cloud stability is crucial to maintaining these environments. Following an exhaustive hunt, Abacus opted to host and back up Abacus’ i Cloud solutions in QTS’ Atlanta-Metro and Dallas/Irving mega data centers, featuring one of the industry’s only AS/400 cloud services. QTS provided the required geographic diversity for Abacus as well as redundant power, cooling, and connectivity within each facility.

Abacus chose QTS as it was impressed by QTS’ proven customer support and its API- driven Service Delivery Platform (SDP). Abacus, along with QTS, is creating an ecosystem of world-class business solutions, which will facilitate hybrid business strategies.

“Our i Cloud services require significant levels of scalability and geographic redundancy to support our customers’ rapid business growth,” said Patrick Schutz, Chief Sales Officer, Abacus Solutions. “After evaluating the leading colocation providers, only QTS offered the combination of expertise, customer support, and a symbiotic connectivity ecosystem to facilitate our customers’ AS/400 migrations. In addition, QTS’ innovative software-defined data center approach to service delivery provides unprecedented levels of visibility and transparency, including the ability to monitor, manage, and provision new fully-integrated services remotely,” he further added.

QTS’ SDP is the first software-defined orchestration platform in the industry, based on QTS’ commitment to digitizing its end-to-end systems and processes. While offering real-time visibility, connectivity, and dynamic monitoring of critical metrics through hybrid IT environments from a single platform, SDP empowers clients to communicate with their data and QTS services.

“We are truly impressed by how QTS’ SDP is allowing us to innovate our business,” said Thomas Harris, Chief Operations Officer, Abacus Solutions. “We are taking full advantage of SDP applications such as Switchboard, Power Analytics, Asset Manager and Online Ordering, and are benefiting from greater control over costs, increased security, ease of compliance, and reduced risk.”

After the COVID-19 outbreak, QTS announced substantial increases in SDP utilization that allow customers to remotely manage and optimize data center infrastructure through complete digitization, meeting critical business needs.

“SDP’s capabilities are perfectly aligned with our response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” Harris added. “The ability to remotely monitor and manage our infrastructure through a real-time, software-defined interface is truly differentiating in the data center industry.”

“We are pleased to provide the secure connectivity ecosystem that allows Abacus to connect with other customers and prospects in our data centers,” said Clint Heiden, Chief Revenue Officer, QTS. “Abacus is a great example of our customers that are now recognizing and benefiting from our innovative Service Delivery Platform,” he added.