Level 3 has enhanced its growing presence as an enabler of cloud services by adding Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) Cloud Platform, which enables developers and enterprises to build, test and deploy applications on Google's infrastructure, to its Cloud Connect Solutions ecosystem.
Business customers can now access Google Cloud Platform via Google Cloud Interconnect (GCI), a program that it has established with service providers like Level 3 to provide connections to Google's network service edge.
Similar to earlier agreements Level 3 made with Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), the key importance of this pact is to help businesses overcome the challenge of moving applications and workloads from physical locations into the cloud.
"What makes Level 3 Cloud Connect Solutions unique is our ability to provide secure local connections from enterprises to leading cloud service providers like Google Cloud Platform globally, while supporting all of their public and private networking needs regardless of the network architecture or bandwidth required," said Anthony Christie, chief marketing officer at Level 3, in a release.
By becoming part of Google's GCI program, Level 3 Cloud Connect Solutions provides connectivity from enterprise offices, data centers and other network resources directly to Google Cloud Platform in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia.
Given the fact that Level 3 is providing a fiber and IP-based private connection, the potential benefit to a business user is better performance and reliability that can't be delivered via the public Internet. Customers can also be more agile by being able to use rapid service provisioning, dynamic bandwidth and usage-based billing.
What's more, users can also access Level 3's MPLS-based network and growing network security services suite to build more secure wide-area networks to access the Google Cloud platform.
Adding Google to its cloud ecosystem, while an inevitable part of its cloud to-do list, is important for Level 3 as it looks to establish a greater foothold in the enterprise services market. In its third-quarter 2014 earnings period, the service provider reported that enterprise services rose 12 percent year-over-year to $992 million.
For more:
- see the release
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