Level 3 Communications announced new optical wavelength service capabilities including network protection, additional bandwidth options and performance guarantees. The portfolio expansion includes metro and intercity services and will be offered on Level 3's network across both North America and Europe. 
The new service offerings include:
- Protected Wavelengths -- Level 3 now provides automatic protection-switching to a dedicated diversely routed wavelength in the event of a network failure. The protection switch, fully automated and managed by Level 3, happens at switching speeds approaching SONET restoration times. The single interface to the customer requires no additional capital cost for customer optical ports, and the diverse restoration path is fixed and fully known to the customer. The company said these features allow customers to achieve fast restoration with predictable performance in their network without adding significant cost and routing complexity.
- Gigabit Ethernet Increments: Level 3 now provides unprotected wavelength services in one Gigabit Ethernet interfaces. This lower-speed wavelength alternative allows customers to use more affordable, smaller increments of Ethernet bandwidth to build network connectivity in metro and intercity networks where a full 2.5 Gbps or 10 Gbps link is not warranted.
- 40 Gigabit Waves: Level 3 also offers expanded service capability with 40 Gbps waves. The service allows customers needing very high bandwidth between two locations to establish that connectivity with a single link instead of purchasing and managing multiple 10 Gbps links and the additional supporting optical ports.
- Maximum Latency Guarantees: Level 3 now offers maximum latency guarantees on wavelength services for those customers that have very tight tolerances on delay-sensitive applications. The guarantee is provided before the customer commits to an order so that the risk of turning up a circuit only to find that the latency is too high is minimized. Level 3 also maintains the latency guarantee throughout the term of the circuit.
