Level 3 Communications (News - Alert), a global provider of fiber-based communications services, formed an agreement with Presidio Networked Solutions, a provider of professional and managed services solutions, to enhance its managed service capabilities.


The relationship with Presidio will enable Level 3 to leverage equipment from industry hardware vendors such as ADTRAN, Cisco (News - Alert), Fortinet, and Riverbed Technology in support of its managed services solutions.

According to Russell Shriver, vice president of data and IP services for Level 3, there has been increased customer demand for first-rate managed services, and all of these companies have been providing service in this arena for some time now.

“We realize that it takes more than just bandwidth for businesses to create value from the network,” Shriver added. “Leveraging these vendors' experience in managed services, we will enable our customers to enjoy increased access to first-class network support, a more predictable IT budget and the assurance necessary to focus on core business objectives.”

Level 3's Managed Services allow enterprise and government customers to focus on mission-critical objectives rather than service maintenance, the company said. By creating an improved portfolio of managed services capabilities, Level 3 aims to meet the ever-changing customer networking needs.

The agreement with Presidio will boost Level 3's managed services portfolio and enhance Level 3's dedicated Internet access (DIA) and Internet Protocol virtual private network or “IPVPN” services, company officials said.

The partnership will enable Level 3 to streamline its fulfillment, provisioning, management and repair of customer premise equipment (CPE-based) services, including managed router, firewall and WAN optimization.

Level 3 delivers services to enterprise customers and service providers throughout the United States by leveraging its extensive fiber-optic network, metro assets, and a locally focused sales and sales support organization.

In another announcement Level 3 said it has signed an agreement with Business First Solutions, to provide DIA and colocation services to VoiceOnyx, which provides business phone services to small and medium sized businesses.


Rajani Baburajan is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Rajani's articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Erin Monda