Level 3 launches MPLS-based Ethernet private line service

Level 3 Communications today announced it has launched multiprotocol label switching (MPLS)-based private line service in the United States and Europe. The service offers customers secure Ethernet-based data transmission to and from 33 cities over Level 3’s upgradeable intercity and transatlantic fiber optic network, according to the company.

The service, combined with Level 3’s metro Ethernet service introduced last year, allows the company’s customers to provide cost-effective end-to-end service to and from businesses at speeds up to 1 GB/s, according to Dan Caruso, group vice president of network business.

“The launch of this new MPLS service is another step we’re taking to serve the top 300 companies with substantial needs for bandwidth services,” Caruso said in a statement.

Because Level 3 will control and maintain the private-line service exclusively, Level 3 customers can expect to receive “an economically superior, easy to manage data transmission method that’s not vulnerable to cross-network performance degradation or compatibility,” Caruso said.

--Glenn Bischoff, senior news writer