CenturyLink Wins Order to Connect Military Installations

ARLINGTON, Va., Dec. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) has won a multi-year task order valued at more than $250 million from the Defense Information Systems Agency/Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization (DISA/DITCO) to provide private line services for dedicated high-speed connections between military installations.

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As DISA/DITCO delivers more electronic information over greater distances, the need to transmit data, video and voice reliably and securely is essential. CenturyLink will leverage its state-of-the-art nationwide backbone to deliver secure and robust private line services, from Digital Signal Level (DS)-0 through Optical Carrier Level (OC)-768.

With private line services from CenturyLink, the Department of Defense (DOD) will benefit from reliable transport service; scalable, low latency; and the ability to support multiple applications with flexible network configurations. These private line connections will be dedicated for military use, and the information they carry will be protected with one of the most secure services available.

"CenturyLink will deploy its optical network infrastructure to deliver highly reliable and capable private line services to support the critical and growing needs of our Defense customers," said Diana Gowen, senior vice president and general manager of CenturyLink Government, which is headquartered in Arlington, Va. "CenturyLink's private line services have extensive geographic coverage that will ensure fast, direct, and secure communications between U.S. military bases, posts, camps, and stations."

Under the terms of the order by DISA/DITCO, CenturyLink Government will provide private line services to the DOD as it migrates to Networx, the largest global communications contract program ever developed for the federal government by the U.S. General Services Administration.

When the five-year task order is fully implemented in 2012, CenturyLink Government will provide private line services to all DOD agencies, including the Air Force, Army, Marines and Navy.

In April 2011, CenturyLink completed its merger with Qwest Communications and became a major provider of communications services to the military through other DISA/DITCO contract programs, including Internet Protocol Services and the DISN (Defense Information Systems Network) Access Transport Services.

DISA is a DOD combat support agency that delivers information technology to enhance the capabilities of the nation's war fighters and all who support them in defense of the nation. DITCO's mission is to procure global net-centric capabilities to support its customers around the world through innovative contracting. The headquarters for DISA/DITCO is located at Fort Meade, Md.

CenturyLink ranks #55 on Washington Technology's list of the Top 100 largest federal government contractors.

About CenturyLink
CenturyLink is the third largest telecommunications company in the United States. The company provides broadband, voice, wireless and managed services to consumers and businesses across the country. It also offers advanced entertainment services under the CenturyLink™  Prism™  TV and DIRECTV brands. In addition, the company provides data, voice and managed services to enterprise, government and wholesale customers in local, national and select international markets through its high-quality advanced fiber optic network and multiple data centers. CenturyLink is recognized as a leader in the network services market by key technology industry analyst firms, and is a global leader in cloud infrastructure and hosted IT solutions for enterprises through Savvis, a CenturyLink company. CenturyLink's customers range from Fortune 500 companies in some of the country's largest cities to families living in rural America. Headquartered in Monroe, La., CenturyLink is an S&P 500 company and is included among the Fortune 500 list of America's largest corporations. For more information, visit www.centurylink.com.

SOURCE CenturyLink, Inc.