CoreExpress will Buy 23,000 Fiber Miles from Level 3
Agreement Valued at More Than $100 million
BROOMFIELD, Colo., July 17, 2000 – Level 3 Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq:LVLT) today announced it will receive more than $100 million in a dark fiber agreement with CoreExpress, a provider of extranet services. Under the terms of the 20-year agreement, Level 3, a broadband infrastructure company, will sell CoreExpress 23,000 miles of fiber in its network backbone.
Dark fiber is fiber that has been installed, but without the necessary electronics to transmit information through the fiber. Pawan Jaggi, Level 3 senior vice president of global transport services, noted that dark fiber continues to be a popular product among the growing range of transport services offered by Level 3. "Carriers, ISPs and other Web-centric companies purchase dark fiber from us because it affords them the advantages of network ownership without investing in the capital outlay to construct one," Jaggi said.
"CoreExpress will "light" the fiber to build its Internet Data Exchange System (iDES), the first multi-ISP extranet platform. CoreExpress business customers can conduct transactions, send sensitive data and share applications seamlessly and reliably over the Internet - even if they use different ISPs. And CoreExpress ensures the performance of these applications with the industry's first end-to-end multi-ISP performance guarantees." Mike Gaddis, chief executive of CoreExpress, said.
CoreExpress will revolutionize the way companies communicate, allowing them to exchange information with customers and vendors over the Internet with the security and quality of service formerly associated only with private networks like frame relay. "Level 3 is enabling CoreExpress to deliver the first multi-ISP extranet service that provides business managers the confidence to migrate their applications to the Internet," Gaddis said. "Redundant dark fiber is essential for any company planning to deliver this type of "extranet" service, and this investment in Level 3's dark fiber provides CoreExpress with the scalability and bandwidth to easily accommodate our customers leading edge business-to-business e-commerce communications." Jon Yount, Level 3's vice president of dark fiber sales, said Level 3 is a primary source of raw bandwidth for network companies like CoreExpress. "The substantial capacity of the Level 3 network in Asia, Europe and North America allows us to sell dark fiber while maintaining more than enough in our network to meet our own present and future needs," Yount said.
(*Softswitches are advanced software based switching systems that enable Level 3 to provide services combining the best features of the Internet and traditional telephone networks.)
About Level 3 Communications
Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT), an international communications company, operates one of the largest Internet backbones in the world, connecting 180 markets in 18 countries. The company serves a broad range of wholesale, enterprise and content customers with a comprehensive suite of services including: Internet Protocol (IP) services, broadband transport and infrastructure services, colocation services, voice and voice over IP services, content delivery and media distribution services. These services provide the building blocks to enable Level 3’s customers to meet their growing demands for advanced communications solutions. The company’s Web address is www.Level3.com.
"Level 3 Communications,” "Level 3," the red 3D brackets and the Level 3 Communications logo are registered service marks of Level 3 Communications, LLC 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, product or company names recited herein may be trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.
Forward-Looking Statement
Some of the statements that we make in this press release are forward looking in nature. These statements are based on management’s current expectations or beliefs. These forward looking statements are not a guarantee of performance and are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside our control, which could cause actual events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the statements. The most important factors that could prevent us from achieving our stated goals include, but are not limited to our ability to: successfully integrate acquisitions; increase the volume of traffic on our network; defend our intellectual property and proprietary rights; develop new products and services that meet customer demands and generate acceptable margins; successfully complete commercial testing of new technology and information systems to support new products and services; attract and retain qualified management and other personnel; and meet all of the terms and conditions of our debt obligations. Additional information concerning these and other important factors can be found within Level 3’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements in this press release should be evaluated in light of these important factors. Level 3 is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any such obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
