Funcom Expands Relationship with Level 3

Level 3 to Provide CDN Services for Catalog of Funcom Game Titles

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) today announced at Game Developers Conference the expansion of its relationship with Funcom, a leading independent developer and publisher of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games. Level 3 will provide content delivery network (CDN) services for Funcom game titles.

“The rich graphic and video environments of Funcom games drive large amounts of bandwidth, which the Level 3 network is specifically designed to accommodate”

Since April 2008, Level 3 has worked with Funcom to deliver Origin Storage, Caching and Download services for game patch updates, and large file game downloads for the Age of Conan game. After the successful release of the highly anticipated game, Funcom expanded its relationship with Level 3 to include CDN services for all of Funcom’s current titles as well as games currently in development.

“Over the past two years, we’ve been thoroughly impressed by the Level 3 network’s ability to handle simultaneous traffic to our global audience of gamers, which for the Age of Conan has translated to more than 200 million collective hours of play time by its players,” said Funcom COO, Ole Schreiner. “As a result of that experience, Level 3 was a natural choice for Origin Storage, Caching and Download services for all of our games.”

Funcom’s games are regularly updated by developers as the games evolve. Those updates are delivered through software patches to the online game via Level 3's CDN. Level 3’s highly scalable network is optimized to accommodate the often large file downloads of rich media content for online audiences without disrupting the user experience. The speed, quality and reliability that are delivered with these services are necessary for providing the real-time user experience demanded by online gamers today.

"The rich graphic and video environments of Funcom games drive large amounts of bandwidth, which the Level 3 network is specifically designed to accommodate,” said Peter Neill, senior vice president of Content Markets at Level 3. "The expansion of our relationship with Funcom is a direct reflection of the trust our customers have come to place in the reach and scalability of the Level 3 network and our ability to deliver the quality content customers expect.”

For more information on Level 3’s gaming solutions, please visit www.level3.com/index.cfm?pageID=151.

For more information on Funcom, visit www.funcom.com.

About Level 3 Communications

Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) is a leading international provider of fiber-based communications services. Enterprise, content, wholesale and government customers rely on Level 3 to deliver services with an industry-leading combination of scalability and value over an end-to-end fiber network. Level 3 offers a portfolio of metro and long-haul services, including transport, data, Internet, content delivery and voice. For more information, visit www.Level3.com.

© Level 3 Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Level 3, Level 3 Communications and the Level 3 Communications Logo are either registered service marks or service marks of Level 3 Communications, LLC and/or one of its Affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. Level 3 services are provided by wholly owned subsidiaries of Level 3 Communications, Inc. Any other service names, product names, company names or logos included herein are the trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.

ABOUT CONAN PROPERTIES INTERNATIONAL - Conan Properties International LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Paradox Entertainment Inc., controls rights to Conan, many associated characters and the Hyborian world, as created by Robert E. Howard and various rights expanded upon by many acclaimed authors and artists. Many consider Conan the world's best-known fantasy character. For more information about Conan Properties International LLC, visit www.conan.com. For information about Paradox Entertainment Inc., visit www.paradox-entertainment.com.