<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Gigaom]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[http://gigaom.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[Barb Darrow]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[http://search.gigaom.com/author/barbdarrow/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Big changes atop CenturyLink cloud as Higginbotham departs]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=2034387&amp;authType=OPENLINK&amp;authToken=KCnl&amp;locale=en_US&amp;srchid=16871221424980693243&amp;srchindex=1&amp;srchtotal=36&amp;trk=vsrp_people_res_name&amp;trkInfo=VSRPsearchId%3A16871221424980693243%2CVSRPtargetId%3A2034387%2CVSRPcmpt%3Aprimary">Andrew Higginbotham</a>, the CenturyLink exec who helped bring that telco into the modern cloud computing era, is leaving the company after 14 years, Gigaom has learned.</p>
<p>Higginbotham, who was SVP of cloud and technology, led <a href="https://gigaom.com/2011/04/27/why-buying-savvis-makes-perfect-sense-for-centurylink/">CenturyLink&#8217;s $3.2 billion acquisition of Savvis </a>in 2011 and subsequent purchases of <a href="https://gigaom.com/2013/06/13/breaking-savvis-to-buy-appfog/">AppFog</a>, <a href="https://gigaom.com/2013/11/19/surprise-centurylink-buys-tier-3-to-build-out-its-cloud/">Tier 3</a> and <a href="https://gigaom.com/2014/12/08/centurylink-dives-into-disaster-recovery-with-datagardens-buy/">DataGardens</a>, all deals done to build the company&#8217;s cloud-and-services portfolio.</p>
<p><a href="http://news.centurylink.com/news/centurylink-announces-aamir-hussain-as-company-s-chief-technology-officer">Aamir Hussain</a>, the EVP and CTO brought aboard in October from Liberty Global Europe, will drive a reorganized cloud effort going forward, a source said. As part of that, I&#8217;m told that Jared Wray, the founder and former CTO of Tier 3, will have broader responsibilities.</p>
<p>The news has not been announced and the company had no comment for this story.</p>
<p>CenturyLink, Monroe, Louisiana, is one of several telco-oriented companies pushing beyond its roots and it&#8217;s services have garnered some good reviews from <a href="https://search.gigaom.com/company/gartner/">Gartner</a> and others. All of those companies face entrenched competition from public cloud leader <a href="https://search.gigaom.com/company/amazon/">Amazon</a> Web Services and the growing muscle of IT giants like <a href="https://search.gigaom.com/company/microsoft/">Microsoft</a> and  <a href="https://search.gigaom.com/company/ibm/">IBM</a>.</p>
<p>This is the latest of several executive changes at cloud providers of note. <a href="https://gigaom.com/2015/01/28/its-official-now-softlayers-lance-crosby-exits-ibm/">Lance Crosby</a>, the former CEO of SoftLayer, who was IBM&#8217;s top cloud guy, left the company last month. <a href="https://gigaom.com/2015/02/23/hp-reorgs-cloud-biz-as-marten-mickos-cedes-key-responsibilities/">Marten Mickos</a>, the former CEO of Eucalyptus, who became HP&#8217;s top cloud exec in September, is stepping back from those duties.</p>
<p><em>Note: This story was updated at 2:33 a.m. PST February 27 to reflect that Jared Wray was CTO of Tier 3.</em></p>
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