Level 3 Communications, a leading international provider of business communications services, sees huge opportunities in the Middle East region as the demand for bandwidth increases rapidly.

The company offers a comprehensive portfolio of video and data services and is focused on solving the challenge of connecting international locations while providing the performance necessary to deliver simplicity and value.

“Our portfolio of metro and long-haul services includes media and content delivery networks, broadcasting, transport, business Internet and voice services. Each offers industry-leading performance and scalability across our end-to-end fiber-optic network,” said Daniel Sjoberg, vice president, business development, strategy and marketing .
 
“Our customers may be content owners, broadcasters or carriers who require connectivity to a global IP backbone or content delivery solutions,” he said.

The company sees a huge growth in Internet traffic in the region through the increasing use of, for example, online video and social networking sites. Also, the requirement to be connected to partners and customers outside the region is increasing rapidly.

“We are seeing a substantial increase in broadband/internet penetration, which in turn means that there is a growing need to have good quality, scalable IP connectivity and content delivery services in the region. Level 3 hopes to help our customers provide that connectivity, said Sjoberg.

Based in London, Sjoberg is responsible for developing the strategy for Level 3 in EMEA, including identifying strategic initiatives and business development opportunities that drive strong revenue growth. Additionally, Daniel leads Level 3’s marketing efforts to promote the company’s capabilities across EMEA.

Regional partnerships

Level 3 is currently working with a number of telecommunication companies in the region, such as STC, to provide customers with enhanced high-speed Internet connectivity to virtually anywhere in the world.

Level 3 is offering two types of global network services today:

1) CDN (Content Delivery Network) services: The Level 3 CDN provides the bandwidth, worldwide connectivity, security and control to help quickly monetize customers content. “Level 3 was the first carrier to combine the advantages of an industry-leading Internet backbone with a sophisticated and proven CDN platform. This unique combination allows Level 3 to connect customers with the benefits of our high-performance, highly scalable service — and deliver those services in a simplified, cost-effective manner,” said Sjoberg.

2) High speed IP, Internet services: Level 3’s Tier 1 HSIP service provides access to one of the largest and most connected IP backbones across North America and Europe. The company operates the largest IP gateway in Marseilles, France, to offer unparalleled connectivity throughout the Middle East. “Our customers benefit from increased reliability and reduced latency. This service includes a comprehensive range of port interface speeds, industry standard service level agreements, online performance reports, and service management capabilities. By combining our ability to scale, our extensive network reach, and the reliability of our resilient network, our customers receive a quality IP service with superior performance,” he said.

Level 3 services focus on the region’s key economic sectors such as oil and gas and banking, apart from wholesale carriers, content owners and broadcasters who need content distribution across the region and globally, said Sjoberg.
 
“Over the last 10 years we have seen native (non-P2P) video traffic growth explode in the Internet with an estimated 33 per cent of European traffic and 49 per cent of US traffic  representing real time, rich media consumption today. Over that same period of time Internet traffic in the Middle East has grown 1925 per cent.
 
“The trends we see show that connectivity to the Internet is accelerating the globalization of content as information and media become more accessible globally. This means that content owners need to address the global applicability of their brands and the logistical challenges to delivering the level of experience most consumers now expect,” he said.

“Looking forward, video will continue to rapidly grow, fuelled by a similar growth in broadband penetration and according to Cisco’s VNI report, it will represent 56 per cent of total traffic by 2014, generating in excess of 23 Exabyte’s per month of traffic. 

This means that content owners need to look to global, scalable delivery solutions like the Level 3 CDN and High Speed IP services to meet this growing globalization trend or lose their consumer base to better performing competitive brands,” said Sjoberg. – TradeArabia News Service