Wednesday, February 8, 2006

Level 3 to Add 60 x 10 Gbps Transatlantic Capacity

Level 3 Communications will purchase 300 Gigabits (30 x 10 Gbps) of transatlantic capacity on the Apollo Submarine Cable System. Level 3 now and has immediate access to the capacity. Level 3 also has the right to purchase 300 Gigabits of additional capacity, taking the contracted capacity up to a total of 600 Gigabits (60 x 10 Gbps).



Level 3 said it continues to experience rapid customer growth on its network. The Level 3 global IP backbone network currently carries over 3.7 petabytes of IP traffic every day. IP traffic carried across Level 3's transatlantic network has doubled in the last twelve months.



Prior to this transaction, Level 3 had 480 Gigabits of lit transatlantic capacity, with approximately 85 percent of this currently in service and being utilized. This strategic purchase gives Level 3 scalable capacity on four diverse routes across the Atlantic, including the Level 3 developed Yellow cable system, and enables connectivity from the United States to Continental Europe that is entirely diverse from the New York region and the United Kingdom.



"We continue to see growth in demand for IP transit and growth on our transatlantic routes," said Brady Rafuse, president of Level 3 in Europe. "The purchase increases the total available capacity on our transatlantic network to more than 700 Gigabits immediately and greater than 1000 Gigabits should we exercise our right. This investment facilitates the ongoing scalability of our network, guaranteeing supply to accommodate growth in the medium term," he added.

http://www.level3.comhttp://www.cw.com/docs/uk/nss/apollo_factsheet.pdf

  • The Apollo Cable System, one of the most technically advanced Atlantic cable systems, is 13,000 km in length. It consists of two diverse submarine transatlantic cable legs connecting Long Island and New Jersey in the U.S., with Cornwall in the UK and Brittany in France.