Level 3 offers direct connectivity to Amazon Web Services

Level 3 Communications today announced that it is a solution provider for AWS Direct Connect, a new offering that gives enterprises a dedicated connection to Amazon Web Services. Level 3 is one of several connectivity suppliers, including Equinix and AboveNet, to whom Amazon will refer customers seeking dedicated AWS connectivity.

Level 3’s offering is likely to be especially attractive to Fortune 250 companies that are wary of using public Internet connectivity for cloud services, said Carolyn Reuss, senior director of market management for Level 3, in an interview with Connected Planet. In addition, she said, “some customers in health care and financial services are more comfortable with private connectivity.”

Customers are very interested in the ability to dynamically shift applications and content from their own data centers to the Amazon platform and back to accommodate fluctuations in required capacity, Reuss said.

To support AWS Direct Connect, Level 3 will be connecting to the Equinix data centers from which Amazon delivers Amazon Web Services. At the opposite end of connection, Level 3 will provide connectivity to enterprise customers’ data centers.

Reuss expects connectivity needs to vary from customer to customer, with each customer receiving a highly customized solution. For example, she said some customers are just beginning to try out cloud services and may want to connect only to a single Equinix data center. But customers using AWS for production purposes will likely want to connect to multiple data centers, she said.

Customers are most likely to use either Ethernet private line, Ethernet MPLS or a wavelength service for connectivity, Reuss said. Bandwidth requirements are likely to be in the range of 1 Gb/s to 10 Gb/s, she said.

Asked how Level 3 will differentiate its AWS Direct Connect offering, Reuss said, “Data center networking is an application we do a whole lot with.”