Global Crossing Wins Three CALA MEF Carrier Ethernet Service Provider Awards

FLORHAM PARK, N.J., Jan. 31, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Crossing (Nasdaq: GLBC), a leading global IP and Ethernet solutions provider, today announced it has been honored with the "Service Provider of the Year" award for its Ethernet services in the Caribbean and Latin America (CALA) region by the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF).  Global Crossing also was presented with the "Best Business Ethernet Service" and "Best Marketing of the Year" awards.  The awards recognize excellence and leadership in the development, marketing and delivery of Carrier Ethernet Services.  The 2010 CALA Carrier Ethernet Service Provider Awards, the first ever for the region, were presented during the MEF quarterly meeting held in Miami, Florida on January 24, 2011.  

"Global Crossing's extensive capabilities and reach position it as a worthy first time recipient of the MEF awards for the Caribbean and Latin American region," said Nan Chen, MEF President.  "Our industry analyst judging panel selected Global Crossing for three of the four CALA MEF Service Provider Awards for its leadership, innovation and comprehensive portfolio of Ethernet services."

The "Best Business Ethernet Service" award recognizes retail and enterprise services with an emphasis on innovation combined with real business benefits and value-added features, such as Classes of Service (CoS) and Service Level Agreements (SLAs).  "Best Marketing" recognizes the value in spreading the word about the many benefits of Carrier Ethernet.

The "Service Provider of the Year" is awarded on the basis of the cumulative score from all categories plus additional factors, such as the company's specific regional coverage, access technologies and partnership agreements.

"Global Crossing is proud to receive three out of a possible four awards in recognition of our   Ethernet services," said Dave Carey, Global Crossing's chief marketing officer.  "These awards demonstrate that our Ethernet solutions, provided under the Global Crossing EtherSphere™ services name, represent a true competitive differentiator for Global Crossing."

Global Crossing EtherSphere services, which are available in 26 countries, provide standard global end-to-end performance and fault management; standard PoP-to-PoP SLAs or available end-to-end SLAs with performance assurance; and six Classes of Service for flexibility in traffic ranking and prioritization.  

"Global Crossing met the judges' strict criteria of market engagement, portfolio breadth and not least, in-region customer success stories," said Camille Mendler, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms and Media.  "Overall, the award entries highlight that enterprises in the CALA region are reaping considerable benefits from using Ethernet services."

The MEF Carrier Ethernet Service Provider Awards recognize excellence and leadership in the development, marketing and delivery of Carrier Ethernet Services.  They are awarded annually in North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa and for the first time this year in the Caribbean and Latin America region.  The awards are determined by a judging panel comprising five global and regional analysts, who are asked to rate and score each of the submissions relating to each award category.

Global Crossing EtherSphere WAN services are available globally to enterprise and wholesale customers in multipoint-to-multipoint, point-to-multipoint and point-to-point configurations.  The technology is reliable; can easily accommodate additional bandwidth in small increments; offers cost efficiencies traditionally associated with Ethernet; and interworks with other Global Crossing WAN solutions, such as Global Crossing IP Virtual Private Networks and Internet access.  The services are provided over Global Crossing's dedicated Multi-Protocol Label Switching global network to ensure high-speed, reliable, region-to-region connectivity.

ABOUT The MEF

The MEF is a global industry alliance comprising more than 170 organizations including telecommunications service providers, cable MSOs, network equipment/software manufacturers, semiconductors vendors and testing organizations.  The MEF's mission is to accelerate the worldwide adoption of Carrier-class Ethernet networks and services.  The MEF develops Carrier Ethernet technical specifications and implementation agreements to promote interoperability and deployment of Carrier Ethernet worldwide.

For more information about the Forum, including a complete listing of all current MEF members, please visit the MEF web site at http://www.MetroEthernetForum.org/.

ABOUT GLOBAL CROSSING

Global Crossing (NASDAQ: GLBC) is a leading global IP, Ethernet, data center and video solutions provider with the world's first integrated global IP-based network.  The company offers a full range of data, voice, collaboration, broadcast and media services delivered with superior customer service. 

Global Crossing provides services to enterprises (including approximately 40 percent of the Fortune 500); government departments and agencies; and 700 carriers, mobile operators and ISPs.  It delivers converged IP services to more than 700 cities in more than 70 countries, and has 17 world-class data centers in major business centers around the globe.

Please visit www.globalcrossing.com for more information about Global Crossing.

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SOURCE Global Crossing