Level 3

Level 3 tops global IP traffic this year

Pete Wylie — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 09:35:54 -0500

Renesys released data this week indicating that Level 3 has surpassed Sprint to be the top global service provider in terms of IP space transited. Renesys analyzed business relationships and routing data to determine the rankings of the top 13 in the world.

Level 3 takes the top spot from Sprint this year due to big customer wins of Korea Telecom and ReTN.net, and a substantial increase in traffic from Asia Netcom and Softbank Telecom, according to the post.

Verizon lost ground in the survey due to TeliaSonera ceasing to use its network for transit, giving up 3^rd place to Global Crossing, which steadily increased its total traffic over the year. NTT, Savvis, AT&T, and Telia followed the top four companies.

The report attributes much of the gains made by the providers that gained share to big customer wins and overall traffic increase in Asian markets. It predicts consistent, rapid growth for companies operating in these markets, as half the world's population lives in Asia, but only 15 percent of them have internet access yet. Renesys also cautioned that the rankings are merely measures of traffic, rather than determinations of reliability or profitability. Sprint might have a card of some sort here to play, but we're not sure what it is.

For more:
- check out the Renesys report here

Level 3 announces job cuts, update to tender offer

Doug Mohney — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 22:20:16 -0500

Level 3 joins AT&T in announcing job cuts, but isn't laying the blame on landline losses. It also announced an update to its tender offer for its outstanding notes in 2009 and 2010.

The Broomfield, Colorado-based company is going to lay off around 450 employees, or about 8 percent of its total workforce. The reductions will take place before the end of December (Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas to all!) and result in a restructuring charge between $12 to $15 million in the fourth quarter of 2008. Reductions are being made across the whole company in multiple locations in North America.

In addition, "certain investors" agreed to purchase $360 million of Level 3's 15 percent convertible senior notes due in 2013 in exchange for Level 3 buying and paying for $177 million (50 percent) of its 2.875 percent notes due up in 2010 and at least $240 million (50 percent) of its 6 percent convertible subordinate notes due in 2010. The $360 million is currently in escrow and waiting for Level 3 to meet the terms for the bond swap.

Last week, AT&T announced plans to axe 12,000 workers - about 4 percent of its workforce - with cuts related to the wireline division.

For more:
- Level 3 job cuts and updates to its tender offer.

SPOTLIGHT: Obama's transition and Level 3's Gips

Doug Mohney — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:57:34 -0500

Level 3 Vice President Don Gips is currently on leave from the Colorado-based carrier, overseeing an agency-by-agency review of the federal government as a part of President-elect Barak Obama's transition team.

Gips has been involved with the Obama campaign since 2004 since the two met at a 2004 fundraiser for Senator Ken Salazar, and Gips gets a shout out for reviewing and commenting on "The Audacity of Hope" manuscript before it hit bookshelves. In addition, Gips has been a top fundraiser for Obama, rounding up $500,000 in contributions.

While Obama might like to see Gips come to Washington, the former chief of the FCC International Bureau and Gore domestic-policy advisor may not be in a hurry to join the Beltway crowd, as he's a family man with three teenage boys back in Colorado.

For more:
- The Denver Post dishes on Gips. Article.

High-bandwidth Ethernet market holds great potential

Dan O'Shea — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:33:58 -0400

The high-bandwidth Ethernet market--services at 10 Gbps, 40 Gbps and beyond--is poised for big things in the years ahead. Growth is expected despite poor macroeconomic indicators that suggest lower enterprise IT spending, according to a new Infonetics Reasearch report. Service and equipment revenues for this particular segment will hit almost $9.5 billion by the end of 2008, with demand headed upward in the next four years.

That's good news for many carriers, especially Verizon Business, which just announced standardization for 10 Gbps service and made great strides testing 100 Gbps network capabilities. 100G may become a factor by 2012 or 2013.

For more:
Network World reports on the report

IP transit prices declining globally

Dan O'Shea — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 08:34:56 -0400

Wholesale Internet access prices are declining rapidly in much of the world, but particularly in the U.S. and Europe, where median monthly prices for 1,000 Mbps Gigabit Ethernet ports in the second quarter of 2008 varied between $10 and $14 per Mbps, according to TeleGeography. Prices are still double or triple those rates in Asian countries and even more expensive in Latin America, despite at least modest declines in both of those regions. Competition, declining equipment and lower transport costs are some of the reasons for the price drop-offs.

For more:
- check this post from TeleGeography

Verizon, Level 3: We need 100G

Doug Mohney — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:37:14 -0400

Both Verizon and Level 3 say they need 100 Gigabit optical networks, and the sooner, the better.

Speaking at Optical Expo 2008 in Dallas, Verizon's backbone network design director said the company is currently meeting traffic needs with multiple 10G wavelengths, but managing multiple wavelengths across fiber is a pain; Level 3 is in the same boat.

At the conference Verizon announced the results of a 100G trial with Nortel; Verizon also has run 100G trials with Nokia Siemens Networks and Alcatel-Lucent. Bringing up 100G would pull costs out of the network (simplified management, more capacity on existing fiber), a benefit that works across the board from enterprise metro Ethernet services to Verizon's FiOS fiber-to-the-home network.

Nortel's optical gear comes out strong in the Verizon announcement. Nortel's optical gear performed with better tolerance for signal distortion than what's typically found in today's standard 10G wavelengths. Tests were run over 73 kilometers of field fiber in Texas at 92 Gbps, so no special fiber or "extensive" re-engineering is necessary for faster speeds.

For more:
- Light Reading reports on 100G lust at Optical Expo 2008.