Level 3 Offers Secure, High Performance Path to Cloud Services via the Equinix Cloud Exchange

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BROOMFIELD, Colo. and REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NYSE: LVLT) and Equinix (Nasdaq: EQIX), the global interconnection and data center company, today announced that Level 3 is integrating the Equinix Cloud Exchange into the Level 3 Cloud Connect Solutions ecosystem. This effort provides enterprises and government agencies a secure, high-performance alternative to the public Internet to access a community of cloud service providers, such as GoGrid. Level 3 reaches 80 Equinix International Business Exchange™ (IBX^®) data centers on four continents, enabling customers to seamlessly deploy global public, private and hybrid cloud solutions.

Organizations are increasingly moving their business-critical IT infrastructure and applications to external data centers and cloud service providers to address the proliferation of data growth, streamline operations and reduce costs. Level 3 Cloud Connect Solutions are optimized to enable low-latency, high-bandwidth workloads, such as querying against SQL or application servers, media encoding and managing Big Data. Customers can now leverage Level 3 Cloud Connect Solutions to support applications and workloads distributed globally across Equinix data centers and the multiple cloud services available through the Equinix Cloud Exchange. The range of options provided by this agreement gives customers the flexibility and agility to build a hybrid cloud environment.

"By combining Level 3's network with the Equinix Cloud Exchange, we are making it easier for our customers to grow and improve the efficiency of their business operations with access to a broader range of cloud services," said Anthony Christie, Level 3's chief marketing officer. "With pre-established network-to-network interfaces (NNIs) from Level 3 to Equinix, combined with Level 3's dynamic bandwidth capability, customers can quickly turn up and scale their cloud solutions."

Additional customer benefits as a result of this agreement include:

• Improved Performance – Customers can deliver applications over Level 3's private network with guaranteed throughput, low latency, custom-designed solutions and up to 4x the network performance of more congested public networks (Source: "Accelerating File Transfers," FileCatalyst, 2010)
• Enhanced Security – Level 3's private network connections to the Equinix Cloud Exchange are physically isolated from the Internet, and its suite of security services enhance protection of IT environments
• Greater Efficiency – Level 3 customers can scale quickly, access bandwidth dynamically and only pay for what they use with Level 3's VPN services connecting to the Equinix Cloud Exchange

"Businesses are looking for proven ways to manage business-critical applications in the cloud without impacting performance," said Sara Baack, chief marketing officer for Equinix. "The combination of Level 3's network and the Equinix Cloud Exchange offers enterprises a simple way to interconnect to the services they need to build sophisticated hybrid cloud solutions."

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 data centers and cloud services, including Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure, 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 Equinix Cloud Exchange
The Equinix Cloud Exchange is an advanced interconnection solution that enables seamless, on-demand and direct access to multiple clouds, across multiple networks around the globe. By combining the automated interconnection of cloud, network and managed service providers with advanced service orchestration for the first time, the Equinix Cloud Exchange provides enterprises with simple, scalable, direct access to the multiple cloud services they need to build highly flexible hybrid cloud solutions. This removes the security, performance and vendor lock-in concerns holding many organizations back from fully adopting and reaping the benefits of cloud services.

Businesses can join the Equinix Cloud Exchange in 13 markets globally – Silicon Valley, Washington D.C., New York, Toronto, Seattle, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Paris – with expansion planned to a total of 19 markets by the end of 2014. For more information on the Equinix Cloud Exchange, please visit http://www.equinix.com/solutions/by-services/interconnection/exchanges/equinix-cloud-exchange/.

About Equinix
Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), connects more than 4,500 companies directly to their customers and partners inside the world's most networked data centers. Today, businesses leverage the Equinix interconnection platform in 32 strategic markets across the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific. http://www.equinix.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; and 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 Equinix" has been provided by Equinix, 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.