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Path-breaking 100 Gigabit Connections Between Level 3 and CENIC Networks

Categories RENS & NRENS

Tags 100gigabit k12 libraries network

Level 3 Communications (NYSE: LVLT) and the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC) are pleased to announce the completion of the first 100 gigabits per second research and education connection to Level 3’s global network.

CENIC has established links to Level 3's network in both San Jose and Los Angeles, Calif., delivering an unprecedented 200 gigabits per second of Internet capacity to California institutions. This upgrade complements the recent 100 gigabit backbone upgrades that CENIC completed last year throughout California.

These two upgrades of CENIC’s California Research and Education Network (CalREN), the 3,800-mile fiber-based advanced network, provide new advantages to the Golden State’s research and education communities, including the California K-12 System, California’s Community Colleges, the California State University System, the University of California System, private universities such as Caltech, Stanford, and USC, California’s public libraries, and a rapidly growing list of other institutions.

Nearly 10,000 sites are connected to CalREN. With this Level 3 capacity, the more than 20 million Californians who use CalREN will be able to create and engage in even more advanced and innovative teaching and learning methods as well as cutting-edge global research in a large and ever-increasing variety of network-dependent disciplines.

“This upgrade of CENIC's ability to deliver cost effective bandwidth to our members keeps CENIC ahead of the increasing bandwidth demands,” said Dave Reese, vice president of Infrastructure Planning at CENIC. “Level 3's network continues to deliver the performance and capacity necessary to support California's technology-enabled education and research activities. The timing of this enhancement couldn’t be better, as we are connecting more than 1,100 public libraries across California to CalREN.”

Bill Clebsch, associate vice president for IT Services at Stanford University, and chair of CENIC’s board of directors, noted that, “The CENIC network carries nearly 30 petabytes of monthly traffic; this rate is growing at more than 30% per year, so increasing our capacity to the commodity Internet commensurately is critical to serve CENIC’s diverse members.”

“Increasingly, connectivity is the currency of growth and opportunity in California’s communities. CENIC enables Californians to access and explore the digital universe through innovations to CalREN like our new connections to Level 3,” said Louis Fox, CENIC CEO and president.

“There’s no doubt that some of our nation’s greatest discoveries have come from our research and education institutions. Level 3 is proud to provide the network support needed to grow this important community,” said David Young, regional vice president of the Government Markets Group at Level 3. “With 100 gigabit connectivity, schools and universities across California will have the added speed, reliability, and quality network services needed to foster stronger learning opportunities and continue to innovate.”

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