Tier 3

About Tier 3

Tier 3, founded in 2006 by Jared Wray, established itself as a provider of public cloud services, carving out a niche in the enterprise cloud hosting solutions market. The Bellevue, Washington-based startup developed a comprehensive cloud management platform aimed at mid-tier to large enterprises and SaaS providers. Wray, a serial entrepreneur, served as the company's founder and Chief Technology Officer, leading its vision for cloud services designed to simplify processes for enterprise developers and IT departments.

The company's core offering was an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platform that provided virtual private compute, storage, and network products. Tier 3's platform was recognized for its automation and self-service interface, which allowed administrators to create and manage public cloud environments efficiently. This was complemented by a web services API and a Cloud Foundry-based Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), offering a complete toolkit for enterprise application development. The firm operated across nine data centers located in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Europe, targeting complex enterprise workloads while maintaining a user-friendly approach for businesses of all sizes.

A significant milestone in the company's history was its acquisition by CenturyLink in November 2013 for an undisclosed amount. Before the acquisition, Tier 3 had successfully raised $18.5 million in funding from notable investors including Ignition Partners, Madrona Venture Group, and Intel Capital. The acquisition marked a strategic move for CenturyLink to bolster its cloud services portfolio. Tier 3's platform and vision became the foundation of the newly formed CenturyLink Cloud, and its team formed the core of the new Seattle-based CenturyLink Cloud Development Center. Following the acquisition, Jared Wray transitioned to the role of Chief Technology Officer for the CenturyLink Cloud organization.