Level 3 launches network-wide Ethernet

Level 3 this week launched completed its full deployment of Ethernet services in the U.S. and Europe, allowing it to offer full Ethernet transport to its entire service provider customer base as well as wholesale to enterprise customers.

Called (3)Flex, the Ethernet services replace Level 3’s (3)Packet product, permitting its customers to extend their local area networks into the wide area network, saving them network expense and operational costs.

“Since we’re a next-gen provider, the type of businesses we focus on are future-looking businesses, and the future is Ethernet,” said Heather Shepardson, Level 3 director of (3)Flex data services. “Most businesses are now running three separate networks, essentially using three different local services. We can offer them one converged platform.”

Level 3 already has signed up 30 customers for the new platform and is attracting new customers at a rate of five per month, Shepardson said. At least one RBOC, Verizon Communications, has contracted with Level 3 and the company expects several other major carriers to follow. But perhaps the most exciting aspect of the new architecture is Level 3’s ability to work directly with the enterprise through resellers and system integrators.

“Before we had a small target market,” Shepardson said. “We could only go after service providers. Now that we’re off-net though we can go directly into enterprises.”

The Ethernet services are available in Level 3’s entire U.S. and European footprint of 75 markets, running over Level 3’s MPLS backbone.

Level 3 today also announced a partnership with Sony Electronics, which has been testing its digital broadcast video technology over the new network. Sony’s e-VTR product connects directly to Ethernet networks, allowing it to transfer audio and video broadcast segments from a workstation across the Atlantic, just as easily as it can pass the data between machines on the same LAN. Sony has agreed to jointly market its e-VTR technology to broadcasters and professional video companies with Level 3’s new Ethernet services.