BROOMFIELD, Colo., April 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NYSE: LVLT) announced today it will connect Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: DLR) customers in 14 major markets in the U.S. and Europe to its growing cloud ecosystem that includes Amazon Web Services (AWS Direct Connect) and Microsoft Azure (ExpressRoute). Digital Realty looks to Level 3 Cloud Connect Solutions to provide its data center customers with secure, high-performance private network access to cloud platforms. As a result of this relationship, Digital Realty customers will gain the ability to migrate and operate business-critical applications in a hybrid cloud environment that delivers greater performance, security and flexibility.

A hybrid cloud environment offers Digital Realty customers the ability to centralize IT management and also gain the flexibility to respond to changing business needs as a result of data and storage growth. For example, leveraging Level 3's virtual private network services, Digital Realty customers can dynamically scale their bandwidth and only pay for what they consume as demand for computing capacity spikes, say during the holiday shopping season. In a hybrid environment, transferring large data sets is expedited with greater bandwidth capacity, which also improves the performance of real-time voice and data feeds.

"This relationship with Level 3 enables us to facilitate connections for our clients to AWS or Azure globally with Level 3 Cloud Connect Solutions in a seamless and highly secure manner," said Digital Realty Interim CEO, Bill Stein. "As our clients' capacity and connectivity needs grow, it's our goal to facilitate their easy access to a broad range of solution providers. Our alliance with Level 3 and their growing cloud ecosystem play a key role in the breadth of support we can extend to our clients."

Through this alliance, Digital Realty can help its customers reduce costs related to cloud adoption, improve application performance and provide the ability to scale connections based on each customer's needs at any given time. Additionally, Digital Realty customers will gain the flexibility to choose the cloud model and cloud provider that best meets their needs, access bandwidth dynamically and pay only for what they use. Bandwidth can be scaled more quickly and efficiently, and customers can leverage the cost savings associated with operating a hybrid cloud environment.

"We are proud to bring Digital Realty into our Cloud Connect Solutions ecosystem. It affords both Digital Realty customers and Level 3 enterprise and government customers greater utility as they migrate their applications to cloud environments," said Anthony Christie, chief marketing officer of Level 3. "By providing a seamless bridge between Level 3 Cloud Connect Solutions and Digital Realty data centers, we can help organizations transform and scale their IT and networking architecture. Enterprises need that level of performance when connecting to the cloud."

About Level 3 Cloud Connect Solutions
Level 3 Cloud Connect Solutions offer the underlying network connectivity and services for global enterprises to more effectively integrate the cloud into their evolving IT architecture. Level 3 Cloud Connect Solutions provide private network access to leading cloud and data center services to deliver critical enterprise applications and information with greater performance, security and flexibility than the public Internet or other networks. Level 3 Cloud Connect Solutions offer multiple ways to connect enterprises with cloud and data center services, including MPLS/IPVPN, Virtual Private Line Service, Ethernet Virtual Private Line, Ethernet Private Line and Wavelength services. For more information about Level 3 Cloud Connect Solutions, visit www.level3.com/cloudconnectsolutions.

About Digital Realty Trust
Digital Realty Trust, Inc. focuses on delivering customer-driven data center solutions by providing secure, reliable and cost-effective facilities that meet each customer's unique data center needs.  Digital Realty's customers include domestic and international companies across multiple industry verticals ranging from financial services, cloud and information technology services, to manufacturing, energy, health care and consumer products.  Digital Realty's 131 properties, including 12 properties held as investments in unconsolidated joint ventures, comprised approximately 24.5 million square feet as of December 31, 2013, including approximately 1.8 million square feet of space under active development and 1.3 million square feet of space held for future development.  Digital Realty's portfolio is located in 33 markets throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.  Additional information about Digital Realty is included in the Company Overview, which is available on the Investors page of Digital Realty's website at http://www.digitalrealty.com. 

About Level 3 Communications
Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NYSE: LVLT) is a Fortune 500 company that provides local, national and global communications services to enterprise, government and carrier customers. Level 3's comprehensive portfolio of secure, managed solutions includes fiber and infrastructure solutions; IP-based voice and data communications; wide-area Ethernet services; video and content distribution; data center and cloud-based solutions. Level 3 serves customers in more than 500 markets in over 60 countries across a global services platform anchored by owned fiber networks on three continents and connected by extensive undersea facilities. For more information, please visit www.level3.com or get to know us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

© Level 3 Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Level 3, Level 3 Communications, Level (3) and the Level 3 Logo are either registered service marks or service marks of Level 3 Communications, LLC and/or one of its Affiliates in the United States and/or other countries.  Any other service names, product names, company names or logos included herein are the trademarks or service marks of their respective owners. Level 3 services are provided by subsidiaries of Level 3 Communications, Inc. 

Information under the caption "About Digital Realty Trust" has been provided by Digital Realty Trust, which is solely responsible for its content.

Forward-Looking Statement
Some statements made in this press release are forward-looking in nature and 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 Level 3's control, which could cause actual events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the statements. Important factors that could prevent Level 3 from achieving its stated goals include, but are not limited to, the company's ability to: manage risks associated with continued uncertainty in the global economy; increase revenue from its services to realize its targets for financial and operating performance; maintain and increase traffic on its network; develop and maintain effective business support systems; manage system and network failures or disruptions; avert the breach of its network and computer system security measures; develop new services that meet customer demands and generate acceptable margins; manage the future expansion or adaptation of its network to remain competitive; defend intellectual property and proprietary rights; manage continued or accelerated decreases in market pricing for communications services; obtain capacity for its network from other providers and interconnect its network with other networks on favorable terms; attract and retain qualified management and other personnel; successfully integrate future acquisitions; effectively manage political, legal, regulatory, foreign currency and other risks it is exposed to due to its substantial international operations; mitigate its exposure to contingent liabilities; and meet all of the terms and conditions of its 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.

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SOURCE Level 3 Communications, Inc.